O-Line was a problem mainly at RT, that pretty much fucked up everybody else because how bad Hunter played. Also a WR who can stretch the field deep similar to what Braylon did for us will open up everything else in the passing game.
The rumor at the time, which was confirmed by Archie Manning later, was that Parcells planned on drafting Manning and then trading him for a king's ransom. Manning wanted to be drafted and play for the Jets, but he wouldn't have if he had declared for the draft that season. He probably would have ended up playing in New Orleans.
Well, I think it comes down to an evaluation of what you can get at RT through free agency versus what's available in the draft. This draft seems to be absolutely stocked with O line talent. I would be looking to take the best available player at the #16 spot at a position of need, whether that be an OT, LB, Safety, or WR. Ideally, an established veteran would be nice to have at RT, but besides Carey and McKenzie, I'm not sure what's going to be available. For instance, there may be better options at WR in free agency than would be available in the draft. Or perhaps there will be a great LB at 16...who knows. What I do know is that the O line is an enormous weakness right now and is effecting every aspect of the Jets offense right now.
Right on hitta. Fastest way to improving this offense (besides dumping Schotty) is to get a stud RT and a deep threat WR.
I enjoyed reading the OP. The offensive line to me was the teams biggest problem this year. The faults of the Oline as a unit caused a trickle down affect to the rest of the offense. First i thought the oline as a unit was not getting enough push on a majority of runs. Also the holes were closing way to fast and many times never gave the runner a chance to get through. In pass protection i say there was poor chemistry when it came to passing their assignments off to another linemen. For example a couple times the tackle would block a guy outside to the inside and either not pass the guy off to the guard to get back to the blitzer or they would pass the guy off but the guard would be helping the center or was already occupied then the tackle picks up the blitzer but the guy he passed off then comes in way to fast. There were also times espicially with Hunter where he would not only pass the guy off when there is no help then try to get the blitzer, emphasis on try. He got caught inbetween and gave basically two free blitzers at the qb. Then it comes to the trickle down, with the lack of run block it made our run game irrelevant for long spurts, the pass blocking also forced the gameplan to involve alot more short routes cause they couldnt block long enough for deep routes to develop, which again led to more men in the box, which led to even more running problems. Now mixed in with the oline problems there were personel problems on the offense around them, as well as a garbage offensive coordinator.
I have never heard that rumor before. If true, then that's just another reason why I despise Parcells.
Great post. You saw the few times the OL played well the offense did well, the majority of the time they didn't the offense struggled. Plus, they let Sanchez get hit so much he started getting happy feet and expecting to get hit even when he had more time. Granted that's something that falls on Sanchez too though the root cause of it is the OL.
The Steelers and Packers have worse olines. You probably can't name a player on the Bills' oline, yet they gave up the fewest sacks in the NFL. Qbs make their oline look better.
The Steelers line was terrible at the beginning of the year, but they got better as the year progressed. You have to admit, Big Ben is hard to tackle because he's a beast. Dude almost got put on IR several times this season but fought through it. I chalk that up to Ben's resilience, not necessarily him being athletic in the pocket and escaping sacks. Truth is both him and Sanchez have almost gotten killed several times this season. A good amount of our sacks came within 2 seconds of Sanchez catching the snap. He's not a big powerful guy like Ben, but he's a little quicker, and does occasionally juke out defenders coming for the sack. Rodgers is also an elite QB, whereas Sanchez is not, and I don't remember the line causing that much trouble for him. With Sanchez being decent and not elite, he'll feel the effects of bad line play much moreso than Rodgers or Manning would, but if we want him to develop the line needs to be fixed. And then there's Schotty. Great OP, though. Our line play is clearly the no 1 issue, next to Schotty.
Where does this kind of thinking come from? Do you not recall that Callahan was talking up how great Hunter was for a good chunk of last year's off season??? I will never understand the love for Callahan by some around here.
The Packers have an excellent line that they mostly built through the draft. Aaron Rodgers has a quick release but he also has a decent OL to protect him.
Rob Turner did a great job backing up Mangold until both of them got hurt at the same time. We more than one decent player for depth though.
BEST POST OF THE OFFSEASON SO FAR. Sticky this, everyone learn something and then call it a day. Edit: The OP is the post I mean.
Anyone who saw a Packers game saw a QB who consistently had a lot more time to throw than our OL gave Sanchez. For the Steelers the OL had issues but was a bit more consistent than ours. The other key for the Steelers was that their D was much more consistent too and if you look at their schedule it wasn't really so tough. Their losses were pretty much against the top teams they played. Only quality win was against New England really. They did beat the Bengals twice and the Titans but neither team I would consider a top team Our OL was consistently letting pressure get to Sanchez and when they did put together drives the D couldn't always come up with the big stop they needed and that top defenses make. I am by no means comparing Sanchez to Peyton but if you look at the Colts in the past, their defense was never really good and the games they lost were the ones where Peyton made a few too many mistakes. By that I mean, in reality for the Colts to win the goal of the D was to just keep them close and hopefully make the one stop needed to give Peyton a final chance to win the game. That put a lot of pressure on Peyton and the offense to score almost every time. With us, the offense wasn't consistent and when they did put together drives or leads the D couldn't always make the stops when needed. I'm not trying to blame the D either since when the offense doesn't do their share it's tough but an elite D is supposed to make the stops the majority of the time and we were far from it. The combination of the two was too much to overcome though these are things that should be fixable (at least hopefully)
If you can't name a player that means they aren't being called for on penalties or getting beat, that's a good thing. A QB can help a bad o line, but if your whole offensive doesn't change to compensate for the poor o line it is very difficult to do. Our idea to help Hunter was to put Mulligan there. Most of the time we didn't even help Hunter and watched him get beat.
Don't take any public statement about a Jets player seriously. They clearly think that puffing up players in public is the best way to motivate guys. Does anyone think that Callhan really believes what he said about Hunter this off-season: "He is, by far, the best athlete I've ever coached on the line. He can do it all — his power, his leverage, his ability to run, his ability to move — I mean, you name it, he excels at it." He's coached Fanecca, Lincoln Kennedy, Brick, Everitt-a ton of great players. But crappy 30 year old Hunter is the dominant physical talent? Sure.
Sideshow Rex realized this before the season started and, despite his mild mannered nature, was forced to repeatedly make an ass of himself when in front of the media. Rex to self: awwwwww, damnit, my Oline sucks, now I'm going to have to make stupid predictions and say idiotic things in my press conferences!
Great Post, thanks for sharing! I think we need experience at the line and should fix the RT position with a free agent and not hope a rookie first round pick works out, even though hed probably turn out great eventually. Shonn Greene is a great back but for us to get back to ground and pound and be a top 3 if not the best rushing team, I think we need a better more all around back and have Greene come in to wear out a tired D. If it was possible, I think getting Trent Richardson would be huge. Bringing back LT for pass protecting and leadership to have a T Rich, Shonn Greene and LT backfield would be Huge for the Jets. Sanchez is at his best when the D is keying on the run. Greene showed he can't catch this year, hes not the best pass blocker and he doesnt have the speed to break a 50+ yard run. Get a O Lineman or two that are well experienced and talented and go back to the real Jets running game. Thoughts on getting Trent Richardson if available??? Thanks again!