Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez, coming off two poor outings in a row, insisted Tuesday that he's not fazed by negative criticism and predicted better days ahead. "I'm not here to defend why I should be the quarterback," Sanchez said in his weekly appearance on 1050 ESPN Radio. "I think when it comes to work ethic and things like that, the people in the building know how hard I work and how much I care about playing here, how much I love this team and franchise." Sanchez received a strong vote of confidence Monday from coach Rex Ryan, who reiterated that Sanchez remains his long-term quarterback and that he has no interest in Peyton Manning -- if Manning were to become available in the offseason. "He has seen flashes of a great quarterback in me, and he's also seen some bonehead mistakes," Sanchez said of Ryan. "When he's talking about being a great quarterback, that just means being consistent. That's what I'm striving for. All that stuff is in the near future and I'm working toward it every week. "It's a steady improvement and it does take time, but I'm trying to expedite that process and move things along as swiftly as possible. It's a process but I'm learning a lot on the fly. In these first three years, we've had some amount of success, but there's more success on the way. I know it."