Dee Milliner named AFC Defensive Player of the Week, NFL Def Rookie of the Month

[Badger]

http://www.nj.com/jets/index.ssf/2013/12/jets_dee_milliner_named_afc_defensive_player_of_the_week.html

Dee Milliner capped his first season in the NFL with the best performance of his career. The cornerback intercepted a couple of passes Sunday against the Miami Dolphins and broke up five passes.

After the season-ending victory, Rex Ryan praised Milliner. The Jets coach said the game validated his statement earlier in the year that by season's end Milliner would be the NFL's best first-year cornerback.

Though Ryan's assertion is a matter of opinion, for one week at least, Milliner is the best defensive player in the AFC. The NFL recognized Milliner Tuesday with its Defensive Player of the Week award for his performance against the Dolphins.

Start of the Deesus Christ era.

[MBGreen]

kid earned it.

[JFIF]

3 picks in 2 games. not too shabby.

[Badger]

3 picks in 2 games. not too shabby.

And 10 PDs.

[JFIF]

he finished tied for 10th in the league in PDs...of course that's a very incomplete and untelling stat in itself

[AlioTheFool]

Something I didn't know until I saw it on the postgame: Milliner was the 6th most targeted player in the NFL this year. That's a lot of exposure. It's impressive that he learned from every experience to end his season on such a high note.

Also, while he's not SRich, he doesn't suffer from an overly humble ego. I like the kid.

[ons]

he finished tied for 10th in the league in PDs...of course that's a very incomplete and untelling stat in itself

And almost all of those came in the end of the season, I think. He closed out the season with some crazy statistical games.

Still needs to play the ball a little better while it's still in the air, but I like his tendency to make catches really difficult with well timed hand use.

[CatoTheElder]

Stepped up a lot. That first round is shaping up to be amazing.

[Fenwyr]

I hardly think it's a coincidence that he had his best games once Reed showed up.  If we get a really good FS at some point, not even a Reed in his prime, when he has safety help over the top he will be a legit ball hawk.

[bojanglesman]

[Ornstein]

Congrats to the king of the underbite

[Fenwyr]

I would do the black and white clapping gif, but too lazy right now.  Bravo!

[JFIF]

I hardly think it's a coincidence that he had his best games once Reed showed up.  If we get a really good FS at some point, not even a Reed in his prime, when he has safety help over the top he will be a legit ball hawk.

Hard to say. It could very well be a coincidence. Cornerback is largely about confidence.....the mental grind for a rookie/young CB is something they've never had to deal with at the college level because they were usually the best player in that secondary and weren't targeted or tested the way they are in the NFL.  It can easily break them and is something you can't really prepare for, and it was obviously effecting him early on

Maybe reed helped with that or maybe he didn't, but you could see he was playing with a lot of confidence at the end.

[SixFeetDeep]

CB is a tough position to position to learn and play in the NFL.  Milliner had a stellar season all things considered

[Derek Smalls]

Milliner's problem all season has been his inability to read the ball in the air. He's been there with the receiver but gotten lost once the ball is in the air. I think he's getting better at reading the receivers' reactions and playing the ball that way.

He's still got work to do, but that's to be expected: he's a rookie. The future looks bright. With Cromartie in paycut-or-cut mode, drafting a cornerback looks great right about now. If we didn't have him, cornerback would be a disaster area heading into next season.