Those three words might just sum up the New York Jets’ once-promising season.

Quarterback Mark Sanchez provided one of the biggest boneheaded plays of the year when, just days after being taught how to slide by none other than New York Yankees skipper Joe Girardi, he launched himself headfirst trying to get a first down against the Buffalo Bills.  Sanchez sprained the posterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.  Although painful, it’s not going to knock him out for the rest of the season.  Rookie head coach Rex Ryan did the appropriate thing. He called his rookie QB a ”knucklehead.”

That may be one of the most salient things anyone associated with the NFL ever said.  Despite being a billion-dollar industry and having such a self-important image, plus that Park Avenue address, the NFL is full of knuckleheads.  These are athletes, not Rhodes Scholars.

Concerned about their franchise QB’s penchant for sliding headfirst, Ryan had Girardi come in and give Sanchez a lesson on sliding properly.  Granted, Sanchez is limited by a brace on his left knee.  But, c’mon, if Joe Girardi comes out and shows you how to slide on your good leg, you should be able to do it competently, if not perfectly.  Imagine having Keith Richards teach you the riff to ”Jumpin’ Jack Flash” or ”Brown Sugar.”  You’re likely to play it over and over, until your fingers bleed, and then want to show off for your friends.

Not Mark. After getting his lesson from the skipper, he apparently went looking for another hot dog, or wandered off and counted all that money the Jets are giving him to save the franchise.  He certainly didn’t put the tutorial to good use.

What’s curious about all this is that Sanchez grew up in Southern California.  He presumably played baseball at some point in his life.  Assuming he played Little League, he must have learned how to slide.  Yes, the first few times can be painful, and kids hate getting that strawberry on their butt cheek if they land the wrong way, but it happens to everybody.  But by the time they get to be 11 or 12, kids should be able to slide without a second thought.  The way he likes to dive headfirst, Sanchez must think he’s Rickey Henderson.  Come to think of it, Henderson was a hot dog,  and Sanchez ate a hot dog on the bench during a win at Oakland earlier this season, so now it’s all starting to make sense.

Ryan was right. Sanchez is a knucklehead.

We will grant him this  – occasionally, even big league ballplayers mess up.  Back in the mid-1980s, Pedro Guerrero of the Los Angeles Dodgers tore up his knee trying to steal third base in a spring training game.  Guerrero considered sliding, changed his mind, hesitated and caught his spikes.  At least in the NFL, once a QB goes down feet first, the defense has to back off.  Maybe that lesson from Girardi was way over Sanchez’s head.  Just like Ryan Leaf should have redone junior high, we’re suggesting that Sanchez redo Little League.  Since Ryan was able to get Girardi out to the Jets complex on just a few hours notice, he’s sure to be able to get his Knucklehead signed up for the 2010 season in Rancho Santa Margarita Little League near where Sanchez grew up.  Little League officials, no doubt embarrassed by Sanchez’s inability to slide, are sure to give the 23-year-old an exemption. Sanchez can have some fun, learn how to slide the right way and buy his teammates hot dogs at the snack bar after games.

Run, Forrest, run? Oh, heck no. Slide, Knucklehead, Slide!