If you take anything away from the SB yesterday besides elite quarterback play, it’s that both of those teams have elite offensive line play. Both sides have elite centers and outstanding tackle play. The Jets need to fix the offensive line badly.
For all the talk of getting the ball out quickly both of those lines allowed the time for their QBs to run around and make plays. Jalen Hurts is a great runner but it helps that his line blows open huge holes on the designed run plays. Zach might actually look half decent playing behind Philly's line. Did you hear the quote about Mahomes needing his line to block for longer on pass plays then a typical QB? It just makes it seem more and more that this coaching staff has been trying to fit a square peg in a round hole with Zach, instead of trying to work with his strengths and modify the system to them.
100% Been saying it since our last game, I’d be perfectly fine if JD used most of our assets this offseason on the offensive side of the ball. Address QB, OL, & WR first. If we’ve got anything left over after that, try to upgrade S and LB. The Eagles had a historically good pass rush this year, think they finished with the 2nd most sacks in a year in league history, and they were essentially negated by QB and OL play last night.
AMEN! I picked up on that comment too. Imagine if Mahomes was trying to play behind the OLs we've had since he was drafted? He'd likely be out of the league due to injury, or permanently labeled as a "career backup". I'm not going to claim that Zach could be as good as Mahomes - Patrick simply has the supernatural ability to figure out how to make plays when there are none to be made - witness the throw to Kelce as he was being brought down that turned a sack into a first down. But Zach has some of that too IMO and he could be a very good QB in a system like Reid built for Mahomes. Instead we had an DC as a rookie HC and an OC rookie and a QBC who had never ever done that job before creating a "system" for their #2 overall draft pick! It's maddening!
Exactly! Here's an article in the NY Post that emphasizes this point: https://nypost.com/2023/02/13/chiefs-investments-provide-the-reason-we-won-super-bowl-2023/ "It was a drastic difference from the Chiefs loss in the Super Bowl two years ago when the Buccaneers made Mahomes’ night miserable and Kansas City could not compete because of its offensive line. General manager Brett Veach made it his mission to improve the line after that game and the Chiefs drafted center Creed Humphrey and guard Trey Smith, traded for tackle Orlando Brown Jr. and signed Joe Thuney to a five-year, $80 million contract in free agency. Brown, Humphrey and Thuney were all Pro Bowlers in 2022. PFF ranked the Kansas City line fourth best in the NFL." So the big question for Douglas is: What's taking you so long Joe? In one year KC basically rebuilt their OL into a SB-caliber unit! Imagine what a difference that would've made this year! Regardless of what anyone thinks about ZW, would he not have been significantly better behind a line like the Chiefs have? Perhaps achieving some of the promise he showed at BYU that convinced Douglas to use the #2 pick on him? But as usual the Jets operate on a "Penny-wise; pound foolish" philosophy, wasting their huge investment in Wilson, by going cheap on the OL. The Chiefs have proven that you can rebuild a top OL in one off season. If Douglas doesn't do that this year he should be gone.
Teams remake their offensive lines in one offseason all the time and it fixed their teams. This isn’t even a Joe Douglas problem either. Our lines been relatively bad since Mangold/Brick retired. Assuming we keep our first round pick, it needs to be the best OL on the board no questions asked.
At least JD has tried to improve the OL. Granted, that's not much of an accomplishment but it's a lot more than any of his predecessors. He's drafted at least 1 OL every year, Mekhi & Cam Clark in 2020, AVT in 2021, and Mitchell in 2022, signed McGovern, Fant, Tomlinson, and Feeney, and claimed Herbig off waivers. Again, not giving him a pass because "he tried" but I definitely expect him to continue to address the OL this offseason.
Yeah, I have been giving him a lot of slack because at least he was trying to address the OL, and in contrast to Macc it looked like he was really doing something, but watching last night's game it's crystal clear that he he simply hasn't done nearly enough. There are no excuses. As the piece I posted highlighted, the Chiefs virtually created an All Pro OL in one off season! Douglas has had THREE off seasons to fix this and it's still a mess. Originally I didn't blame him for taking Becton, in fact he's the guy I wanted, and you can't predict injuries necessarily, but I have to give him some blame for hiring Saleh and being part of the process that adopted an offense that wasn't really suited to having an almost 400 pound, 6'8" T play it...on artificial turf. And then having seen Becton get seriously injured, showing no urgency in lining up his replacement in light of the fact that Becton wasn't managing his weight and doing everything he could to get back in shape. And then there's the matter of ZW who he invested the #2 overall pick in, and presumably turned down a boatload of premium picks/assets for. If Douglas was really so smart, how could how allow the hiring of MLF and the installation of an offensive system that wasn't primarily aimed at maximizing Wilson's chances for success, and furthermore, not doing everything he could to construct a great OL that would give a young QB some "cushion" in being allowed time to learn how to make faster reads and decisions, things that really can only be learned in real game conditions? I've been a firm Douglas supporter all along, but after seeing what the KC GM did in one off season, I'm looking for the Exit.
i agree teams remake the OL .. Including us! I haven’t forgotten Tanny coming in here and drafting g Brick and Mangold and signing Woody for RT and Faneca for LG and presto…instant top 5 OL. And we rode that shit all the way to two AFC CGs I don’t know why JD slow played it year 1 by signing second tier free agents…it wasted a year. He compounded his error by relying on Becton this year after he missed way too many games. His injury and missing significant time was 100% predictable. so yeah…he BETTER fix this OL this year. I’d be fine with using multiple picks on OL this year…defense was good enough to win with…we need OL and a QB
Trade down if you want OL. Then you can grab a decent lineman and another pick or 2. I think they should give real consideration to keeping Vera-Tucker at tackle
Not gonna lie, I'm super envious of how quickly the Chiefs overhauled their OL after they dropped like flies prior to the Super Bowl in Tampa. And Kurt was right on the money when it came to Humphrey. It's too bad he doesn't post here anymore.
They were both great. But "somehow" KC was able to build an OL that can block for a QB who is mobile and likes to make plays off schedule. Imagine that!
It helps a bit that Mahomes can see the field enough to read both his offense and the defense presented.
It helps the 0-line a bit when the field is for shit... Super Bowl was the worst field I’ve ever played on
