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Marty Mornhinweg and Rex Ryan haven't decided if Geno Smith or Mark Sanchez will start the second preseason game.

(William Perlman/The Star-Ledger)

CORTLAND, N.Y. — The Jets began training camp here on July 25, and they will conclude it Thursday, exactly three weeks later, with a practice that is closed to fans and media. There is no Tim Tebow circus at Jets camp this year, but there is still one clear focus from start to finish – the quarterback competition between Mark Sanchez and rookie Geno Smith.

Both coach Rex Ryan and new offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg talked at length Tuesday about the competition, and the most interesting thing said came from Mornhinweg, who mentioned that he didn’t get a complete evaluation of Smith’s debut in last Friday’s preseason opener in Detroit.

The Jets’ staff is still determining who will start Saturday at home against Jacksonville, Ryan said. Last Tuesday, Ryan picked Sanchez over Smith as the starter for the Detroit game. If Ryan stayed on the same schedule, he would name a starter for Saturday’s game on Wednesday. But there are absolutely no guarantees Ryan will do that. After his media session Wednesday, he won’t speak with reporters again until a Friday teleconference.

As Ryan and Mornhinweg looked back on the Detroit game, Mornhinweg mentioned that even though Smith played three and a half series – two with the starting offensive line – before going down with a mild right ankle injury, the staff was not able to get a complete evaluation of how he performed. (Sanchez played three series, all with the starters.)

The reason Mornhinweg wasn’t able to get a complete evaluation of Smith?

“I was trying to do a couple of things,” he said. “For instance, I wanted to play (fullback) Tommy (Bohanon) quite a little bit. I wanted to see just exactly where he’s at. Wanted to get (tight end) Kellen (Winslow) at least one ball pretty quick. I wanted to get (receiver) Stephen (Hill) on certain things. I wanted to see each guard pull one way. That was my responsibility. There was one series where I didn’t just let Geno play. We were trying to get a couple of things accomplished that way.

“So it was not much of an evaluation on Geno. You were able to see him drop back and throw the ball a couple times, certainly. But we had seen that in practice. Then he got nicked with the ankle. So there wasn’t much evaluation there. Now, he handled the huddle well and all those things. Probably looking back on it, it was probably a pretty good first experience. He got in, he completed a few balls and then now he’s got to push through this thing that he’s got (with his ankle).”

When asked why he doesn’t just start Smith against Jacksonville if his ankle is recovered, considering he didn’t get a complete evaluation of him in Detroit, Mornhinweg mentioned that “variables” go into such a decision. Mornhinweg also mentioned “variables” when asked about the challenges of waiting until after the third of four preseason games to pick a starting quarterback.

When queried on if there is any separation between Smith and Sanchez at this point, Mornhinweg said, “A lot of variables. One (Smith) is nicked up just a little bit and had done very, very well up to that point. The other one (Sanchez) has played at a pretty high level fairly consistently, but still working on playing at a high level throughout the game.”

Mornhinweg hasn’t been any less hard on Smith during practice this week, when he made a mistake, even as Smith limped at times. (He looked far less gimpy Tuesday.)

“I appreciate him pushing through that thing,” Mornhinweg said. “Now, when you’re nicked up, you’ve got to play well, as well. You have to play well when you’re nicked up. Otherwise, you might as well be in the doggone training room. He’s done some good things this week even though he’s still gimping around just a little bit.”

Ryan has also been encouraged by Smith’s physical progress. Smith’s limp has steadily disappeared with each day. Tuesday was his third practice day since the injury.

“He seems to be getting a little better,” Ryan said. “It’s still kind of noticeable that he’s got a little bit of a limp. I don’t think it’s as bad as it was.”

Mornhinweg once again mentioned “variables” when discussing what goes into picking a starter for Saturday’s game.

“Some depending on health, some depending on how we’re practicing and some depending on the big-picture plan tentatively set up before we started camp,” he said.

He declined to detail that plan, or say if it originally had a rotational setup with Smith starting the Jacksonville game if Sanchez started in Detroit – or vice versa. He said only this about the plan: “I’m not going to get into details, because it (the plan) is always tentative and it is fluid because of all the variables that we deal with within the game.”

Would Mornhinweg like for Smith and Sanchez to play an equal number of series with the first-team offensive line on Saturday, considering that didn’t happen in Detroit?

“I’d like it to be pretty similar, but I’m not going to count the exact series,” he said. “I want to make it reasonably fair there, but many things aren’t fair, so we’re going to take advantage of the opportunities given to us. It’s just that simple. I want to make it reasonably even and reasonably fair.”

Ideally, as Mornhinweg said earlier in camp, the staff would pick a quarterback sooner rather than later. But as camp concludes Thursday, later is quickly becoming now.

“It would be better if it happened earlier,” Mornhinweg said. “In many cases, you just have to give them time and enough reps to show their natural playing ability and how they’ve progressed. In many cases, you need game-type situations. Certainly at practice, we try our best to make some of those situations game-like experiences, because those are the best evaluations.”

At Tuesday’s practice, both Smith and Sanchez worked with the first team, as the Jets did some game plan installation. But the quarterbacks practiced mostly against the scout team defense, rather than the starters.

“There was probably a bigger emphasis placed on install,” Ryan said. “We did the same thing on defense as well.”

Ryan would not budge at all when questioned about time tables for deciding who would start Saturday or who would start on opening day.

“There doesn’t have to be a time table,” Ryan said. “But we want to see, obviously, where Geno is at and how he’s progressing in a week (with his ankle) and we’ll make that decision (about Saturday’s starter). Let’s see how the week plays out, and then we’ll make the right decision (about Saturday). Is that (ankle injury) a factor? Certainly, it’s a factor. Is it the primary one? I don’t know. A lot of factors go into it.

“But let’s get to where we feel good about the decision and it’s a complete decision and not just: Hey, I wanted to do it for Tuesday, for the press conference. That’s not it. Let’s make sure we’re making the appropriate decision at the appropriate time.”

As for who will start the opener, Ryan said, “We never put a time table on it.” But Ryan does understand that most teams settle on starters before the third preseason game.

“That’s usually it, but it’s not set in stone that that’s an absolute must, that that has to happen,” he said. “We may still be in the evaluating stage for all the positions. It’s usually the scenario (that starters play more in the third preseason game), but we’ll see where we’re at when we get there.”

Even this deep into a competition that began in the spring, neither Ryan nor Mornhinweg would even say if one quarterback was leading right now, without naming that guy – as if their close-to-the-vest approach should come as any surprise.

“I think it’s too early to say is this guy leading or whatever?” Ryan said. “The competition is not complete. We’ll go through the competition and I’m confident that the right decision will be made.”

Some other notes from Tuesday …

** Ryan was again asked about Sanchez’s pick six in Detroit.

“On that particular play, you’ve got to have vision,” Ryan said. “Where he’s looking or whatever, you have to have a vision to you that, hey look, we see this – you’ve got the tackle already moving out with him. Obviously, you don’t need to throw that ball. Where (Sanchez’s) eyes were at, we’ve got to fix that. We worked it through corrections. We really worked it. Marty has hammered it. (Quarterbacks coach) David Lee has. It can’t happen. It can’t happen again. There’s no doubt.”

** Mornhinweg wasn’t pleased with the Jets’ running game in Detroit (16 carries, 37 yards).

“That disappointed me just a little bit,” he said. “We had six, I believe, big plays – one in the running game. That’s not good enough. We’re going to have to make a few more than that. Those big plays were 20-something yards. Looking for a little bit more.”

Said Ryan, of the run/pass balance in Detroit, where the Jets threw the ball 39 times: “You never want to just have 13 rushes, or whatever it was, in a game. You don’t want that. But will we throw the ball more than we run it (this year)? That’s certainly a possibility.”

Last season, the Jets ran the ball exactly one more time than they threw it – 494 to 493. Mornhinweg’s West Coast offense might very well change that ratio.

** Mornhinweg has been pleased with what he saw from running back Chris Ivory as he returned the past two days from a hamstring injury. But as far as Ivory’s pass protections, Mornhinweg said, “We’ll find out when he gets a little bit more time.” Those protections are a big part of the West Coast offense. Mornhinweg echoed Ivory’s comments that he wasn’t sure if Ivory will play against the Jaguars.

** Among the players who missed Tuesday’s practice: nose tackle Kenrick Ellis (back), wide receiver Clyde Gates (head injury) and running back Joe McKnight, who was trying to return from a head injury but couldn’t finish Monday’s practice. When asked about McKnight’s situation and if it’s anything new, all Ryan would say was: “Head. That’s what it is. Anything other than that, that’s the official stance that we have.”

As expected, cornerback Antonio Cromartie, one of the team’s best players, was at practice Tuesday after banging his elbow into a teammate Monday. He finished Monday’s practice and later tweeted that he was fine. He looked fine Tuesday, as well.

** A lot (too much?) was made of Ryan saying he only saw the end of Sanchez’s pick six in Detroit because he was talking to the defense. He is taking a more involved role with the defense this year, similar to what he did in his first two years, in 2009 and 2010.

Ryan was asked if he thinks people parse his words more this year than in the past, as the Jets are coming off 6-10 and 8-8 seasons following back-to-back trips to the AFC championship game.

“I think I use the same words, but that could be,” he said. “To me, there’s no difference. I missed plays my first couple years, too. Every coach in the league is that way. Most people get it. More people understand that that’s just part of it. But for the people that don’t, that they’re (saying), ‘Oh, my coach needs to be standing up there,’ that’s fine. Your coach is probably not coaching if he sees every play. You’ve got to teach. You’ve got to do all those type of things. I saw the end result of it (the pick six). I answered the thing truthful, and that’s the way I am. I answer questions (with) what I believe to be the truth. I think I’ve done that since the day I got here. I’m not running from my record or anything else. I don’t really care (if people parse what he says more). I’m just going to be myself.”