FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Dee Milliner isn’t making anyone forget Darrelle Revis.
Heck, the Jets rookie cornerback and first-round pick out of Alabama isn’t even making them forget Aaron Beasley.
Not only did Milliner struggle for the second week in a row, but he couldn’t even make it to the third quarter of Thursday night’s 13-10, Week 2 loss here to the Patriots without losing his starting job after multiple blown coverages in the first half.
Coach Rex Ryan angrily and unceremoniously benched Milliner at halftime after he was beaten by rookie wideout Kenbrell Thompkins for an apparent 25-yard touchdown with 19 seconds left in the first half
The catch was overturned on replay, forcing a field-goal try that New England missed, but even dodging those two bullets weren’t enough for Ryan to give Milliner a break.
The coach had seen enough after Milliner gave up a touchdown in the Jets’ Week 1 victory over Revis’ Buccaneers, then allowed Patriots rookie Aaron Dobson to get embarrassingly wide open on a 39-yard scoring pass off a pretty Tom Brady play-fake just two minutes into Thursday night’s loss.
Milliner was replaced by Kyle Wilson and Darrin Walls in the third quarter and never returned.
“This young man is going to be a tremendous player,” Ryan said of Milliner afterward. “I told him, ‘You know Dee? I want you to sit on the sideline. I want you to watch. Sometimes when you do that, it’s the best thing for you.’ ’’
Ryan said a game against the Jets’ bitter rival was no time for Milliner to learn on the job.
“I’m trying to win a game,” Ryan said. “I’m going to put in who I think gives us the best chance to win it. He’s going to be a great player, but at that time I went with the veteran.”
Milliner, whose preparation for the season was set back by a contract dispute and a calf injury, said he was fine with the decision.
“I just made a couple of mistakes there on a couple of calls, then at the end there before halftime, the guy [Thompkins] got behind me,” Milliner said. “Just some simple mistakes. Nothing that the coaching staff did. It was just me. I could have made some better judgments.”
Milliner is no stranger to benching, saying it happened once under coach Nick Saban at Alabama.
“I stayed very much involved, looking on the field and congratulating everybody when they came off the field,” he said.
Milliner’s mature handling of the demotion didn’t go unnoticed by his teammates.
“He handled it like a pro,” fellow corner Antonio Cromartie said. “That was good to see.”