According to the New York Post: "Rookie OL Jacob Bender will begin to get more playing time immediately, likely taking over for LG Adrien Clarke, who has been spotty at best this season and had a particularly poor game." Clarke certainly has underperformed, but the knock on Bender in the pre-season was his pass-rush blocking. Clemens might get killed on Sunday!
I guess it could make sense. Clark was awful Sunday. He looked lost on several plays, thats not lack of skill, thats lack of preperation. Bender is supposed to be a good run blocker with very little pass blocking experince. Hopefully he's ready to play if they stick him in there.
Clarke was terrible against Buffalo- he was easily the worst part of that offensive line in that game and all season, to be honest.
Surely, with a record like ours this year we have got to start trying out players now, so that we will know what we need in next years draft and Free Agency. That way we might get something out of the season!
Sorry to disagree. It was lack of skill. The Bills put Schobel on him a few times. There is a reason the LT gets paid big bucks to block DE's like him. Clark does not have the skill set. At least he didn't show that he did Sunday. Brick certainly looked prepared as did a few others. Buffalo just showed the rest of the NFL how to beat a lockdown LT, which I firmly believe Brick is becoming, stunt the DE away from him every time and go after Clark.................
wasn?t bender inactive for the hole season? anyone know y? even thou clark was terrible, i can?t belive mangini would start bender this week. he was inactive for 2 months and showed in the preseason, that he has a lot of work to do to improve his pass blocking. puting him in to protect Kellen would be a bad move, imo. wait some more weeks, and give him a shot, when kellen has some games under his belt.
Anything Mangini does is suspect at this point. That said it's hard to believe that Bender is going to be worse than Clarke has been. I feel like puking every time I realize that this management team does not understand how key the offensive line is. Bradway never paid anything to any lineman who was worth his salt and Tannenbaum and Mangini are continuing the trend. Idiots and amateurs.
What? Are you already forgetting that Tannenbaum & Mangini used not one but two of the three first round picks on the OL?
They had no choice in 2006. The Jets had no center and no left tackle. Then having "filled" all of the offensive line slots they went merrily back to trading up for non-essential pieces of the puzzle before they had handled the basics. This was always Bradway's MO also and it's why the Jet's line had 3+ holes after 2005. Well, here we are in 2007 and again the Jet's line has huge holes.
Oh don't get me wrong, Clark has crap skills as well. My point was there were times in pass blocking that he looked to have no Idea which guy to take and chose none of them. The Stunts made Clark look like a joke. He did not even get a wiff of his man on a few plays. A really disgusting display.
I expect he's improved after practicing with the team the past two months. It was hard to get a handle on him in tc, because they switched him from RT to LG, and he had a steep learning curve at the time. plus, as is known, he didnt have to pass block in college. But one thing i will say about this FO (in spite of my recent criticisms of them) is that they have drafted well, and the guys they have selected are playas. I expect he will show some good potential when he gets in there. Clarke has been terrible all season. He's looked lost on several playes EVERY GAME, not just against Buffalo. Give the Jills' CS credit for exposing an apparent weakness and scheming to capitalize on it, and demerits to the Jets' CS for not activitating Barnes and having a better blocking back in the backfield for both pass protection and blocking for TJ after the jills started to crowd the line.
The sad part is that Bender really isn't able to get much practice on his pass-blocking skills. Remember, he's going against our defense so it's not like he's able to see good passrushers in practice.
Excellent point, but if he can upgrade the running game it can only help Clemens. Clarke nearly got the QBs killed last week anyway.
on Bender...One draft site said he had Pro Bowl potential if he could acquire the other half of the game...... On poor decision making....The reason they have these half assed TEs on the roster is they all were supposedly able to be HBacks, yet we dont see any of it....Nor do we see them bring in an extra tackle, in place of a TE against a smallish Dline..... The next 8 games (on Offense) are far more about Jr. Schotttohell than they are about Clemens.
I think one of the problems (in my amateur opinion) is that some of the strange tendencies of this CS has prevented the players from feeling comfortable, and not getting the continuity needed when installing new systems. The constant shuttling of players on and off the inactive list doesnt allow for them to get it going game after game. i'm still shocked barnes was inactive against the Jills. They keep moving the TEs on and off and as you said, where are they in the H-back formation? Too much concern with "cute" plays and trick plays, and not enough line 'em up and go after them. The shuttling from 3-4 to 4-3 to 3-4 to 4-3 also may have hampered some of the players from getting better within one new system. Punishing Eric Smith for blowing a tackle, and using new DB combos every week also hurts. The radio guys mentioned that every DB in the game against the bills had been benched at some point this season. So now the wholesale changes begin. At QB, at LG, this week. I certainly hope bender has a good debut- Clemens' health may depend on it.
Bender has been inactive until last week. He dressed but did not play against the Bills. He should start seeing some playing time.
Clarke has been terrible, I hope the line does not get worse. If Bender cant get it done it is going to be another long day...
Bender is ready now...they gave him half the season to learn in practice and in the classroom...get him in there.
