SOMEONE TO ‘D’ UP TO
Rookie safeties get chance to go against their heroes
As if there weren’t enough on the plates of a couple of rookies facing their team’s biggest rival in a game for first place, Sunday’s game against the Patriots will have an extra dynamic for the Jets’ dynamic safeties, Marcus Maye and Jamal Adams. They’ll be trying to stop someone they consider a legend.
New England quarterback Tom Brady has been one of the game’s best players for as long as they’ve been aware of the NFL.
“I’ve been watching him all my life,” Maye said, smiling and shaking his head.
“It’ll be the opportunity of a lifetime,” Adams said.
And as if that weren’t daunting enough, Brady will have back his favorite weapon in tight end Rob Gronkowski. The 6-foot-6, 265-pound matchup nightmare missed the Patriots’ win over the Buccaneers last Sunday because of a leg injury that has been reported as alternately a groin injury and a thigh contusion (like the Patriots would tell anyone). He was a limlimited participant in New England’s practice Thursday and is expected to play.
“Is he too big for a safety? Is he too strong and too fast for a linebacker?" defensive coordinator Kacy Rodgers said. “And when you give him a lot of attention, you leave a lot guys one-on-one.” Adams called Gronkowski “a future Hall of Famer,”Maye labeled and the assignment of containing him “a really big challenge.”
“You’ve got one of the best tight ends in the game that you’re going up against,” Maye said. “He does it all. ... He’s big and physical. He has a great catch radius.”
“He’s going to stretch the field because he can run all the routes,” Adams said. “We definitely got to get after him.”
There’s a strong possibility that Adams will have an especially big role in trying to slow Brady-to-Gronkowski. Rodgers said: “What we liked about him coming out [of college] is that we thought he could match up with tight ends. ... Jamal might have to cover him. Linebackers might have to cover him. Everybody may have to have a hand in it.”
This season, Brady has thrown 11 touchdowns with only one interception and leads the NFL in passing yards with 1,702. The 40-year-old has the Pats third in scoring and first in yards per game (419).
“The guy is like Father Time. He’s unbelievable,” Rodgers said. “Watch him on tape and it’s amazing what he is still able to do.”
In the four games he has played, Gronkowski has caught 20 passes for 318 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Adams, the club’s first-round pick, is fourth on the team in tackles with 25. Maye, the secondround pick, has 23 tackles and made his first interception in last weekend’s win over the Browns. Rodger said “we all talk about Jamal, but Marcus has been doing a really good job.”
Rodgers was asked about how the rookies might react to the challenge of facing New England this first time.
“For those guys, it’s just the next game. These guys are going into their sixth NFL game and just doing what we asked them,” he said. “They’ve got to be sharp. It’s not going to be an easy task. They know it and they’re up for the challenge.”