One game into the season, the Jets have survived their maligned cornerback corps, which did not hurt them in a 19-14 win over the Raiders Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
Cynics might say Sunday’s starting corners Darrin Walls and Antonio Allen — neither of whom was projected before the season to start at corner — made it through a game against a jayvee team.
The Raiders, with rookie quarterback Derek Carr, looked offensively challenged, though the Jets’ defense surely had something to do with that.
Dee Milliner and Dimitri Patterson were the projected starters at corner for the Jets. Milliner still is rehabbing from a high ankle sprain on his left leg, and Patterson, after his bizarre AWOL incident that was followed by being cut, is not longer around.
That meant Allen, who is a natural safety, was forced into starting his first career game at cornerback and Walls, normally a backup, made his fifth career start. Both played well, though Walls gave up a 30-yard touchdown pass to Oakland’s James Jones in the fourth quarter — but Jones made an acrobatic one-handed catch on the play.
Allen finished with five tackles and a pass defensed. Walls had two tackles.
“This just in: 39 [Allen] is a decent tackler,’’ coach Rex Ryan said. “Obviously, we’ve got to defend that one deep ball better, but overall, I thought our secondary played pretty well. If we come up with two picks, that’s a big thing. But I thought they played a lot better than most thought they would.’’
Allen said of him and Walls: “We’re both confident in our abilities. We do one-on-one every day against some good receivers in practice and we came out and played and had a nice day.’’
Walls said, “I think we have really good corners on this team. We’re all here for a reason. We all bring different skill sets to the game, and adding Dee is only a plus for us. We’ve got great guys who can play. We went out and had a solid performance.
“Aside from that last drive and touchdown I gave up, I think we played a really good game.’’
Asked what he would do differently on the TD, Walls said, “I would go up and attack the ball. I was trying to get a little too greedy trying to get the pick and he made a great catch. Credit to him, but I should have knocked the ball down.’’
Asked about the criticism the corners have endured, Walls said, “It gives us a little bit to play with as far as ‘they doubt us, they don’t think we’re any good.’ But we practice every day, we have a really good group of guys in the secondary. We don’t listen to what people say. We listen to what our coaches tell us and what we do on the practice field. That’s all we know. We don’t know anything else.
“I’m not surprised as had a good game. That’s the expectation. We’ve got to play like that not just this week, but next week and the rest of the season.’’