Rex Ryan: If fans boo Mark Sanchez, that's their right

Rex Ryan would love to see Jets Nation move past the disappointment of 2012. But if fans feel like booing his team -- or Mark Sanchez -- that's their business, he said Monday.

"Fans have the right to do anything they want,'' Ryan said when asked for his thoughts on the booing of Sanchez during the Green and White scrimmage on Saturday.

The coach's stance was far more subdued than that of Antonio Cromartie. After intercepting Sanchez during the intrasquad game, the cornerback defended the beleaguered quarterback. "That's bullcrap,'' Cromartie said of the booing. "My thing is, if you're a fan, be a fan.''

Ryan instead suggested that Sanchez-haters "move forward. We're all going to make mistakes.'' He also said he would prefer to see the team and its fans be "united 100 percent.''

But he added: "I would never say 'you've got to do something' to our fan base. No way. Because they're the paying customer. That's why we're all here. And they have a right to boo any time they want.

"Are we disappointed when it happens? Of course. We're going to compete like crazy. We're going to do our very best. And that's something the fans can definitely count on.''

Despite Sanchez's sluggish scrimmage, aside from his 53-yard touchdown pass to Stephen Hill to end the game, Ryan gave the fifth-year quarterback rave reviews Monday.

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Although Ryan was peeved about the team's "sloppy'' practice -- which included "horrible'' defense in the final team period and an "unacceptable'' level of focus, effort and execution -- he said Sanchez stood out.

"One guy that I'll say came out to practice was Mark Sanchez,'' Ryan said. "I thought he was sharp.''

Sanchez completed 6 of 9 passes and threw a short touchdown pass to Bilal Powell during team drills. Rookie Geno Smith connected on 4 of 7 throws with no touchdowns and two picks in 7-on-7 drills in the red zone.

"I liked the way he was in the huddle,'' Ryan said of Sanchez. "He was ready to go today.''

Although pleased by his performance, Sanchez wouldn't call it his best practice.

"I felt good,'' said Sanchez, who took reps with the first team and later praised its efficiency during its "move the ball'' 7-on-7 drill. "I thought we were pretty sharp there, that first group. It was kind of the way that we want to run things . . . and that looked pretty good.''

For one day, the quarterback competition wasn't even close. But although he outshined Smith Monday, Sanchez has four team-drill interceptions in eight practices and Smith has zero. The rookie didn't seem the least bit fazed by his mistakes Monday. "I don't look at it as a setback, I view it as a learning experience,'' Smith said, adding that he should have thrown the ball away or checked it down instead of forcing those two passes.

"If I'm a little cautious with the ball, then we don't have those turnovers and we at least walk away with three points.''