CORTLAND — Dee Milliner doesn’t have to worry about any sophomore jinx, not after three benchings, not after Jets Nation began to grow horrified that he might be the Vernon Gholston of the secondary.
But the word to Jets fans now from Milliner, 100 percent healthy at last, is this: Don’t worry about me.
To wit: “J-E-T-S, Jets Jets Jets,” Milliner said with a smile. “Just keep on doing that, we gonna make it happen for them. That’s it.”
So they shouldn’t worry about you?
“Just go out there and cheer. When I make a play, cheer me on again, when I don’t make a play, still cheer me on.”
Milliner knows that’s not how it works, but…
“I’m going to try to have fun, make more plays, do my job, be accountable, be responsible — do what I need to do to be a great player.”
So they’re wasting their time worrying about you?
“Yeah. Wasting time.”
It is telling that Milliner never lost his confidence even during his daunting NFL indoctrination.
The only way for cornerbacks to thrive is to believe is they are the best in the league — just ask them — but the comparisons to Darrelle Revis always were ridiculous, and unfair, and Milliner paid them no mind.
“You can’t just jump in and out yourself right where he was at,” Milliner said. “I got to create my own identity, do my own thing, make my own plays. He did his thing. That was him. I got to come do me.”
He is ready now to come do Dee Milliner, and play like the ninth pick in the 2013 draft. And please excuse the 50-yard touchdown he surrendered Saturday to Clyde Gates. Asked which quarterbacks he is looking forward to intercepting, he smiled and said, “All of them. Wish I could get a pick every game, wouldn’t be too bad.”
An unrealistic goal, of course, even for Revis, Richard Sherman and Patrick Peterson. But Milliner said he knows he will have his opportunities.
“You know they got to throw the ball to their best receivers, they got to get it to their playmakers,” he said.
Coach Rex Ryan’s defense will have a chance to be dominant if Milliner, opposite Dimitri Patterson, can become an impact player.
“That’s what the coaches expect, that’s what I expect of myself, that’s what they drafted me for. I know I got to get out there and do that,” Milliner said.
Milliner was hampered by post-surgical shoulder problems following the draft, an Achilles tendon issue in training camp and hamstring woes during the 2013 season, but never made excuses.
“Nothing’s wrong with me,” Milliner says now.
Ryan challenged him in June when the hamstring acted up to be in world-class shape.
“Since I’m a professional now, I got to be a pro, so you got to stay up on your body,” Milliner said. “Even if nothing wrong with you, take it as something wrong with you.”
Even after last season’s benchings, Milliner was always at his locker to face the music.
“You get up, just be a cheerleader on the sideline for my team,” Milliner said. “When [Ryan] made a change, I had to adapt to the change.”
Asked if his pride was stung, Milliner said, “I’m a grown man. They always say, ‘You’re going to get criticized, it ain’t personal.’”
Milliner surged at the end of last season, including two interception at Miami in the season finale.
“I benched great players before in the past,” Ryan said. “I benched them all at one point or another. Because sometimes they need to sit down and take a look, and then you put them back out there.
“But what I noticed from him is he grew. And as the season wore on, he knew he can play in this league. Right now, it’s nothing to him. He’s out there, let’s go. And his teammates, believe me, they’re definitely confident in Dee Milliner.”