LaRon Landry isn't one to pull punches.
"I'm going to continue to play the way I play," he said after the Jets 27-10 loss to the Steelers in Pittsburgh. "I'm going to look at the tape, critique myself and try not to put myself in a position like that again. I'm going to keep playing the way I play — I just have to be a little smarter."
Landry was all over the field again in Week 2 and was credited with seven tackles. But his late hit out of bounds on Emmanuel Sanders cost the Jets 15 yards late in the second quarter.
"If he's full-go, I'm going to try to my best to hit him and make the tackle," Landry said.
"We have to be to be smart and we have to learn from it," added Jets head coach Rex Ryan. "We'll make sure he's aware of it. That's two times now on the sideline where he's getting called."
The Jets had a 10-6 lead at the time and they still appeared poised to force yet another field goal when No. 30 came on a blitz on a 3rd-and-3 from the Jets 7. But Big Ben Roethlisberger somehow avoided the pressure and connected with former Jets WR Jerricho Cotchery for six yards, setting up a 1-yard score to TE Heath Miller as the lead changed hands.
Then on the Steelers' first possession of the second half, Landry was flagged for a horse collar tackle after an Antonio Brown reception. That 15-yard infraction was added on to the 11-yard catch and set the Steelers up at the NYJ 31. Three plays later, Big Ben beat the blitz again and made it a 20-10 when his 3rd-and-16 sky ball was hauled in Mike Wallace in the corner of the end zone.
"I didn't really think I grabbed the guys shoulder pads," Landry said. "My intention wasn't to grab the guys' shoulder pads."
"You love the way he plays, the kind of tempo he plays with," Ryan said of Landry. "But you have to do it within the confinement of the rules, so I think that's something we really have to look at. The one was a horse collar — I know he was trying to get the guy down and sometimes that happens."
Landry lamented that the defense didn't get off the field on third down as the Steelers converted eight of their 15 times. Conversely the Jets offense, a unit that scored on its first two possessions, was four of 12 on third down and one of seven in the second half.
"The team as a whole didn't finish," Landry said.
