Monday, October 28, 2013

'It's just been a long season' for Dee Milliner

BY NICK ST. DENIS

Since being drafted No. 9 overall by the New York Jets, Dee Milliner has missed much of training camp recovering from an injury, missed three games to another ailment, been benched twice and burned regularly.

"It’s just been a long season," Milliner said Sunday evening, via the NY Daily News.

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton targeted the young cornerback early and often in a blowout victory over Gang Green, throwing at him five times and connecting on four of them for more than 100 yards and a touchdown.

Jets coach Rex Ryan tried to stop the bleeding by pulling Milliner in favor or Darrin Walls, but the damage was already done. Well, not really. Dalton went on to finish the game with five touchdown passes -- four to Marvin Jones -- as the entire secondary was embarrassed.

Milliner's first benching of the season, which came in Week 2 against the New England Patriots, was because he made too many mental errors. That wasn't the case Sunday.

"I benched him because physically he wasn’t getting it done," Ryan said after the game, via NewYorkJets.com.

The Jets will now have to patch up some sort of workable defensive backfield combination for when they host the New Orleans Saints next week. Then, Gang Green will be on a much-needed bye.

Well, we’ll play who we think, who we feel is the best guy for us, there’s no question about that," Ryan said. "We’ll decide that with every position."

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