Always confident in his players’ abilities, Jets head coach Rex Ryan is trying an experiment to see if his replacement for the team’s injured CBs is already on the roster.
After losing the team’s three starting CBs to injuries of various length this past week, Jets head coach Rex Ryan decided to give backup safety Antonio Allen some work at CB. Rex was so impressed with Allen’s performance that he immediately named him the No. 1 starting CB for the preseason game against the Bengals this Saturday.
“He’ll be tested a little bit this week,” Rex told reporters on Tuesday. “He’ll start. I don’t know if it’ll be (at) corner, but I think he probably will. I think, what the heck, let’s put him out there. They have a pretty decent kid out there.”
The Bengals No. 1 wide receiver is 3-time Pro Bowler AJ Green, who was 5th in receiving yards in 2013 and is widely considered one of the best WRs in football.
“Well, if (Allen) can cover that kid (Green), then he can cover them all,” Rex said. “I think if he can cover that kid, then we know we’re in good shape, because that guy is about as good as it gets. So, yeah, I think our entire fan base would sleep a lot better. I don’t know if he can do that. I don’t know. I don’t know if anybody can. Yeah, that would be a tough matchup, that’s for sure, for anybody.”
Allen started 9 games at safety in 2013 before the team signed Ed Reed for the remaining seven games of the season. He recorded two TDs – one INT-TD off Tom Brady in a Week 5 game against the Patriots and a blocked punt which he also returned for a TD – as well as a sack and over 40 tackles.
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