Maye a big bright spot for Jets with big plays

NEW YORK — The football was zipping through the air as the New York Jets players and coaches held their breath on the sideline.

All except for Adam Gase. He was watching Marcus Maye run stride for stride with Rams tight end Gerald Everett with the team’s first victory of the season on the line.

“When I saw that ball go up and I saw who it was,” the Jets coach recalled Thursday, “I was like, ‘We have as good a chance as we’ve ever had because that guy is on him.’ ”

Maye turned to the ball, leaped with his back to Everett and swatted away Jared Goff ’s long throw on fourthand-4 with 3:54 left — helping seal the Jets’ surprising 23-20 win at Los Angeles last Sunday.

“I just made a play on fourth down,” a humble

Maye said after the game, “but it was definitely a group effort, a team effort.”

The fourth-year safety has been making big plays all season, even while the Jets were off to an 0-13 start. Through it all, Maye has been one of the constant bright spots — and it was capped by him being selected the team’s Curtis Martin MVP for the season, as voted on by the players.

“It could’ve been anybody, but for them to choose me is definitely an honor,” Maye said Thursday. “There have been a lot of ups and downs this year, but we all stuck together.”

Maye was elected a team captain and has embraced the role of team leader this season, something that has become even more apparent since the trade of safety Jamal Adams to Seattle in the offseason. While Adams was very much a vocal presence on the field and in the locker room, Maye has been mostly a leader by example.

And that has earned him the respect of his teammates and coaches.

“He’s checked every box you can possibly check to win that award for us, for sure,” Gase said. “Whether you’re a player or coach — anybody in the organization — his leadership has been phenomenal since we got this thing going.”

Maye made some headlines a few weeks ago when he was uncharacteristically critical of the play-calling by then-defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, who dialed up an all-out blitz against Las Vegas with the Jets holding a late lead. The Raiders ended up scoring a touchdown on undrafted rookie cornerback Lamar Jackson. And Williams was fired the next day.

Many of Maye’s teammates applauded him for speaking his mind after such a brutal loss.