11/22 — Heading into today's clash between the Jets and the Patriots, the plan for Mark Sanchez was to throw strikes.

“Trying to get ahead in the count, thinking like a pitcher’s mentality, throw some strikes early,” Sanchez said this evening. “And that’s definitely what I didn’t do.”

He was a little wild, misfiring on first-quarter balls intended for David Clowney and then Jerricho Cotchery. And then his fifth throw found the hands of Pats corner Leigh Bodden, who returned it 53 yards for the game’s first score in the Pats’ 31-14 victory in Foxboro, Mass.

“This offense doesn’t need a whole lot of help,” said Jets head coach Rex Ryan of Tom Brady and company. “When you spot ‘em that touchdown, against a good football team, it’s going to come back and bite you.”

Down, 21-0, in the second quarter, Sanchez hoped to connect with Braylon Edwards but he got Bodden a second time. That turnover set up a field goal as the Patriots took a commanding 24-0 edge.

“I was a little early on the throw to Braylon and I missed J-Co on the outside,” he said. “Those need to be more accurate because those put us in a tough hole. “

After the Jets crawled back into the game in the third stanza with a pretty 29-yard scoring pass from Sanchez to J-Co, comeback hopes took a hit when the 23-year-old rookie signalcaller threw an errant ball to start the fourth stanza to Bodden (the third pick for Bodden, tying a Patriots club record). 

Even though the Patriots didn’t cash in that pick with points, they took valuable time off the clock and pinned the Jets deep after a punt. Just two plays into the ensuing possession, Sanchez escaped pressure and unloaded a prayer to J-Co that never had a chance. Brandon Meriweather was the recipient of the gift and the Pats got the fat lady singing eight plays later when Laurence Maroney went in from the 1.

“The last two picks, I was just trying to create and do too much, especially the one to Jerricho,” Sanchez said.

Feeling great before the game, Sanchez said he had only one incompletion at Friday’s practice. But he credited the Patriots for disguising their coverages in Week 11 and acknowledged that you’re not going to win when a team scores 17 points off four interceptions.

“I got hot there for a while in third quarter and started feeling good. I thought that I saw everything really well throughout the game, but two throws and two bad decisions really hurt us,” he said. “I credit their defense for playing smart and letting me make the mistakes and I fell into that trap. I just need to play a lot smarter.”

The final numbers were ugly as Sanchez completed just eight of 21 for 136 yards with 1 TD and 4 INTs, and also lost a fumble late. But at no point did Ryan think of pulling him in favor of Kellen Clemens.

“I don’t think he’s going to get any better sitting on the sideline. He has to learn from it,” said the first-year head coach. “Without question, he made a lot of mistakes today. There were some other guys who made a lot of mistakes as well, but he has to learn from it.”

In 10 pro games, Sanchez has now thrown 16 interceptions and has lost three fumbles. He’s completing 52.1 percent of his passes and has a passer rating of 61.1.  He's getting an education on the field and sometimes the lessons have been rough.

“You can visualize it all you want, watch tape and carry a clipboard," Ryan said, "but unless you get out on the field, you’re not going to get any better."

There figures to be better days ahead. For all of the success that Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan had last year, people forget that it’s not easy being a rookie QB in the NFL.

“This is your franchise guy. You made that decision on draft day and we just have to move forward with him,” said Cotchery, who led the Jets with 84 yards receiving on just three catches. “Sometimes guys have bad games, sometimes guys just don’t play up to their standards that they would like to play to. It can happen to anybody and you just have to keep working through it and get better and learn from the film and just move on from that point.”