Sanchez's Performance Silences Quarterback Debate With Tebow There were as many big plays made by the Jets on Sunday as there were empty offensive series during their winless and nearly touchdownless preseason, and none of them had anything to do with Tim Tebow. In his much-awaited debut as a Jet, Tebow made his most important contribution when he fell on an onside kick late in the Jets" 48-28 victory over Buffalo. His most telling moment was after a run off left tackle on second-and-6 from the Buffalo 12-yard line late in the second quarter that was stuffed for no gain. That a portion of the MetLife Stadium crowd voiced its snarky displeasure - Te-booing, you might call it - was directly related to what it had already witnessed: the official relaunch of Mark Sanchez as a beacon of hope, with the potential to go where no Jets quarterback besides Joe Namath has gone before. If racing to a 41-7 lead and defeating the mistake-ridden Bills achieved anything for the Jets besides Etch A Sketching the preseason - just as Coach Rex Ryan promised - it was the obliteration of the contention that Tebow is here to challenge for Sanchez's position. The memory of how good Sanchez was Sunday - at least after a turnover on the Jets" first possession - should be burnished in the minds of every Jets coach, teammate and fan for more challenging games to come. He threw for 266 yards and 3 touchdowns, narrowly missing a fourth, for a quarterback rating of 123.4. Not that Ryan needs much ammunition to shoot off his mouth, but Sanchez and the play of his reconfigured offensive line inspired him to rave, "When Mark has time to throw the football, he can throw it with anybody." Just to make sure Sanchez's head didn't swell to where it wouldn't fit into his helmet next week in Pittsburgh, Ryan said of Sanchez's unfortunate shovel pass that bounced off Jeff Cumberland's hands and was intercepted by Bryan Scott, "I was thinking that we should bench him." He followed with a punch line - "I had to take that shot" - but maybe now we can at least believe Ryan, who has insisted since the beginning of Tebow that Sanchez is his starter and that Tebow is here as a multipurpose player, a fancy toy with a huge and fanatical following. And here is why: quality of opponent notwithstanding, Tebow cannot come close to the near throwing masterpiece Sanchez put together Sunday. Barring injury to Sanchez, Tebow won't get the chance. Sanchez did have a lot of help from his friends - from those one would expect it from and those who did him no preseason favors. Darrelle Revis and Kyle Wilson picked off Ryan Fitzpatrick on Buffalo's first two possessions and provided Sanchez the field position he needed to put 14 points on the board by seven seconds into the second quarter with touchdown passes to the young and previously erratic receivers Jeremy Kerley and Stephen Hill. Meanwhile, Tebow was unveiled in the Wildcat after it was guarded all summer like a nuclear missile program. As a weapon it was nothing of the sort. Tebow carried the ball 5 times for 11 yards, mostly up the middle, and handed off a few more times. He lined up once as a slot receiver. Nobody bumped into each other in the act of coming on and off, and nothing bad came of the deployment. But the truth of the matter is that the Wildcat was about the only thing the Jets tried on offense that didn't really work. Tebow explained that this was in part because the package remains a work in progress. "We didn't show too much," he said. Some efficient plays; would have preferred to break one of them. Tebow said he didn't hear the brief second-quarter booing, or the derisive cheers after he recovered the onside kick following a Buffalo touchdown that got the Bills within 41-28 with about six minutes to play. This was in keeping with his congenital cheerfulness, along with the stunningly positive vibes generated by the Jets in the wake of last season's collapse and the vaudeville of finger-pointing that followed. Be it for show or because Sanchez and Tebow have really discovered a good chemical balance, their body language was encouraging, from start to finish: slapping hands when subbing in and out and doing the leaping bump after Sanchez opened the scoring with a 12-yard strike to Kerley - the most physical punishment Sanchez absorbed on a day when he was not sacked. "They kept me upright - and it helps," Sanchez said of the line. The good karma continued in the locker room, where Sanchez and Tebow, in neighboring stalls, whispered and laughed like best buddies in the back of the classroom. Finally, Tebow warmly shook Sanchez's hand and told him how happy he was for him on the way out the door. Democrats and Republicans, cats and dogs, Joe Girardi and reporters covering the Yankees, take note: We can all get along. At his news conference, Sanchez cautioned that "one game does not make a season," which we already knew. But perhaps there was something we didn't know - or didn't want to admit before Sanchez smacked us across the face with his performance. Though Ryan pumped up Tebow's value by hypothesizing that preparing for the Wildcat made the Bills vulnerable elsewhere, the reality is that there is no Jets quarterback controversy. Ryan was overdoing it with his line about Sanchez being able to throw like anybody, meaning Tom Brady or Drew Brees. But Tebow cannot throw the way Sanchez did Sunday, not even close, probably not in a million years and certainly not this season.