BALTIMORE — Mark Sanchez had enough great games at Southern Cal to know what it's like to have a clunker.

So, after the New York Jets rookie quarterback threw an interception and botched a handoff Monday night, he didn't take much consolation in throwing his first NFL touchdown pass during a 24-23 preseason loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

"Obviously we just need to take care of the ball better, meaning myself," said Sanchez, who went 3 for 8 for 43 yards in his first start. "We can't be giving them points. Turnovers, those just hurt."

Sanchez is competing against Kellen Clemens for the starting job. Clemens started the Jets' exhibition opener against St. Louis, and Sanchez got his chance against the Ravens.

The former USC standout probably couldn't have envisioned a worse start. His first pass was intercepted and returned for a touchdown, his second pass should have been picked off, and he was charged with a fumble during his lone productive drive — a 64-yard march that ended with a 19-yard touchdown pass to running back Leon Washington.

That provided a feel-good finish to his first NFL start, but didn't quite make up for the earlier miscues.

"It was difficult those first couple of plays, but I got settled down," Sanchez said. "The best thing, the most encouraging thing to me, was to see everybody in the huddle still rally around me."

Sanchez, the fifth player taken in the 2009 draft, didn't experience success until the Ravens removed several players from the first-team defense, including middle linebacker Ray Lewis and safety Ed Reed.

"It was clear that he was nervous out there. He was trying to get the ball out of his hand pretty much as quick as possible," Ravens cornerback Fabian Washington said. "He made some costly mistakes, but that's what we do. We're supposed to fluster a rookie quarterback."

The process began on the second play from scrimmage, when Sanchez forced a pass while being hit in the stomach by Lewis. The ball was intercepted by Haloti Ngata, who rumbled 25 yards for a touchdown to make it 7-0 with 52 seconds elapsed.

"Not obviously the way you want to start. I thought I was doing the right thing; I felt Ray come free on the right side from the protection," Sanchez said. "I was checking it down to the flat, perfect. Haloti just jumped right in front of the ball and made a really athletic play."

Jets head coach Rex Ryan knows all about the Baltimore defense. He worked 10 years molding it into one of the finest units in the NFL before taking the job with New York during the offseason. His return to Baltimore didn't quite go as planned, mainly because the Ravens returned two interceptions for touchdowns (Jameel McClain also victimized Clemens).