The Jets defense was starved for a turnover. Not just Sunday at MetLife Stadium against the rival Patriots, who looked like they were about to pull away from the Jets and leave them too far behind in the AFC East standings. But for the season.
The Jets defense, head coach Rex Ryan’s baby, came into the game having forced all of three turnovers in six games. That’s unacceptable for a defense that considers itself among the best in the league.
But you can now make the argument the dramatic pick-six made by Jets safety Antonio Allen — his first career interception — at the start of the third quarter Sunday might have turned the season around.
It surely turned Sunday’s game around, totally igniting what became a 30-27 Jets overtime upset win over the Patriots.
The Patriots were leading 21-10 at the half, the Jets’ offense had been sputtering after a quick start and New England got the ball first to start the third quarter. It did not look great for the Jets.
Not until, on the Patriots second play from scrimmage on the opening possession of the half Allen jumped the out route of tight end Rob Gronkowski, picked off Tom Brady’s pass and returned it 23 yards for a touchdown to cut the New England lead to 21-17 and inject life into the lifeless Jets.
“That gave us a big spark,’’ Jets safety Dawan Landry said. “After that, we were hunting.’’
The play changed the tenor of the game, awoke the Jets slumping offense and ignited their defense.
“The guy’s a football player,’’ Ryan said of Allen. “He’s a baller. He has playmaking skills. He’s a guy that has a long body. He was a linebacker at South Carolina. We knew he’d be challenged. That kid [Gronkowski], when he’s covered he’s open. We had to go with length on him and that’s why we made the move.’’
It was the most critical strategic move the Jets made during the week of practice leading up to the game, because Allen is the best cover safety the Jets have and he has the size (6-foot-1, 210 pounds) to at least not be dwarfed by the 6-6, 265-pound Gronkowski.
“He’s a tall, rangy safety who can cover the slot — one of the best cover guys we got,’’ Landry said. “He had that task today and he was up for it.’’
Gronkowski, who was playing in his first game this season after returning from an arm injury, finished with eight catches for 114 yards, but it was a relatively quiet day because he was targeted 17 times and did not get into the end zone.
“I just had to be physical with him at the line of scrimmage, put my hands on him,’’ Allen said. “He’s a great tight end who catches a lot of balls in the red zone. We just did a good job on him.’’
There was nearly one slip-up in the fourth quarter when the Patriots were driving for the game-tying field goal and Gronkowski nearly hauled in a high Brady pass with one hand. Had he caught it, he would have scored the go-ahead touchdown and there might not have been an overtime.
“Oh man, I broke on the ball and just misjudged it,’’ Allen said. “I was scared, but he dropped it, so I was relieved.’’
Allen credited film study for the game-turning pick-six.
“The [Patriots] have been running little quick out routes in a certain look, so I just jumped the route, came up with the pick and gave us a spark,’’ Allen said. “Man, we just knew we needed a turnover. We’ve been trying to get one and we knew we had to force a turnover to win the game.’’