CORTLAND—He tried to downplay the news, acting as if it was no big deal.

Perhaps Mark Sanchez was still a little bothered by his uninspiring performance in Sunday’s practice, when his throws were off-target and he completed 2 of 10 passes two days after some were salivating over him as if he were the second coming of Joe Willie Namath.

It also could’ve been because the coaching staff’s decision was widely assumed, anyway, even though the Jets never came right out and stated it.

But the official word was handed down right after the morning practice, in which Sanchez was working with the first-string offense: the rookie quarterback gets the start in the Jets’ “Monday Night Football” matchup against the super-aggressive Ravens in Baltimore a week from today.

The cover boy kept things in perspective, though, and uncharacteristically showed little emotion as he looked ahead to his first career NFL preseason start.

There weren’t about to be any proclamations from the Jets’ $50-million man, and he wasn’t going to stick the quarterback competition bull’s-eye squarely on his shoulder pads just because it’s his next chance to wow the staff.

“You can’t put it on one game, or one practice or one throw,” said Sanchez, who dazzled in Friday’s preseason loss to the St. Louis Rams by going 3 for 4 for 88 yards and connecting with David Clowney on a 48-yard pass on his first throw. “It’s consistency and building off the last game. I’m guessing we might get more playing time depending on how things are going up front [with injured linemen] and who’s coming back.

“But you can’t put it on one deal. You put too much pressure on yourself. There’s no need to do that.”

Apparently, neither is the need for coach Rex Ryan to decide if he still plans to name the winner of the competition by the Aug. 29 preseason game against the New York Giants. Ryan has said that he ideally would love to have the starter in place by then because the third preseason game traditionally serves as the dress rehearsal for the season opener.

“I know I want to have it done then, but I’m not saying 100 percent it will be,” Ryan said. “I’m assuming it will, but I’m not going to guarantee that I will have it done by that time.”

In part, that could be because neither Sanchez nor Kellen Clemens were able to play for a lengthy period Friday because three-fifths of the starting offensive line were out with injuries.

So the Ravens game could indeed be the last hurrah for both to prove himself.

“If he is going to name a starter going into the third preseason game, then this is our last game situation to show what we can do,” Clemens said. “But it’s live bullets out there in practice. I think Rex will probably look at the whole thing.

“He’ll look at practice, he’ll look at the game tapes, he’ll look at everything and make his decision on what he thinks is best for this football team.”

Still, how Sanchez and Clemens perform against the Ravens will go further in the evaluation process than what either did Friday. The Rams’ pillowy-soft interior defense is totally inferior to the in-your-face style the Ravens employ, and they’ll be looking to throw multiple looks at both quarterbacks.

“If you could do anything against that bunch, you could move it against anybody,” Ryan said. “Baltimore and Pittsburgh have been the best defenses in this league for a long time. . . .

“Yes, it would count for more than moving it against St. Louis. No disrespect to St. Louis but they aren’t the Ravens. They aren’t Pittsburgh. So those would be the two measuring sticks I would think I’d have.”

As far as the health of the offensive line, Pro Bowl left guard Alan Faneca had surgery on his broken left middle finger and is out for the Ravens game. He could miss the entire preseason, although Ryan said he’d be playing if it was the regular season.