Mark Sanchez won’t stop growing his black beard until the Jets win the Super Bowl. Sunday in San Diego, a short ride on the freeway from his Mission Viejo roots, he gets to show family and friends how much he has grown as an NFL quarterback.
Alas, there is a catch.
Call it a Catch-17.
You see, the rookie quarterback of the Jets, two games and 24 unshaven days from that Super Bowl, will be California dreamin’ if Rex Ryan has to send out an all-points bulletin for Braylon Edwards against the Chargers.
Edwards was in a Cleveland court early yesterday after pleading no contest to that November LeBron-related misdemeanor assault charge.
LEON EXPECTS TO BE BACK NEXT YEAR
Here is where Sanchez will need him against a big-play Philip Rivers offense that has yet to score fewer than 20 points in any game this season: in the end zone.
The Jets will stay in the game with their smash-mouth running game and a defense that plans on validating its No. 1 ranking by making a national statement.
But these are not the Bengals.
And here is the good news: Ryan and Sanchez and just about everyone in the locker room believes Edwards is ready for an explosion.
“I just sense it,” Ryan said yesterday. “He’s getting ready to break out. I feel it. I hope they just turn him loose.”
Sanchez was told Ryan is expecting a bust-out game from Edwards.
“Absolutely,” Sanchez said. “Just seeing the kind of catches he makes in practice, and even the catches he’s made in the games — I guess the drops would stand out, just like interceptions stand out for me — he’s in a tough position. Does he think he should catch those balls? Absolutely. Do we talk about it? All the time. And do we get in the extra work? Yes. So we’re doing the right things to make that happen, and it’s only a matter of time. He’s a playmaker, he’s a stud, and you feed the studs, you just keep throwing him the ball, and he’s bound to catch it.”
This is the time for Edwards to find a cure for his dropsies and be the Go-To Guy that GM Mike Tannenbaum thought he was getting when he rescued him from the Browns.
This is the time for Braylon Edwards to walk up to Sanchez today, tomorrow and Sunday and tell him:
Just give me the damn ball.
And then catch the damn ball when Sanchez does.
“I think right now he’s pressing so much,” Ryan said, “and he doesn’t want to let his teammates down.”
He let his teammates down, most noticeably Sanchez, when he dropped what should have been a 41-yard touchdown in Cincinnati.
“We talked about it,” Sanchez said. “He felt like he shoulda caught it. Could I have put the ball a foot out even more in front? I probably could have. So, that’s how critical I am of myself, that’s how critical he is. It’s something that’ll fix itself, and we’re working towards it.”
Asked what he told Edwards on the sidelines, Sanchez said, “ ‘Just don’t worry about it. We’re gonna get you involved in this game.’ And he caught a big slant on a third down later in the drive that set up a touchdown run by T.J. [Thomas Jones.] . . . He’s mentally tough, and he’s gonna work through this thing, and we’ll be just fine.”
Kerry Rhodes is Edwards’ best friend on the Jets.
“I told him he has to make that catch, and he knows he’s gotta make that catch,” Rhodes said.
This is the week to make that catch.
“He’s gonna have a big game here,” Rhodes vowed.
Jerricho Cotchery, too, senses a monster game from Edwards.
“I think he is too, I feel it as well,” Cotchery said. “I think Braylon is gonna have a chance to step back and relax a little bit. ‘Don’t press too much; you’ve done this a million times. You only caught 16 touchdowns in ‘07 [smile] so . . . don’t press too much.’ I think he’s definitely due for a big game.”
Edwards has no problem making the spectacular catches. “I told him, ‘Next time you’re open like that, I want you to catch with one hand,’ ” Ryan cracked.
Ryan remains in Edwards’ corner. “He’s a great teammate,” Ryan said.
The Jets didn’t get him to be a great teammate. They got him to help the rookie quarterback grow his beard.
steve.serby@nypost.com