MIAMI — This just in: Dee Milliner is no Darrelle Revis. But he’s no bust either.
“I guess there’s another Dee Milliner sighting, it’s amazing that happens, ’cause you guys were right on top of it knowing that this dude was going to pick his play up at the end of the year and be the best corner in the draft,” Rex Ryan crowed after his once-embattled first-round pick intercepted Ryan Tannehill twice in the Jets’ 20-7 victory over the Dolphins. “If we held the draft today, I think he might be the first corner taken. … I think, I’m not sure.”
Milliner, much like Geno Smith, showed resiliency after severe growing pains that forced him to the bench three separate times during the season.
Milliner, who was assigned Dolphins burner Mike Wallace, was in man coverage when he jumped the route for his first pick.
“I just took off running once I seen him curl up,” Milliner said.
And the second one?
“The second was in a zone coverage — they ran the same play that I picked off last week against the Browns,” Milliner said. “Somebody curled up, and I looked back at Tannehill, and he was doing the same thing, he was ready to throw the ball. I was in the right place at the right time.”
Milliner had been beaten early by Wallace for a 5-yard TD.
“We were in a man coverage where I had outside leverage, so he ran an out, then he went back in,” Milliner said. “Two plays before that, I jumped like two out routes, so that was a good play call, ’cause once I seen another out, I broke on that, and he just went back up the field.”
Milliner said his confidence never wavered during the hard times.
“As a corner, you got to have a short-term memory, you got to have confidence, you got to keep it each week,” Milliner said. “We got leaders on the team that stayed with me, and helped me out.”
Antonio Cromartie was thrilled with Milliner’s progress.
“I’ve seen what we’ve been waiting on for the past 13 weeks,” he said. “I think the game has slowed down. When you are playing defensive back, you got to let things slow down to you, and that’s something I think he’s been doing, how he’s been watching film, understanding what guys are trying to do. And that’s what makes the game slow down. When you can understand what people are trying to do to you, you understand what kind of receiver you’re covering. … He’s playing a lot faster.”
Ryan, too, said he never lost faith in the kid.
“I just think he understands the pro game, sometimes it takes time, he missed all that training camp, he missed all the minicamps and all that, and you throw a guy in there, it’s a different game, it’s the men’s league, not the kid’s league,” Ryan said. “I think you learn how to study like a pro, and I think his game really picked up when Ed Reed came in, I truly believe that. … I saw it on the practice field, that’s when you noticed the kind of player he’s becoming. Sheldon [Richardson] it was kind of immediate, but with Dee, it just took a little time, and certainly you saw that.”