McElroy was ready in a pinch

Greg McElroy, a forgotten quarterback on the Jets roster, said he was prepared to play Thursday if need be.

Ultimately, Tim Tebow -- broken ribs and all -- remained active while McElroy rode the bench.

“It was a game-time decision last week so obviously Tim wanted to give it a go in pregame, so coaches told me to be ready," McElroy told reporters Monday. "I just did the best I could the entire week to understand the gameplan and what we’re going to be doing and the plan of attack. So I was ready to go if need be and fortunately Tim was feeling OK and was feeling well enough to go."

With starter Mark Sanchez (12 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, 75.6 passer rating) struggling and Tebow rendered a non-factor, a large subset of fans have started to

The third-stringer, however, didn’t get any reps with last week (“because practices were limited given short week,” he said). And he doesn’t expect to get any this week.

“Mostly what I do during the week is prepare the defense and mostly what Arizona is going to be doing,” McElroy said, referencing playing the part of Cardinals rookie QB Ryan Lindley in practice.

McElroy said he has “a good understanding” of the offense and feels confident should the coaching staff call on him on game day. That, of course, has yet to happen.

But even though he hasn’t suited up once this season, the former Alabama stud said he harbors no hard feelings against Tebow.

"It’s never anything personal," McElroy said. "You don’t need to speculate on anything like that. Tim was feeling good enough to go and he’s the backup qb so my job on Thursday was to be those guys’ eyes from the sidelines. It’s been my role up to this point and I’m very, very happy and pleased that I have the role. Just want to help Mark and Tim anyway I can.”