That's an in-depth look at the OL and I have to admit, I thought they'd make a run at Asamoah or Schwartz from the get-go. Was this another signing issue that we didn't hear about? With how bad Winters was last year, I was shocked that LG wasn't upgraded with a veteran and I was seriously thinking that our 1st rounder needed to address this position in spite of all the needs. You have to protect Geno. Now we see that the RB's, FB and TE's were abysmal in blocking as well none of those positions were upgraded from a blocking standpoint for a run-first offense. Yet we still have all this cap space. Mike Iupati is a FA next season, John. We might need to go get him.
I think the hope is that Winters and Aboushi will become reliable. Winters can improve in year 2, and maybe they have lots of faith in Aboushi, if Colon gets hurt.
Unless I'm misinterpreting the data this is more of a knock on the "extra protectors" as well as perhaps the Jets protection schemes than so the OL. I think part of the issue has been that max protect/extra blockers hasn't been much of an option b/c the primary receivers have been poor & unable to get open on their own, therefore the Jets have had to send RB's/TE's out into patterns to flood the field w/ potential options. MM's scheme doesn't ask RB's to do alot of pass pro. The same can't be said for TE'S. While he does use them as passing options he will also use them almost as frequently as sending them out in patterns. He got away from that last season due to the reasons above as well as the fact that none of the TE's were great pass blockers anyway. Hopefully the upgrade in skill personnel will help fix this issue;Along w/ continued development from the youngsters on the interior.
Good article. My thought is Idzik will bring in at least one Vet DB and at least one Vet O-Line during training camp cuts. Some really good players get cut towards the end and Idzik will grab one of each. I think.
Great data. Next year's data will be more interesting, for sure. From his college film, Chad Young appears to be a major upgrade over T-Bo. If the Jets elect to use keep an extra guy in, then he can fill the role better than his predecessor. Also, as posted out by many posters in other threads, Amaro is working towards becoming a complete TE, which means, necessarily, working on his blocking skills. He might not be held back often, but when he does, he can't be worse than Cumberland. MM and the rest of the CS have much better ingredients this year than last -- there's no reason to expect the results to be like last year's.
I never agreed that our pass protection was better than the run blocking last year. Advanced stats suggested that it was average, but I don't think it was even close to average and the run blocking was much better than the pass protection. It seems to be the least talked about topic with most articles by Cimini that only mention the QB contraversy and the secondary. A large part of our success next year will be determined by the pass protection, and it has to get better. We were almost spoiled in 2008-2010, but the last 3 years have been pretty abysmal.
That stat does not narrowly focus on the OL. Including hits and pressures has the net effect of including mistakes by the qb in holding the ball too long, a problem Smith certainly had last season. By comparison, see this quote from Cimini: This may surprise some people, but the Jets finished third in pass protection, based on the percentage of plays in which the offense controlled the line of scrimmage on pass plays -- 52.7 percent, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Here's the link. http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/jets/post/_/id/40469/training-camp-preview-offensive-line Blaming the OL for Smith's problems is one of the standard scapegoating approaches of Smith fans.
The offensive line was inexperienced and lacked chemistry. I do believe a lot of the issues in regards to sacks and QB hits are tied to Geno Smith holding onto the football too long. Hopefully the guard spots improve. Pass protection should be better with CJ2k here.
The Jets have traditionally had a better run blocking line than pass pro w/ the exception of perhaps the Parcells era. The last 3 years the issue w/ pass protection has been more about inconsistency than anything else.We've seen some very good performances from the front 5 & then some real stinkers.You don't have to look any further for an example than games against Buffalo. That's a helluva front 4 they field. We've seen days when the Jets made them look pretty ordinary & other days like the fearsome foursome. I do think however that this is more of a league wide issue than maybe we're willing to admit. If you aren't balanced on offense, pass rushers are gonna T off. These rushers are so big fast & athletic these days..it doesn't matter what blocking scheme you use or how good your OL is. Has their really been a clearcut dominant pass protecting household name in the last few years? Yeah some guys are better than others & there are some good ones..but any Walter Jones/orlando Pace/Anthony Munoz where it's shocking when a guy gives up a sack? I don't think so. That said where the OL must get better is on the interior. Sacks & blown up plays are gonna happen but they gave up way too much penetration last season. One of the reasons I am high on Geno is the way he performed when he had a clean pocket. He was calm,poised, confident & decisive when the interior held up & allowed him a split second to respond.Clear windshield is key for this QB;Much like it was for Drew Brees.The saints went out & got him guards who were strong at the point of attack & the rest was history. Same could hold true for Geno.
