During Saturday night's 19-16 victory over the Dallas Cowboys, the Jets received big-time plays from WRs Kenbrell Thompkins and Quincy Enunwa.
In the days before the game, offensive coordinator Chan Gailey addressed the impact of rookie WR Devin Smith's season-ending knee injury on the receiver rotation.
"We'll look at playing Kenbrell a little bit more," said Gailey. "For the most part, he's known what to do and has done it and played in a game before, so we feel fairly comfortable with him in there."
When the Jets offense needed to make a play in the last minute of the game at AT&T Stadium, QB Ryan Fitzpatrick delivered a deep pass to Thompkins along the right sideline.
"He came up to me, again just a smart football player, and said against this particular coverage I can get down the sideline," said Fitzpatrick. "We called the play, we got the coverage, and really, I don't know if I've ever thrown that one to him before. It was kind of a trust throw. I had to get rid of it and he made a great play."
"It was Cover-2," added Thompkins during his media scrum. "Fitz just happened to make the throw to me and I am happy to make the catch. We had that look the whole game. Every time we were in that situation they actually rolled Cover-2 a lot. I told Fitz, don't fall asleep on the hold shot. The opportunity came and he threw me the ball."
Thompkins wouldn't be the only Jets wideout to make a play for the Green & White in the clutch. Enunwa made his presence felt as well.
Early in the fourth quarter, Fitzpatrick connected with Enunwa on a critical third-down pass over the middle two plays before the Jets' go-ahead touchdown.
"He did a great job getting in between linebackers: under the Mike, over the Will, the safety was there," said Fitzpatrick. "It was a horrible pass. He made the catch. The safety and the Mike were right there. That was the play of the game, I thought. His catch there allowed us to get into end zone on that one."
"That's big for us," added WR Brandon Marshall. "People are going to key on Deck and me so getting other guys involved — Quincy made a huge play on third down. That was probably the play of the game. I'm so proud of him. Those guys came through. We may need them in the fourth quarter or overtime. It may just be one play. We talk about that all the time. Everybody is buying in and doing their job."
On the defensive side of the ball, the Jets got contributions from LB Erin Henderson, who stepped in for David Harris. Harris left the game with a back injury in the first quarter and didn't return. Henderson finished the game with five tackles, four solo. But it would be the ballhawk CB Marcus Williams returning to the lineup and stealing his sixth interception on the season that would seal the win over the Cowboys.
As the Green & White begin preparations for this week's matchup against their divisional foes, the New England Patriots, at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, who will be the next Jets to step up and take flight?
