mark-sanchez-will-be-fineRookie quarterback. Rookie coach. What more needs to be said? Mark Sanchez threw four interceptions and fumbled yesterday in a loss to New England. Earlier this season, he performed poorly on the road against unbeaten New Orleans. His nadir remains a 5-interception debacle at home against the lowly Bills.

Sanchez will be fine.

1. The three glaring issues he’ll need to deal with this offseason are a) Happy feet in the pocket, b) throwing the short passes too forcefully, c) trying too hard to make something out of nothing. None of these concern us greatly. He’s a rookie. We expect him to be much more in sync with his receivers in year two.

2. Not that we’re comparing Sanchez to the following two names, but they were also rookies who were immediately thrust into the starting lineup and struggled: Troy Aikman and Peyton Manning.

* Aikman as a rookie: 0-11, nine TDs, 18 INTs.
* Manning as a rookie: 3-13, 26 TDs, 28 INTs. (He had Marshall Faulk and Marvin Harrison that team.)

Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco were impressive as rookies last year and got their teams to the playoffs. Aikman and Manning didn’t. They went a combined 3-24 as rookies. They turned out fine.

We won’t be crushed if the Jets don’t win again this year. While we’d like them to be competitive, a 4-12 record wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. Our stomp-out-of-the-room, kick-something, vent-in-anger frustrations went out the window with the 2nd loss to Miami. That ended all hope of reaching the playoffs. We’re still prone to, ‘WTF ARE YOU DOING?’ outbursts, but knowing the playoffs are not within reach, they’re calmer, if that makes sense.

A 4-12 record might mean a top 5 pick; at 6-10 or 7-9, the Jets would pick closer to 10th or 12th in the draft. If a Top 5 pick means they’ll get Tennessee star Eric Berry, and he’s supposed to be in the mold of Ed Reed, are you really going to be crushed if the Jets lose to Carolina next week? And get swept by the Bills?