BALTIMORE — Mark Sanchez started off very poorly Monday night, but ended quite well. And that almost assuredly was enough to keep him firmly in the lead in the Jets’ quarterback competition.

Sanchez threw an interception for a touchdown on his first pass, but finished by throwing a TD to a teammate on his last pass. And Kellen Clemens matched Sanchez in both respects, throwing a pick for a Baltimore touchdown, but later connecting with a Jet for a score.
Sanchez finished 3-for-8 for 43 yards in a game eventually won by the Ravens, 24-23, at M&T Bank Stadium.
On his first pass attempt, Sanchez attempted to dump the ball to fullback Tony Richardson in the right flat, but left it short while under heavy pressure from Ray Lewis. The pass floated into the hands of defensive tackle Haloti Ngata, who lumbered 25 yards with the interception for a touchdown and a 7-0 Baltimore lead with only 52 seconds elapsed.
After halftime, Sanchez called it “a great experience, not the best start on Monday night, but I learned quite a bit.”
About the first play, he said, “I thought I was checking the ball down and (Ngata) jumped right in front of the ball, so they’re obviously an athletic group.”
After Lewis came out of the game, he said he saw Sanchez’s eyes “get big, and he was jumping around in the pocket. ... Bottom line, we gave a lot of looks and disguises, and we confused him a little bit. He will be OK, but right now, as a first-team defense, we are definitely clicking.”
Ngata supplied the pressure on Clemens’ interception, hitting him just after he threw the ball to linebacker Jameel McClain, who went 16 yards for a touchdown and a 21-7 Baltimore lead with 21 seconds left in the first half.
Sanchez’s second pass almost had the same result, as on second-and-4 from the Ravens’ 48, he threw the ball right into Lewis’ hands. However, with some open field ahead of him, Lewis dropped it. The Jets couldn’t get a first down on that drive.
On third-and-7 from the 46 later in the first quarter, Joe Flacco went deep to Derrick Mason, who beat Drew Coleman down the right sideline for a 43-yard gain. After two incompletions, Baltimore scored on a trick play as Flacco faked a pass into the right flat and handed off with his left hand to Ray Rice, who cruised untouched up the middle for a 3-yard score.
Most of the Jets’ first-half offense was provided by Leon Washington. He had eight carries for 48 yards, two receptions for 35 yards and a 52-yard kickoff return. Washington twice converted third downs into first downs on the scoring march led by Sanchez, first on a 16-yard dump-off from Sanchez and then on a 15-yard run. On third-and-9 from the 19, Sanchez fired a scoring pass to Washington, who beat Lewis’ backup, McClain.
The score came against a Baltimore defense composed of first- and second-stringers. Neither Lewis nor safety Ed Reed was in during the drive. Washington accounted for 54 of the 64 yards on the series.
Clemens threw a 28-yard scoring pass to David Clowney on the Jets’ first possession of the second half, and could’ve had a second touchdown pass, but Brad Smith dropped a perfectly thrown pass in the end zone on first down from the Baltimore 39. Clemens finished 5-for-10 for 60 yards in six possessions.