Mark Sanchez turned up the respect when talking about his meeting with Jets legend Joe Namath yesterday.

"It was cool for me," Sanchez said. "[It was] really special to see someone so revered in this game take time out of his day to come and sit with us and talk to us. But then to see the coaches and their reaction, it's unbelievable seeing coach [Bill] Callahan be like, 'Wow, that’s Joe Namath.' I just look at him and think ‘Man, I want that.’

"That’s what keeps you studying extra at night, that’s what keeps you watching extra film. He told us a story about Bear Bryant. He said when he was at Alabama the day before a game, coach Bryant went up to him and heard the team yelling so he takes the quarterback for a walk and he says, 'OK Joe, you got the game plan down?' and he says, 'Yes, sir, I think so.'

"Bear Bryant stopped and said, 'What? You think so?' He said, 'Boy, the hay is already in the barn, come on now! There’s no more thinking!’ He just went off on him. He said he ripped him up pretty good and from then on Joe knew you don’t think anymore the day before the game, the day of the game.

"You have to know. At this position you have to know. Even if you don’t know you have to know, you have to fake it. You have to know. So, it was great. It’s all about poise [and] about attitude. It was so cool to see that. Coach [Matt] Cavanaugh has the nerve to ask him, 'Hey, you got after it a little bit off the field too, what was that all about?' and Joe said, 'Yeah it was really fun. It was all in fun on the field, but off the field it was really hard work.'

"We started dying laughing in our meeting. It was great just to see him around, how sharp he is and that ring there looks good. It was good to see him."