TURNING CORNER
Part of Jets’ surge has been thanks to defensive backs Austin, Maulet
There is exactly nobody on Earth who would have predicted Gregg Williams would lean on a journeyman and a sixthround rookie to breathe life into the Jets secondary this season. Truth be told, most Jets fans probably never heard of Arthur Maulet and Bless Austin six months ago.
Yet here we are.
The cornerback duo has emerged from obscurity to help Williams’ improving de- fense. Maulet and Austin have played surprisingly important roles during Gang Green’s three-game winning streak, two guys making the most of their opportunities for a maligned back end.
“Those two guys have brought great juice,” Adam Gase said. “They’ve learned each week through mistakes, through good things, through watching other guys of kind of how to operate, how to do things within a game, how to fix things during a game.”
They are the most unlikely of contributors.
The undrafted Maulet, who bounced from the Saints to the Colts back to the Saints before landing with the Jets, had a grand total of one career start in his first two seasons. Heck, the Jet, who was signed by former general manager Mike Maccagnan to a reserve/futures deal in January, was even cut him last month. The Jets brought him back to the practice squad before Trumaine Johnson’s season-ending ankle injuries prompted him to be elevated back to the active roster.
Austin, who spent the better part of six months rehabbing his second torn ACL in two years, was even expected to play this season.
Now, they’re doing a solid job on the outside for Williams, who has his group playing well despite a litany of injuries to starters and backups.
“I think their energy level is off the charts,” Gase said of Maulet and Austin. “You could tell they’re excited to be out there. Whatever they have, they give it. They’re flying around. They’re involved in the run game. They’re tackling. They’re trying to stay as tight as possible when they’re in some kind of zone. They’re trying to do a good job of rerouting and then dropping into their zone and being in the right spot and being able to work with those other guys.”
Mualet and Austin combined for 12 tackles in Sunday’s win against the Raiders. Maulet was terrific in run support with three tackles for loss.
“Both of them have been playing some really good football the past few weeks,” defensive lineman Henry Anderson said. “I walked into the facility with Art (Monday) morning. He was a little sore this morning. He said he felt like a linebacker (against the Raiders). He was coming downhill making some tackles in the run game.”
Quality run support from defensive backs has been an underplayed yet important piece to Williams’ puzzle during this winning streak.
“The beauty of what our DBs do is how physical they are in the run game,” Anderson said. “That’s a big part of why we’ve had success against the run… the physical nature of our defensive backs. Those guys providing support in the run game has been huge for us. Obviously when they’ve been in coverage and do what they do in coverage, it allows us to try to affect the quarterback.”
Austin made his NFL debut three weeks ago when replacing the ineffective Nate Hairston a win against the Giants. He has shown flashes of great play in the past few weeks, showing good instincts and toughness. His teeth-rattling hit on Hunter Renfrow was one of the signature moments for Gang Green’s defense last week. Renfrow, who was later drilled on Anderson’s tackle, left the game with a broken rib and punctured lung.
Austin and Maulet have been far from perfect, but their solid play creates questions about whether Darryl Roberts, who has missed the past three games with a calf injury, will get his starting job back.
“That’s one of those problems where we’ll worry about it when we get there,” said Gase, who expects Roberts to practice in the run-up to Sunday’s game in Cincinatti. “Once Darryl gets back, that’s going to be a positive thing for us because that’s another guy that we have in that secondary that’s played, that’s done a lot of good things for us and it can definitely help us.”
In the meantime, Gase & Co. will continue to lean on two pleasant surprises.