If this were a winning season for the Jets, a guy like Chris Hayes would already have been hailed as a difference-maker. He’d be touted as a special-teams Pro Bowl candidate.
If this were a winning season, the heroic play Hayes made against the Cardinals with the game on the line last Sunday would have had people talking about it as a season-saving or season-turning play.
With the Jets trailing 7-6 in the game and Tom Tupa punting deep into Arizona territory, Hayes made a hurdling, one-armed stop of Cardinals returner Mac Cody at the Arizona six-yard line. The Cardinals, for the rest of the game, would never recover from the poor field position against the Meadowlands winds and that allowed the Jets to come back and win.
Bill Parcells, who doesn’t heap praise the ordinary, called it “one of the great plays I’ve seen in football in a long time.”
It was a play that defined Hayes, whose desire to be a fulltime defensive player has never gotten in the way of his effort on special teams, where he’s carved out a nice niche for himself. For example, with so many safeties in training camp this summer, had it not been for Hayes’ special teams prowess, it’s unlikely he’d have made the team on defense alone.
When the Jets play the Patriots Monday night at Foxboro, Hayes will be looking across the field at somewhat of a mirror of himself in New England’s Larry Whigham, whom Parcells groomed into one of the NFL’s best special-teams players when he coached there.
Like Whigham, Hayes has accepted his role even if it’s not exactly what he wants to do and has pledged to become the best he can be at that role.
“I’ll be meeting up with some good special-teams players [Monday night],” Hayes said. “It’s going to be a good week when you’ve got Larry Whigham, Troy Brown returning punts and kickoffs, Marty Moore, [Vernon] Crawford’s coming on strong. They’ve got some competitive guys. They can play on special teams. They’ll definitely be a challenge. I want to play the best to see what I can do, too.
“I’ll have Lawyer [Milloy] and Ty [Law] on me [on punt coverage]. They’re the ones that I should be facing. They do a good job. I love it, man. I know Lawyer real well. He’s always aggressive. He’ll come up to try to knock you out. Ty Law has been a cover guy who can blanket you. My job is cut out for me this week.”
If Hayes didn’t already have the attention of the Patriots, he can’t hide after that one-handed tackle against Cody.
“I looked at that play, truthfully, as just me doing my job,” Hayes said. “It’s what I get paid for doing. Just run down the field and make the tackle. I try to handle it like anyone who’s playing defense. Just do my job.
“Hitting the guy, causing the guy to fumble and picking up the fumble and running it in and score – that’s my dream play.”
It’s the kind of play the underdog Jets desperately need from Hayes and the special teams, particularly as they start the inexperienced Ray Lucas at quarterback.
“We all have come together and told ourselves we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do to create field position,” Hayes said of himself and the Jets’ kick- and punt-coverage players. “Having Bernie [Parmalee] around is a plus. He’s a leader, he hustles. Then younger guys, like myself, we see the older guys out there running around busting their butts, it makes you want to run around and bust your butt, too.”
On kickoff coverage, the Jets lead the AFC in opposition’s average drive start (23.5 yard line). Hayes and Parmalee are tied for the lead with 10 special- teams tackles each.
In spite of his special-teams success, Hayes, who was a linebacker in college and has been converted to safety, still burns to play defense on a regular basis.
“In my career, before it’s all said and done, I want to be out there playing defense,” he said. “I believe in myself and my capabilities. That’s one of my goals. I tell you right now, I am going to be in there one day. But I believe in the coaches. I believe they know what’s right.
[Parcells] has been around for years, and he knows what he’s doing. I’ve never questioned his decisions. He feels I’ve got my niche and role going.”
It’s a key role for the Jets.