Rex Ryan was doing all he could to protect Mark Sanchez, pointing fingers at the dropped passes, one of them in the end zone by Santonio Holmes, and the lousy protection, and he could have thrown in the uninspired play-calling from Brian Schottenheimer that had the infuriated mob outside the glass window at Ryan’s press conference erupting in a “Schotty Must Go” chorus.
“This clearly was not on one man,” Ryan said.
But when Ryan was asked whether he considered yanking Sanchez, the coach who cannot help himself reluctantly pushed his young quarterback under the green-and-white bus with the flat tire with the money quote that told you all you needed to know about who gets the blame when your offense is on its way to nine quarters without a touchdown.
“I considered it today,” Ryan said, “but when you look at it, I think he gives us the best chance to win.”
The first time Ryan had thought about taking Sanchez out was last year during his five-interception nightmare against the Bills. Yesterday?
“Late in the third quarter. I thought about it and I was like, ‘Nah, it’s not the kid’s [fault]. He’s not the only one to blame here,’ “ Ryan said. “If I thought that was the case, we would have yanked him.”
But when Sanchez looked in the mirror, he didn’t see anyone to blame but himself. He was the one who coughed up 10 first-quarter points with an interception and a fumble in a crushing 10-6 defeat that makes you wonder whether the 9-4 Jets are still hung over from the Foxborough Massacre.
“It starts with the quarterback on offense, and these last two weeks, I haven’t played like I’ve played earlier this season, and I need to fix it,” Sanchez said.
He has thrown only one touchdown pass, against the Bengals, over the last three weeks, with five interceptions. Asked if he thought he had a sure 17-yard touchdown on the ill-fated second-quarter throw to Holmes, Sanchez said: “Oh sure. But we all took our turns making mistakes today, and for every drop, there are probably three or four poorly thrown balls so . . . it falls on the quarterback, and I have a lot of work to do, so I’ll be the one to fix it.”
The Jets, with road games against the Steelers and Bears next, are in big trouble if he doesn’t fix it fast. The decision-making and accuracy are one thing; fumbling four times, rain or shine, quite another.
“It’s just a matter of keeping two hands on the ball in the pocket,” Sanchez said. “The ball on the ground three, four times, whatever it was — that’s embarrassing to put on tape No. 1. And you can never win like that, so that’s part of the reason we lost.”
The ball resembled a wet bar of soap when he lost it in the act of throwing once. Under siege at his 13 from Cameron Wake, Sanchez foolishly threw a desperation duck as he was falling backward, nearly a pick for Sean Smith.
Sanchez was asked about Ryan mulling a switch to Mark Brunell.
“Rex and I have a good relationship, and I’m not worried about getting pulled or anything, but he’s gotta make those decisions, and I’m glad he left me in,” Sanchez said. “I think he feels like I give us the best chance to win, and that’s why I’m playing. When I play like I do today though, I’m sure it’s frustrating to watch, as frustrating at it is to play like that.”
His confidence level?
“I’m light years ahead of where I was last year,” he said. “We’ll get it fixed, and it’s my job to pinpoint exactly what it is, and I have a pretty good feeling that a lot of it’s me, so it’s gotta get better.”
The Fish batted down too many passes.
“He’s young, and there’s a lot of glitches in his game that we took advantage of,” Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder said. “We got a lot of pressure on him, and he started getting happy feet, letting the ball go early, overthrowing guys and underthrowing guys.”
With LaDainian Tomlinson (19 carries, 49 yards) slowing down, the Ground & Pound can’t help him.
“Can’t play like that, can’t be a roller coaster, I gotta be consistent,” Sanchez said.
It’s important that he is a stand-up guy.
“If we keep this up, we’ll miss this thing,” Sanchez said. “We’re a tough group. . . . I know these guys in here and I know how they’ll respond to me and my energy. . . . So it’ll be a good test for me early in my career, and we’ll see how we do.”
steve.serby@nypost.com