New York Jets: Five Pointing Up

Last night's preseason opener was not pretty for the Jets, but let's look at the silver lining. Who played well?

Chris Ivory: Ivory had 6 carries on the night. On 5 of them, he had gains of 4 yards or more, including a key fourth down run to extend the first drive. The blocking up front was solid, but it looked like Ivory created a lot of his own yardage by reading his blocks effectively. Does Ivory need a big preseason? Not necessarily, but I'm not sure his hold on the number one back job is as much of a lock as people make it out to be. He was the top back under another coaching staff where he was around an 800 yard a year guy. He has the gig for the time being, but he needs to keep proving it should be his. Efforts like this will help.

Walter Powell: The kick returner competition is open, and Powell made his mark by returning one 48 yards.

Erin Henderson: It looked like he was reading plays well. He was constantly around the ball and finished with 4 tackles before leaving with a knee injury. Hopefully the knee is all right.

Marcus Williams: He looked improved from what we saw a year ago. He seemed more comfortable contesting receivers at the line of scrimmage. The Lions took some deep shots at him, and he held his own. He also showed enough ball skills to pick off an errant end zone throw near the end of the first half. He lined up inside and outside. He made a case for a role in dime packages.

Lorenzo Mauldin: There were a couple of mistakes, but he got into the backfield. He'll turn those opportunities into big plays if that keeps happening.