Schottenheimer: Sanchez's game vs. Pats his best yet

MIAMI - Brian Schottenheimer didn't need to delve deep into his memory much, given there's not a whole lot of footage to pore over yet when it comes to Mark Sanchez.

The offensive coordinator was asked if Sanchez's performance in the Jets' 28-14 victory over the Patriots last Sunday was the best he's witnessed out of the Jets' prized quarterback in his 20 starts.

"I thought the playoff games were pretty solid, but even in the Cincinnati playoff game, we asked him to do a lot more in this game than we did back then," Schottenheimer said. "I would say probably yes it was, because you saw a lot of different things . . . All in all, I think it really was his best game that I've seen him play."

Sanchez completed 21 of 30 passes for 220 yards and a career-high three touchdowns and had a passer rating of 124.3, guiding the Jets' offense in a way that left the diehards salivating for more. The Jets were hopeful Sanchez and the offense would keep rolling against the Dolphins at Sun Life Stadium last night, knowing they'd need a solid showing against Miami's defense, which came into the game ranked third in the league.

Sanchez recorded his highest regular-season passer rating and a completion percentage of 70, second best in his career.

He was 11-for-11 passing on the Jets' three touchdown drives, completing six passes for 64 yards on the first, three passes for 33 yards on the second and two passes for six yards on the third. His passer rating on those scoring drives was 145.3.

Now, it's all about doing it again. And again. And again.

"That's the mark of a good quarterback," tackle Damien Woody said. "Good quarterbacks do it pretty much week in, week out. I'm sure Mark is thrilled about his performance last week, but being a competitor, he wants to be able to have those type of performances every week. But the cats around him have to do their job in order for him to be successful."

That's what happened in Week 2. The Jets rolled up 336 yards and 23 first downs and averaged 5.2 yards per play. They also cut back on the killer penalties that were so prevalent in the opener against the Ravens.

"We really cleaned up a lot of the mistakes from Week 1 and that just gave us a chance," Schottenheimer said. "That's all we feel we need as an offense is a chance to play well and put ourselves in second-and-manageable, third-and-manageable.

"Those points are huge momentum swings for us, and then making big plays when we needed them. As long as we limit mistakes, we'll have a chance."

Especially if Sanchez plays anywhere close to the way he did against the Patriots. It was a stark contrast from his showing in the opener, when he was a meager 10 of 21 for 74 yards with a QB rating of 56.4.

It's all about getting into a rhythm.

"You guys saw what this guy can do when his confidence gets high, going back to last year in the postseason," Schottenheimer said. "He's an extremely confident individual anyway. We all know that's what Mark is capable of doing. He's figuring out the game, he's figuring out the way the league works a little bit.

"We talked a little bit last week about the play calls in the first game, and by no way, shape or form was I being conservative because I didn't trust Mark. This is a guy that has our full playbook. He has my full confidence, full confidence of Rex [Ryan] and the whole organization. I expect him to put together another back-to-back performance."

Just like the rest of those on offense, who were looking for a carbon copy of what they did against the Patriots.

"We want to build on last week," Woody said. "We are not just satisfied with that performance. We want to get even better. There's room for improvement from last week. It's going to be tough playing down there. They've played two straight road games, they're 2-0, it's prime time. They are going to be riled up and ready to go. So we are going to have our work cut out for us."