As a result, this week’s Special Teams Saturday article is dedicated to the five best special teams plays of our first nine weeks by players not named Nick Folk.
5.
With the Jets up six heading into the fourth quarter, a Falcons drive stalled at their 18 and they punted on 4th-and-12. Kerley fielded Matt Bosher’s 44-yard punt and used his speed and agility to break free down the sideline. Twenty-four yards later, JK was finally brought down by Bosher — with a horsecollar tackle.
After the 15-yard penalty,
4.
The Jets took over at the Bills 43 leading, 27-20, with 1:43 remaining in the game. After failing to pick up a first down, and with a pair of Buffalo timeouts stopping the clock, Quigley, in his first game for the Green & White, came on to try to pin QB EJ Manuel’s offense deep.
His 40-yard punt hung up just long enough for CB
3. Robert Malone’s 84-yard punt vs. TB
After QB
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The punt will go down in the record books as the second-longest in our franchise history. Of course, Malone and the Jets would have happily taken a few less yards for the ball to stay out of the end zone, but it all worked out in the end as the Jets won, 18-17, on a Folk field goal in the game’s final seconds.
2.
It had been three straight games without a takeaway, and the Jets knew that trend would have to cease for them to beat QB Matt Ryan and the Falcons in Atlanta. After CB
Allen broke through the line and got a hand on Bosher’s punt for a block. Shann Schillinger, who missed the block on Allen, scooped up the ball and passed it to Jason Snelling, but the completion lost 8 yards on
"He played me a little too ... his leverage wasn't really good," Allen said of Schillinger. "So I just went and dipped inside and was able to make a good play for us.”
1. Ellis Lankster’s suplex tackle vs. TB
At 5’9” and 190, Lankster will never be the biggest guy on the football field, but that didn’t hold him back, making one of the best tackles so far this year.
Lankster sprinted downfield to cover Malone’s punt on the second play of the fourth quarter vs. the Bucs. He split a pair of defenders and soon arrived at PR Eric Page. Ellis wrapped him up, but Page “just kept trying to run,” Lankster said. “Once I had gotten behind him, I felt he was light, so I just picked him up and slammed him down.”
*Special Teams Saturday