NFL

Sanchez, Ryan set to prove how far they’ve come with Jets

HOUSTON — On Sept. 13, 2009, the Jets traveled to Reliant Stadium to face the Texans. It was the first game for new coach Rex Ryan and new quarterback Mark Sanchez and Jets fans did not know what to expect.

Two years later, the duo returns to Houston after two trips to the AFC Championship Game and expectations could not be higher. Tonight, the Jets face the Texans again. This time, it’s a mostly meaningless preseason game. Sanchez and the starters will play just one quarter before turning it over to the backups.

UPDATES FROM OUR JETS BLOG

But it is significant that Ryan and Sanchez return to where they won that first game together, 24-7. As they enter Year 3, the Jets’ lofty Super Bowl hopes rest on how far the quarterback and coach have come.

“I think I’ve learned a lot,” Ryan said about the time since that first game. “I lean on my coaching staff to help me, especially the veterans on the staff. I think you still get that same passion and fire I felt that first week. It’s still with me and I think it will be with me the rest of my life. When I lose that and I’m not the same person, it’s probably time for me to get out of it. I don’t see that happening for another 20 years.”

No one questions Ryan’s passion or his confidence in his abilities. The biggest knock on Ryan after two years at the helm revolves around two halves of football — the second half against the Colts in the 2009 AFC title game and the first half against the Steelers in last year’s championship game. The Jets nearly made it to the Super Bowl but fell apart in Indianapolis and came out flat against the Steelers.

Safety Jim Leonhard has been with Ryan since the two were in Baltimore. He followed Ryan to the Jets as a free agent in 2009. Leonhard said he has seen Ryan evolve as a head coach.

“I think you see just him gaining the experience of the last couple of years and him going through the ups and downs of a season,” Leonhard said. “I’ve seen that effect the way he talks to the guys and what he says and when he says it. Passion wise, he’s the same guy. I think he’s just learned how to handle certain situations and how to handle an entire team instead of just you’re unit.”

As much as this season is about Ryan fulfilling his Super Bowl promises, it is even more about his quarterback. Ryan has put the pressure on the 24-year-old Sanchez, naming him captain and telling anyone who would listen the Jets will go as far as the quarterback takes them.

Sanchez has shown what he can do in winning four road playoff games in his first two years. But he completed 54 percent of his passes last year, a number the Jets know has to rise.

“It’s not accuracy,” offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said early in training camp. “That’s the thing with Mark. We spent a day the other day looking at every single one of his incompletions. When you look at it there are a couple of [poor] throws but not that many. Really with him it was some poor decisions, there were some drops, there were some breakdowns mentally where we missed an assignment here and there. All those things affect it.”

The answers to how far the coach and quarterback have come this year won’t arrive until there is snow on the ground. But their exam begins tonight in the middle of summer in Texas.

brian.costello@nypost.com