Mark Salfino crunched the numbers and found some startling similarities between New York Jets’ QB Mark Sanchez and New York Giants’ QB Eli Manning after 41 regular season starts. (The postseason, where Sanchez has played his best ball – 60% completions, 94 QB rating, 9 TDs, 3 INTs – isn’t included.) Here they are:

Eli Manning: 731-1337, 54% completions, 8,572 yards, 59 TDs, 46 INTs, 74.7 rating
Mark Sanchez: 667-1209, 55% completions, 8,068 yards, 43 TDs, 43 INTs, 72.9 rating

You can sit around and argue things like:

* Who had better weapons at receiver?
* Who had a better running game?
* Which QB played tougher competition?
* Eli was a 3-year starter at Ole Miss; Sanchez started for less than a year and a half at USC!

Overall, it’s quite clear: the stats aren’t that different.

Here’s where it gets interesting – after Manning’s second full season as the starter (2006), the Giants made a move, firing offensive coordinator John Hufnagel, and promoting QB coach Kevin Gilbride to offensive coordinator. In year two under Gilbride, Manning flourished, his stats spiked, and the Giants won a Super Bowl. (The Giants had a really nice 2007 draft on the offensive side: Steve Smith, Kevin Boss and Ahmad Bradshaw all helped Manning’s maturation.)

The only question now is whether the Jets will promote Bill Callahan to offensive coordinator after this season, or go out and get a guy who is available, like Todd Haley (still KC’s head coach) or Marty Mornhinweg (still Philly’s OC). [SNY Why Guys]

PS- The Football Outsiders want you to have patience with Sanchez! He hasn’t been that bad this year. Note: This was written before the Denver debacle.