SAINTS 24, JETS 10

Last week, after a Jets win, I chose to focus on the negatives. This week, after a Jets loss, I'm going to focus on the positives.

But the first thing that needs to be said is that New Orleans is very good. Not because they beat my team...but because they made the Jets look so bad in doing it. Even when the Jets were only down one score I didn't feel good about their chances because I didn't think the Jets could get the two scores they would need to win against New Orleans the way they were playing.

I knew about the New Orleans offense (which I now am even more impressed by, seeing their receivers catch EVERYTHING Drew Brees threw their way), but that defense was very good. I missed the boat on the Saints in my pre-season rankings - they're going to be a force in the NFC all year.

Now, onto the Jets. This is not a season-killer by any means. This was a loss to a legit team (a non-conference team, at that), and the Jets are still 3-1 with a big division game coming up next week. It's not like they're barely clinging to 3-1 like, say, the Bengals, who eked out a 3-1 record (rather than a 2-1-1 record) in overtime versus Cleveland.

My reaction to this loss is kind of like in the pre-season, when Mark Sanchez needed to struggle a bit to learn from his mistakes. I look at this game as a huge learning experience. He made rookie mistakes in this game - which he hasn't really been making yet. The interception that Darren Sharper returned 99 yards for a touchdown was a poorly thrown pass. Doesn't that ball have to go to the back corner of the end zone, especially when Sanchez's receiver is double-covered? He threw it where two Saints had a better chance of catching the ball than his receiver. And Sanchez simply held onto the ball too long in the end zone on the fumble that was recovered for a touchdown. Two rookie mistakes. I bet they don't happen again anytime soon.

The other good news was that even though the Jets couldn't get anything going offensively, their defense still gave them a chance. The Jets were in this game the entire time, because their defense kept them in it. And this wasn't a team with a bad offense - this was the Saints, who have an excellent offense. So that's a huge positive.

The Jets still don't seem to have things going on offense. I feel like they haven't put it all together yet....and they're still 3-1. So I think there's still some upside in a season that so far has been mostly up.

Next week is huge for the Jets - a division game, with a chance to get to 4-1 (which sounds a whole lot better than 3-1 coming off this loss). It's also big because the Patriots won again, beating a less-than-impressive Ravens team (their defense did not look as imposing as it had in previous weeks...and it also looked undisciplined in certain instances). So the Jets are now tied for first in the division, rather than alone in first. It's time for them to start proving their 3-0 start wasn't a fluke.

TELLING MOMENT: Apropos of nothing, other than the fact that I noticed it, I think I put my finger on why exactly Tony Romo and the Cowboys don't win important games. After Brandon Marshall made an impressive move to give the Broncos (ugh!) the lead inside of two minutes left in the game, the camera cut to Romo on the bench. Peyton Manning or Tom Brady would have been fired up, looking at the clock and thinking, "1:46 to take my team down the field and tie this baby up!"

Romo was waving his hand in disgust at the Cowboys defense. He actually did lead a good drive...but came up a couple of yards short of the end zone. And I think he'll always come up short in big situations.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS ON MARK SANCHEZ

The worst thing that could have happened to Mark Sanchez is a 48-yard completion on the first pass he threw in a game in a Jets uniform.

The best thing that may have happened to Mark Sanchez is a poor performance, including an interception returned for a touchdown, in his first start.

Even the most level-headed rookie, which I think pretty well describes Sanchez, might get a bit worked up over the kind of success he had in his first pre-season game last week. Big hype, big city, home crowd - I'm sure it goes to your head a bit.

But the NFL's not that easy. If it was, we might have been sitting through Browning Nagle's press conference this year after he decided to come back for one more season because he just couldn't hang them up and end a Hall of Fame career.

On Monday night, Sanchez got a taste, or more like a mouthful, of what the NFL is like. And it should pay off in a big way.

First possession - Sanchez gets drilled by Ray Lewis and throws an interception that's returned for a touchdown. Second possession - he throws another pass that should have been picked and returned for six the other way.

Sanchez took a couple of hits, threw a lot of incompletions, threw a costly interception, and faced a tremendously difficult defense. And you know what? None of it counted. It's the best-case scenario. It's about the most difficult test a young quarterback can be put through, a game against this Baltimore Ravens defense, and it's usually a test that players have to face when the games count in the regular season.

I'm no expert, but what Mark Sanchez went through Monday night was probably more difficult than 85% of what he'll face during the regular season. It was just a really good practice.

And this is where Sanchez and the coaching staff will show what they're worth. Because the tape of this game is tremendously valuable. Sanchez can probably spend the rest of the pre-season learning from the mistakes he made on this tape, and figuring out what to do the next time he is in these situations.

He showed that he might have made some adjustments even in the game, as he rebounded to throw a touchdown pass on his last possession in the second quarter...and his replacement, Kellen Clemens, showed that he hasn't learned a tremendous amount during his four-year career, let alone from watching Sanchez's performance, as he threw an awful interception right before the half that was also returned for a touchdown.

So the first start of Mark Sanchez's career, although it was pre-season, was pretty terrible overall. And I think that's just great.

OTHER NOTES: I'm writing this at halftime, but I've seen enough to say that I'm not sure what to make of the defense. It's supposed to be the side of the ball that keeps the Jets in games this year, but the Ravens seemed to move the ball way too easily on them Monday night. Add in that Calvin Pace will miss the first four games of the regular season due to suspension and Shaun Ellis will be suspended for that first game as well, and it seems like the defense will struggle....Looks like Leon Washington hasn't missed a beat from last year. He'll be exciting to watch this season.