OAKLAND, Calif. — Mark Sanchez’s numbers were fine, actually. Twenty-seven completions out of 43 attempts, a career-high 369 yards, the second time in three games the Jets quarterback has topped the 300-yard plateau. Two touchdowns passing, another running, and for about five minutes he had a second rushing touchdown on the books before the referee saw his knee on the half-yard line.
Sanchez, who may have suffered a broken nose, was certainly good enough yesterday.
“We didn’t lose this game because of our quarterback,” coach Rex Ryan said after the Jets fell, 34-24, to the upstart Raiders yesterday. “We sure didn’t lose it because of our offense.”
PHOTOS: RAIDERS BEAT JETS, 34-24
He’s right, sure. Most weeks, Ryan and every Jets fan alive would sign up for 439 total yards, because most weeks the Jets defense plays well enough that 439 yards keeps the starters on the bench in the fourth quarter.
This wasn’t one of those weeks, though. The defense struggled all day, letting up one big play after another. This was one day when the defense needed Sanchez, who was very good, to be better than very good.
“I need to put us in position to win the game,” was the way Sanchez himself described it, “and I didn’t do that.”
On three very specific occasions, Sanchez had the ball in his hands with the chance to alter the game, perhaps permanently. The first, in the first quarter, was a troubling flashback to his rookie season, an interception in the end zone on first down from the Oakland 24 set up by a terrific punt return from Jeremy Kerley.
“[Sanchez] thought he saw something,” Ryan said.
“Obviously I have to keep the ball away from them and make sure we get a chip-shot field goal there at the least,” Sanchez said, shaking his head.
A quarter later, the Jets led 14-7 and had it third-and-2 from the Raiders’ 3. After avoiding the rush, Sanchez failed to zip the ball to an open Matthew Mulligan and the Jets settled for a field goal.
In the third quarter, with the score tied at 17-17, and the Jets going for it on fourth-and-2 in no-man’s land, at the Oakland 37, Sanchez misfired to his biggest target, Plaxico Burress, throwing it behind him.
Less than two minutes later, the Raiders scored and never trailed again.
“I’m here to make plays,” Sanchez said, and then he brought up what in essence was the Jets’ last official breath, a scramble on fourth-and-goal with under a minute left. The ball crossed the plane, but his knee touched the turf first, and so there would be no onside kick, no hope for another Alcoa finish, just an empty Sunday and a banged-up nose thanks to a play he couldn’t even remember later on.
“Tough day,” Sanchez said. “You hate days like this.”