NFL

Ryan hopes sleep cures Jets’ woes

Jets coach Rex Ryan was unhappy with the way his team practiced last week, feeling it contributed to a 27-10 loss to the Steelers.

This week, he made some changes.

Ryan pushed the team’s schedule back 90 minutes, The Post has learned, to give the players more time to sleep in the morning so they would be more well rested.

“I guess he just wanted guys to get a little more rest and sleep in a little bit,” guard Brandon Moore said. “They’ve had some people come in and help figure out the best things to play at optimum levels. Rest is one of them and recovery. He just tinkered it a little bit to give us an extra hour of sleep and push things back a little bit.”

Ryan also cut practice and meeting times down so the players would not have to spend as much time at the team’s training facility. The Jets have also stressed to their players to focus on hydration this week, facing hot temperatures in Miami on Sunday.

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Quarterbacks coach Matt Cavanaugh, speaking to the media for the first time this season, said Mark Sanchez knows he’s “a damn good quarterback and he welcomed Tim [Tebow].”

Cavanaugh said having Tebow as a backup has been a learning experience for Sanchez and he predicted the fourth-year starter will have a “successful” year.

Asked if he had specific statistic targets for Sanchez to hit, he said no. Cavanaugh said he told Sanchez: “Just win, Mark, and everybody will recognize you as a great quarterback.”

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Steelers linebacker Lawrence Timmons told reporters in Pittsburgh he was fined $21,000 for his helmet-to-helmet hit last week on Sanchez.

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Safety LaRon Landry has drawn three personal fouls in two games, but said he won’t change the way he plays.

“That all comes with my style of play,” Landry said. “I got to be more cognizant of where I’m at on the field and play a little smarter, but I won’t slow down.”

Landry has gotten two penalties for hitting players out of bounds. He did not practice Thursday because of the team resting his heel that he injured last year.

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There was a lot of attention on cornerback Antonio Cromartie possibly playing wide receiver this season, but Cromartie said the coaches have not talked about it since training camp. Cromartie pronounced he was the second-best wide receiver on the team early in camp.

“We’ve got everybody healthy,” Cromartie said about the wide receivers. “There hasn’t been any discussion.”

Cromartie gave up a crucial touchdown to the Steelers’ Mike Wallace last Sunday, but refused to discuss it. Defensive coordinator Mike Pettine said Cromartie simply misplayed the ball.

“Early on, I thought he was in good position, and then I don’t know whether he lost it,” Pettine said. “It was just one of those situations where he didn’t play the ball and Wallace did. We say it’s a game of inches, you could say it was a game of centimeters on that one. It was very close to being a long foul ball.”

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OLB Bryan Thomas (hamstring), FB John Conner (knee) and CB Ellis Lankster (back) did not practice. TE Dustin Keller (hamstring) and S Eric Smith (hip/knee) were limited in practice after not practicing Wednesday.