NFL

Sanchez outplays Tebow on first day of Jets practice

CORTLAND — Score the first round for Mark Sanchez.

Sanchez outperformed Tim Tebow in yesterday’s opening Jets practice, the starting quarterback showing the command of the offense that had coach Rex Ryan and offensive coordinator Tony Sparano saying Thursday that Sanchez knows the offense better than anyone on the team.

“Awesome,” Sanchez said of the offense’s performance. “Exactly what we wanted. We’ve got a long way to go, but it was nice to get that one under our belts.”

Sanchez finished the day going 7-for-8 in team drills and 4-for-8 with an interception in 7-on-7 drills. Tebow finished 4-for-4 with a sack in team drills and 4-for-6 in 7-on-7s.

While Sanchez looked comfortable, Tebow looked like someone still feeling his way around a new playbook and new teammates.

He often held the ball for several seconds, including on the sack, and admitted he still had some work to do.

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“I feel like it’s getting there,” Tebow said. “I feel pretty comfortable. Obviously I don’t know it like the back of my hand yet, but hopefully in a few weeks I will.”

Sanchez made his best play of the day early on, when he hooked up with second-round pick Stephen Hill on the first play of 7-on-7 drills for a 40-yard completion.

Sanchez lofted a deep pass to Hill, who was defended by All-Pro corner Darrelle Revis down the right sideline.

After Revis tipped the ball up into the air, Hill juggled it before eventually securing it just before he hit the ground.

“It was awesome,” Sanchez said. “Right out of the gate, too. Revis made a good play to tip it and Stephen stayed with it.”

After Sanchez’s series of plays, Tebow took his own shot downfield, hitting Jeremy Kerley on a 40-yard pass deep down the same right sideline. But the play was waved off due to an illegal procedure penalty on right tackle Stephon Heyer.

He also showed some of his trademark scrambling ability, but left Ryan wishing Tebow would sometimes take the safe route and throw the ball away.

“I saw some good things,” Ryan said. “There are some times when … like he breaks contain one time, it was great. [But] it’s OK to throw it out of bounds. You don’t have to stand there, smack the guy away and then run.

“He’s so competitive that, ‘Hey, that first guy, I’ll shrug him off and then run.’ ”

Tebow also spent time working as the protector on the punt team, running downfield on coverages and executing some fake punt plays. But he downplayed the effect the special-teams work will have on his ability to learn the offense.

“I don’t feel like it really takes away [anything],” Tebow said. “Sometimes instead of getting a little more individual [work] you do that, but for the most part I can make up for that after practice and other times. I feel, if anything, you can learn a little bit more of the game, and that helps.”