The Jets didn’t have Sauce, but the secondary still had no issue cutting the mustard.
Forced to turn to Bryce Hall, Craig James and Tae Hayes at cornerback with All-Pro Sauce Gardner, fellow starter D.J. Reed and backup Brandin Echols sidelined by injury, the Jets’ secondary hardly missed a beat in their expectations to be one of the NFL’s best during a defense-fueled 20-14 win against the Eagles.
Hall had one of the Jets’ three interceptions, and safety Tony Adams made the biggest play of the game when he intercepted a pass and returned it 45 yards to set up the Jets’ game-winning touchdown in the final two minutes.
“During the week, we knew what we were going to be missing on our side with our corners and we did a lot of film study,” safety Jordan Whitehead said. “It was about guys stepping up. It’s the league, so even though we have the best corners in the league, we sure know the difference between first-string and second-string. But tonight, guys made plays.’’
Sure, A.J. Brown (seven catches for 131 yards) and DeVonta Smith (five catches for 44 yards) filled up the box score, but neither found the end zone, which would have been considered a pregame long shot for arguably the NFL’s best receiver duo against patchwork cornerbacks.
Hall logged only four defensive snaps in the first four games of the season, while James and Hayes were practice-squad elevations.
“We talked about it earlier in the day, like, ‘It’s going to be an amazing story when it’s all said and done,’ ” Hall said. “It’s one you will cherish for a really long time.”
The Jets found creative answers to short-handedness.
“They are some really good receivers,” Hall said. “But we just battled. It didn’t take a superhero effort. It took us doing our jobs with a high level of focus.”
Sometimes that meant subbing out the starter James on third downs in favor of Hayes, who played in just his 14th career game only 12 days after joining the practice squad.
He was so far off the radar that he is one of a few players represented on the Jets’ online roster by a team logo instead of a photo, and his game-day locker was added to a section cornered off for specialists.
“They had no flinch,” Hall said of the two practice-squad call-ups. “They were ready for it. It was really cool to do it with them.”
Other times that meant going with a big-nickel package that had third safety Ashytn Davis in the slot and Michael Carter II — the Jets’ top healthy corner — bumping out of position to the perimeter.
Carter left the game twice in the fourth quarter with a hamstring injury.
“With all of the different personnel groupings, we were trying to mix-and-match, moving our corners around so they couldn’t get a beat on it,” head coach Robert Saleh said. “You can’t do it without a guy like Bryce and his ability to communicate.”
The Jets communicated a clear message that their secondary is built with more than the just top-notch starters.
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