CORTLAND — The ball barely had settled into Antonio Cromartie’s hands when the boos began.
The Jets cornerback had just intercepted Mark Sanchez on a deep pass and it was enough for a faction of the 6,000 fans at Saturday night’s Green and White scrimmage to remind Sanchez that Jets fans have not forgotten 2012.
It was just another sign that many people are rooting for rookie Geno Smith to beat Sanchez out in the quarterback competition.
“I think that’s bullcrap,” Cromartie said about the boos. “My thing is if you’re going to be a fan, be a fan. That’s what it’s all about. He’s our quarterback. Geno’s our quarterback and they’re in competition. You don’t come out here and boo anybody.”
Sanchez said the boos didn’t bother him, but it has to be rough hearing jeers in an intrasquad scrimmage.
“Shoot, I don’t care,” Sanchez said. “That’s the way it goes.”
It was not a good night for Sanchez until the final play of the scrimmage when he hit wide receiver Stephen Hill on a pretty 57-yard pass down the sideline for a touchdown. But earlier, Sanchez struggled to get the offense moving and even fell down once during a drop-back. Call it the “buttstumble.”
Smith took the majority of snaps with the first team, getting three drives to Sanchez’s one with the starters. The second-team offensive line could not stop anyone and that hurt whoever was with the second group.
Smith finished the night completing 9-of-16 passes for 77 yards. The only points he led the team came via a field goal. Sanchez went 6-for-11 for 92 yards with the one long touchdown and one interception. Sanchez was sacked twice. Smith was sacked once.
Jets coach Rex Ryan said the quarterback competition is only getting started.
“This is just one opportunity to come out here and compete,” Ryan said. “Certainly this is really the beginning stages, if you will, of the competition. It will be interesting when we go to Detroit [Friday] and start playing some live preseason games.”
The Jets’ first drive was impressive with Smith under center. He marched the unit down the field, getting it to the 3-yard line with five plays. But a 3-yard touchdown from Bilal Powell out of the wildcat formation was called back for an illegal formation penalty. A holding call then moved them farther back and the drive stalled.
Ryan said Smith was “tremendous on the first drive.”
“We did a pretty good job of moving the ball down the field,” Smith said. “We got into the red zone and had a costly penalty, something we’ll need to correct. Overall, I think we did a good job as a whole of moving the ball, moving the chains. We’ve just got to get better in the red zone.”
Sanchez’s best drive came in his lone opportunity with the first team. But he missed a wide open Clyde Gates in the end zone and the team had to settle for a field goal. On that drive, Sanchez fell as he was dropping back, leading to some grumbling from the crowd. He made up for it with his deep pass to Hill to end the scrimmage.
“I think both of them did a great job,” Cromartie said. “Geno completed some passes that sometimes you don’t expect a rookie to complete. Mark finished off with a deep ball to Stephen Hill. For me, that’s what Mark is known for — getting the ball down the field and getting it to his weapons.”
The next test for the quarterbacks comes Friday night when the Jets open the preseason against the Lions in Detroit.
brian.costello@nypost.com