Jets safety Antonio Allen felt he was “having a pretty productive season” — part of what he planned would be “my breakout year.”
But then Jets went out and signed veteran Ed Reed three weeks ago and gave him Allen’s starting job. So Allen insisted he would try to contribute however, whenever he could.
He couldn’t have done much more Sunday.
Allen blocked a punt — his second of the season — and this time he recovered the ball for a touchdown that gave the Jets a tremendous jolt, both in emotion and on the scoreboard, during their 37-27 victory over Oakland at MetLife Stadium.
“It feels good to make a play on special teams. I’ve been trying to get out there and make [plays with] whatever happens with my playing time. So it’s big for me and big for the team. And we got the victory,” said Allen, who also split safety time virtually 50-50 with Reed.
Allen said Jets special teams coach Ben Kotwica had stressed all week that the Jets could exploit the Raiders’ punting game. For starters, he had Allen coming middle instead of off the edge.
“He put me in that spot, the perfect place,” Allen said.
He’d been talking about the long-snapper the whole week, how he doesn’t get back to his proper drop, so…Ellis Lankster swung across his face,” Allen said. “I just hit the gap between the A-gap and made a big play. Got the touchdown as well.”
Gee, some stuff is so simple, you know?
The Jets were up, 13-3, late in the first half when Allen made his momentum accelerating play. On a fourth-and-17, Marquette King set up to punt. Allen blew through with alarming ease, snuffed the ball and…well, let Allen tell the tale.
“It felt weird. Man, they just let me loose. I was surprised. I thought the tackle was going to give me some kind of push, but he didn’t even touch me. He just let me go right through,” said Allen, who admitted one thought.
“It’s a block! Man, it’s a block! We got to make money on this,’” Allen said. “When I blocked it, I came off and rolled backwards… it sort of fell in my lap. I tried to scoop it, but it didn’t work out. I just fell on it and got the touchdown.”
And the Jets got the boost they needed to propel them toward the win that stopped a three game losing streak. Allen admitted he was thinking of a big play.
“Who’s going to give us that spark? Because we need sparks and we need big momentum plays. And I came out and did it, man,” Allen said. It’s a team effort, of course, I just tried to do everything in my power and my will to help this team.”