Things won’t always go smoothly for Jets rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez.
He’s going to look great on some plays and so-so on other plays. But that’s the NFL. The key is can Sanchez shake off the mistakes and get back on track. Jerricho Cotchery thinks he can and said as much on Sunday after the Jets 24-17 win over the Titans.
“I like the way he bounced back,” Cotchery said. “He doesn’t let one play get him down and he learns from his mistakes.”
The biggest play of the game came early in the fourth quarter and the Jets ahead 21-17. Sanchez found Cotchery open down the sideline and completed a 46-yard play to set up the Jets final score of the game, a 30-yard field goal by Jay Feely.
“It was something we talked about before we went back out on the field,” Cotchery said. “He’s hollering down the bench at me ‘we have the go route on’. He was excited before we even got out there.”
Sanchez wasn’t perfect and made several mistakes on Sunday, including throwing an interception and losing a fumble. But those things are going to happen. He earned his stripes on Sunday after scrambling 14 yards and making a head-first dive into the end zone for a touchdown in the first quarter.
The Jets sideline cringed at the sight of Sanchez making such a dangerous play, but they were happy with the result. Jets coach Rex Ryan tried his best to avoid being critical of Sanchez for making the play. He instead chose to praise him for stretching the ball over the end zone line.
“He knows the rule [to] get that thing across…You probably want to put to hands on the [ball] whenever you stretch it across that line,” Ryan said. “We’ll make sure we tell him that.”