This is a false narrative based on making projections that the person who is speaking wants to project. Aaron Rodgers had a calf injury all through training camp, he wasn't yet in game shape, that probably would have taken a couple of weeks and with a calf injury already there, he was bound to get hurt. The fact of the matter is, the line started out the year a little bit below average, but with a smart, experienced quarterback behind it, would have been fine. Hell, the line would have been fine with Zach Wilson if he had been able to get rid of the ball earlier. No interest in a debate about whether it was the offensive coordinator, the playcalling, or him, the fact is that he held the ball too long. Doesn't matter whose fault it was, it's still a fact.
The thing is, it's this kind of negligence that for the 1st time made me question whether JD may have burnt out. There were other mistakes before. Like blowing 6th round pick on James Robinson even though their coach at the time was saying the guy had a knee injury. That drew a red flag when I heard it, but I ignored it, figuring the price was small, and losing 6th round pick if James was good is not biggie. But he wasn't good. Basically JD got cheated out of a 6th round pick and there was a sign to stop it. But at least I could see some sort of reason. In the case of Rodgers trade package, I just could not understand it. There were so many red flags. Gutekunst bitch slapped JD on this trade like a bully a little kid. Imagine, they have been pushing AR's CAP for several years down the road, where CAP was already behind by 40 mil vs what they paid him. Now, enormous 60 mil check is due in Sept, plus another 50 mil next year. All while their president already messed up and said that we are moving on from Rodgers and Love is the guy. They had to decide on his extension/option this year. When you look at this, if we waited until August, GB needs to be paying us to take on Rodgers. Think about it, if Rodgers stays at that #, 1st week of Sept 60 mil check, aside from huge payment that by itself is prohibitive, their CAP is completely fucked, they also lose effectively 1st round pick Love since they would have Rodgers, who said he prefers the Jets. Come August, they would be begging JD to take Rodgers off their hands - this much is not realistically debatable. Now, I also know JD wants him sooner, ideally for OTAs. So, Favre trade package seems fair (btw, with that package we would owe 4th round pick given AR didn't play this year). Now, to make sure it is done before the draft and not June 1st, when GB can split the CAP hit, we may need to offer something in this draft. I was thinking 3d or 4th would ensure it. We traded away 3d, so it would have to be 4th. Now, JD offered 2nd. This is a lot. 2nd plus Favre package is basically slam dunk for GB. This is already GB basically having his way with JD, but at least not completely raped. But on top of that with still 3 days to go, JD gives pick swap, which along with him rating McD above OT, costing us Jones, and basically no protection at all on 2024 pick. So 4th turned into 2nd. Basically, just as early JD raped Seattle in Adams trade, he just raped himself 4 years later. And to me this is very worrisome, because it speaks of basic GM competence.
He had a minor calf injury in May though. First game was in Sept. Listen I know we want to find explanations for this fiasco, but calf injury 4 months back is not it. If a minor injury like that keeps him out for 4 months, we are fucked anyway. I know what I saw. No QB is fine behind this OLine. White wasn't fine, Flacco wasn't fine, Zach hasn't been fine, and Rodgers wasn't fine. Would Rodgers be better than Zach. Of course. But most likely he would get hurt sooner rather than later. We only say two plays. He was hurried and no one got open fast enough before line collapsed on either. Yes, while two plays is a small sample size, we cannot rule out, in fact it significantly more likely than not, that we would continue seeing a lot more of that even with Rodgers as @Kronoking and @cval suggest. My concern is that JD will think as some on this board that we were just unlucky again. So, let's do the same thing again, but now with Rodgers back we will get better result. To me this is very dangerous approach and frankly the one destined to fail.
I am not arguing Zach but in the three plays we got to watch Aaron drop back he held the ball to long on the first drop back got lucky to avoid the sack. Second drop back, again holds the ball throws as he is getting hit and inc. 3rd drop back again, holds the ball to long gets sacked and hurt.
Correct, he had a calf injury early on, didn't play at all in the preseason except for a couple of plays in the very last game, and then tried to go straight to full speed game action. I am not defending JD in this instance at all, I am just stating that Aaron Rodgers did not get hurt specifically because of the line. That was an every day sack, that was not Mike White getting hit in the ribs and having them cracked, this was not Joe Theismann getting hit by a freight train and having his leg snapped in half , this was an every day sack where he twisted his leg on the way down and aggravated and already existing injury. On an almost 40-year-old body, which is important as well. The line at the beginning of the season was probably below average, but not bad enough to be blamed for that particular injury. Frankly, I think it's lazy to say that the line got him hurt on what was really an every day play. That said, I agree with you to a large extent about JD and the mistakes he made, but I think people are overblowing the line. There is such a thing as bad luck, but there is also bad choices. He clearly hasn't made the best choices, and when you combine bad choices with bad luck, you have what you have now. So that doesn't absolve him at all, but it doesn't change the fact that Rodgers wasn't injured specifically because of the line.
Sam vs Zach stats year 3 Sam Yards TD int Comp% Y/A y/g rating QBR 2208 9 11 59.6 6.1 184 72.7 32.9 Zach Yards TD int Comp% Y/A y/g rating QBR 2,245 8 7 60.8 6.3 204 78.2 32.2 Pretty close Zach is actually a little better and we got a second for Sam I believe? The problem with Sam is that he was regressing as Zach is getting better.
OK, so if he held the ball too long, why are we blaming the line for getting him injured? You just gave the answer yourself. He held the ball too long lol I think it's a very easy jump to say that he was not yet fully in sync. Training camp and the preseason these days are almost meaningless other than setting the roster. Most teams take 3–4 weeks of the regular season to really gel. He got four plays, and I'm not arguing for or against Wilson either. I'm simply making the point that I don't believe that the line "got him injured".
I think in Sam's case, he was regressing, but so was the talent around him. Zach on the other hand, has gotten more opportunities with much more talent around him. He is definitely getting better, but until this past week he hadn't shown that he could be consistent. Other than this past week, he has never approached anything that Sam did in his first couple of years for the most part. Zach will definitely get a look from someone based on the fact that the league knows the Jets suck at developing quarterbacks and have no clue how to gain plan for them or utilize their talents, and will pay for the raw talent alone.
The line and the receiver's inability to get open led to him holding the ball to long and getting sacked. The sack caused the injury. My point there is this delusion that Rodgers would have been and will be the Jets savior. The Jets offensive woes went far beyond just QB. Do I think Rodgers would have scraped out a couple of more wins, yes I do but we would still not be an offensive juggernaut. The biggest delusion this fan base has is that Rodgers can return this season and play well. He mentioned on McAfee that he has not been able to do cardio. He could not avoid the rush when healthy what would happen with semi healed Achilles? There is no way Rodgers is playing another football game this season.
I agree on everything you said there, except one point. And it's splitting hairs, but what the hell, this is a discussion forum. You originally said the line got him hurt. Now you're saying that the receivers couldn't open and he held the ball too long. That's not the lines fault. That is the receiver not getting separation, and the quarterback holding the ball too long.
I am not so sure Zach has all this talent around him. Year 1 he did not have any talent on this team. Breece and Wilson were big upgrades in year 2 but Zach has had worse o-lines than Sam I think. Sam got another shot in NC and failed but if he has to play in San Fran we may see a different Darnold.
Sam had much worse talent. Both his #1 and #2 WRs are not even in the NFL. Robby, Denzel, Perriman. Come on. Sam had zero!!! Zach has Breece and Garrett Wilson taking it to the house and make toe grabs we haven’t seen that for almost a decade. what you watching making excuses
If I said that I will take it back. Protection is a combination of line play, QB play and receiver play and play calling. The point I was trying to make is that I hate when people say the QB holds the ball too long without context. Sometimes it is true the QB needs to pull trigger but if people are not getting open or the line does not hold up on a longer developing play it is not always the QB held the ball to long. Heck, the Qbs we praise the most in the league (Mahomes,Allen Hurts) all hold the ball too long. The example I used was our HOF qb Rodgers supposedly holding the ball too long.
I'm sorry but it's not even close. Garrett Wilson and Breece Hall are better than the entire offense Sam had at the end. Conklin is better, and Lazard is basically equivalent to the best receiver Sam had.
He had Robbie that went to have a couple great seasons in Carolina. Wasn't Crowder on that team as well? I agree Wilson is better than Robby can ever hope being. I do think the O-line was better but that is not saying much.
