Football teams like to talk about themselves as being a family unit where everyone works together to create a greater success for the whole. Most of the time such talk falls short of sounding genuine, but the Jets cornerbacks did their best to sell the idea on Monday night. Based on the way they played, they clearly want to see Darrelle Revis get paid.
We're not talking about Antonio Cromartie or Kyle Wilson here. The starters did a fine job during the first half and gave the Giants no big gainers through the air. We're talking about Dwight Lowery, Drew Coleman and Marquise Cole, guys who will have to play a lot if Revis isn't in the lineup when the games start counting. All three were beaten for second half touchdowns by Victor Cruz, an undrafted rookie catching passes from Jim Sorgi and Rhett Bomar.
That's not good and it did a lot to lessen the good feelings generated during the first 30 minutes of the game. Mark Sanchez made a poor decision on his first throw, leading to an interception, but settled down from there and led a couple of nice scoring drives. The decision making got better and he threaded the needle on a couple of throws with impressive zip. Braylon Edwards caught everything thrown his way -- there's a first time for everything -- and LaDainian Tomlinson looked as frisky as advertised during training camp.
On defense, the first teamers gave up 10 points because of Sanchez's interception and a nice run off a broken play by Ahmad Bradshaw. Otherwise they stifled the Giants and could have forced two turnovers if Cromartie held onto the ball. The thought of seeing him opposite Revis makes the mouth water while watching those other corners did nothing but make the blood boil.
The Jets showed so many good pieces on Monday night that it feels a bit unfair to focus on the one thing that looked bad. It is fair, though because that's pretty much the position the Jets are forcing people to take these days. There is so much talent and so much potential on this team that it only serves to drive home how much they miss Revis and how hard it will be to make good on the expectations without number 24 on the field.
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Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com. You can follow him on Twitter.
