Ah, Namath, the only Jets quarterback to win a Super Bowl. Like John Wooden at UCLA, Namath holds a special, untouchable, even unapproachable place in the team's history. Eventually, it seems, every Jets quarterback is compared with him. And every one falls short. He did not return phone messages to talk about Sanchez.
"Joe Namath has been the 40-year, 800-pound shadow that has been hanging over this franchise," Esiason said. "So get ready to deal with it, son, because it's going to be a big part of your life.
"All Jet fans are like" -- invoking his thickest New Jersey accent -- 'Aw, he's no Joe Namath! He'll never be Joe Namath! Only one Joe Namath!' Maybe that's true. But Jet fans are negative by nature. They're all cynical, they're all negative."
That's not to say Esiason doesn't love and appreciate those fans. But it's an acquired taste. Playing at the Meadowlands, too, takes some getting used to. Esiason mentioned trying to throw passes there when the wind is swirling, and O'Donnell said some days it can be the toughest place in the NFL to complete a pass.
"There were times in walk-throughs I'd throw a ball and it was lucky to stay in the arena," O'Donnell said.
Being a part of it
For now, in the aftermath of the draft, the only winds Sanchez has been feeling have been gentle breezes. In his first week in New York, he threw out the opening pitch at a Mets game, toured the Central Park Zoo, ate a pastrami sandwich at the famed Carnegie Deli, and caught a performance of "Wicked" on Broadway.
"I'm an excitable young man and I'm ready for challenges," Sanchez, 22, told New York reporters in his meet-the-media news conference. "I'm always smiling."
He was asked about a variety of subjects, ranging from his playing style, to his relationship with USC Coach Pete Carroll -- formerly a Jets coach -- to a blemish on his record: Sanchez was arrested in 2006 as a USC sophomore after being accused of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old female student. Los Angeles County prosecutors decided not to file charges, citing insufficient evidence.
"It was simply false allegations, but in that kind of situation, you're in a huge media spotlight just like here with the Jets," he told reporters. "People know where you go, where you go to eat, who you are dating, and things like that. To be in a situation like that, it taught me so much, especially without having any of the consequences because they weren't deserved. It was crazy.
