Hunter ready to put all on line for Jets

Wayne Hunter was ready to walk away.

Then 25 and a backup tackle for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Hunter had been placed on the practice squad - a move he called a crushing blow to his ego. Embarrassed and frustrated, he sought direction.

"That's when I turned to my wife and said, 'What do I do? What do I do?' " Hunter, now a Jet, recalled Friday afternoon. "And my wife was like, 'Suck it up. Give it another year, see what happens. And if you still feel the same way, just quit and we'll move on.' So I sucked it up, and here I am now."

After seven years in the NFL, he'll start at right tackle Sunday in Pittsburgh, filling in for injured Damien Woody.

"I'm just happy it's finally come," said Hunter, who twice started as a tight end in his career, including once this season. "It's been a long time."

Today's game also marks the first time in nearly three years that the Jets (9-4) won't have their core four - Woody, Nick Mangold, Brandon Moore and D'Brickashaw Ferguson - together on the line. That's why Hunter, now 29, knows eyes will be on him.

Amid questions about his failure to protect quarterback Mark Sanchez last week against Miami - and Sanchez's struggles in general - Hunter was introspective yet unfazed. But the sting of last week's loss to Miami gnaws at him.

Sanchez lay prone on the artificial turf at New Meadowlands Stadium, his facemask planted in the short blades of grass, as Dolphins linebacker Cameron Wake celebrated. Hunter, who replaced Woody in the first quarter, had allowed his second sack to Wake in the Jets' final three offensive plays to seal the 10-6 home loss.

Offensive line coach Bill Callahan believes the criticism of Hunter was a bit misguided.

"I just think that sometimes the criticism is warranted and sometimes it's unfair," Callahan said of Hunter, who spent the past week in the meeting rooms, poring over the matchups for today's game against the 10-3 Steelers. "I don't know how someone can derive that kind of criticism when they've done well. Inside the walls of the offensive line, everyone needs to get better and can play better and make blocks better."

Said left guard Matt Slauson: "Wayne is able to flip the switch. In the locker room, he's a great guy. Just one of the guys joking and laughing, but on the field, he's able to just flip a switch and all of a sudden he's a madman. Just crazy. And you can see the look in his eyes and it's like, 'Whoa, I'm not getting in his way.' It's an intimidating thing."

But the image of Wake dancing in his face still burns, Hunter said. He admitted he had trouble falling asleep that night.

In his distinctively deep voice, he explained how he has kept grounded.

"Even though I wasn't ever a full-time starter, I was in the NFL, I was on the 53-man roster," said the 6-5, 300-pounder, who was born and raised in Hawaii. "There's not much more I should be asking of myself. I just roll with it. It wasn't really frustrating because I looked at it that way. I was happy with where I was at because I'm one of the most fortunate people in the world."