In the first public address ever since problems arose from a splintered locker room, Woody Johnson, owner of the Jets, defended Mark Sanchez.

Over the past couple of weeks, the Jets had seemed to be overtaken by issues, ending in a late-season collapse. On Wednesday, Johnson gave a public statement in defense of Sanchez’s work ethic.

The Daily News published a recent report detailing how anonymous teammates had criticized Sanchez, while other former teammates made their doubts known over the airwaves.

In response to these ugly comments on the person who used to be the Golden Boy of the NFL over the first two years, Johnson explained how Coach Rex Ryan might have underestimated the level of frustration among the team after having been defeated in its last three games.

Sanchez was not available that day to respond to the latest tempest, but a team spokesman admitted that Sanchez would not respond to “anonymous sources.”

Instead, Johnson went on to describe everyone in the team as being “a little frustrated,” he said when he was interviewed on “Morning Joe” by MSNBC.

He was asked whether he thought the team was in turmoil, and he responded, “They should be,” explaining that being a loser was not something that New Yorkers took lightly. New Yorkers reportedly wanted a winner, which added to the frustration.

The frustration was indeed something that was very familiar to the Jets, from as early as the first day of this new year. Santonio Holmes reacted strongly to the season-ending defeat by Miami, and all but quit on the team. The following day, Ryan admitted that Holmes did not seem to fit in well with the team, and that he might have made an error in judgment.

It also seemed that the lockout might have affected the chemistry of the team, which had kept the Jets from training as they always had in Cortland, New York.

Johnson posed a rhetorical question about how to correct the effects of the lockout, attributing it to “alchemy.” He went on to explain that the inside of the locker room was of course a bit different on a year-to-year basis.

The team has overhauled the coaching staff on offense, having Tony Sparano replace Brian Schottenheimer in the position of coordinator. Offensive line and assistant head coach Bill Callahan and receiver Henry Ellard have left, although the team apparently has no plans of changing quarterbacks. In fact, Johnson stood by Sanchez and complimented his practice habits, describing him as the first guy to get into the building in the morning and the last person to leave at night.

Of course, the rest of the team may not be that agreeable following the bitter season. It might have been a matter of the blame game when one of the members of the team, who chose to remain unnamed, was quoted as saying, “Doubt creeps in when you don’t get the job done.”

That definitely makes for a tough working environment for a quarterback, but Sanchez seems up to the challenge of overcoming the issues and uniting the locker room with successful plays on the field.

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