This is an oversimplification. Our OL is on pace to be historically bad this year. We're not saying Wilson needs all pros at every position and a consistent top 5 line. Not having one of the worst ones ever would be a good start though.
First, no one is saying Zach needs All Pros at every position, but you need competence, and frankly, for those QBs you named to have succeeded the way they did, they needed above average OL players, at least until they gained a LOT of experience. Second, certainly Zach has his share of the blame because he's responsible for calling out the protection schemes and he has to get rid of the ball, BUT...we're talking about a rookie with now 3 games of live experience who is under pressure in less than 1.7 seconds. It's unfair IMO to expect anything different under these conditions. Third, even when Zach gets the ball out in time, his receivers are dropping it in critical situations. Fourth, LaFleur isn't helping by the plays he's calling. Where are the motion plays? The designed roll outs and other QB running plays that would take advantage of Zach's great running ability, and keep defenses honest? Remember Josh Allen's first year, how often he ran the ball and defenses had to respect that and couldn't just rush the pocket? Why so few plays to the TE? Why so few screens? All of this would mitigate a pass rush, so why is LaFleur not calling for these? What IS his strategy? And does he realize that whatever it is, it ain't working, and most importantly, is he willing to change it? Zach is now showing signs of all this pressure getting to him. He denies it, but you can see it in this last game: happy feet, less accuracy, rushed throws, indecisiveness leading to sacks. These are the "early warning signs" of Darnoldism. The Jets absolutely cannot afford to fuck this up, and yet they seem to be heading down that SOJ path again. It's not too late to change things, but they had better start now.
New England had some of the most dominant lines in Brady's Era. In 2004 they dominated with a 1,600+ yard rusher and Brady threw for over 3,600 yards. 2007 they were dominant. 2011 they were dominant. The Colts had some of the best linemen of the Era during Manning’s tenure: Tarik Glenn, Ryan Diem, Jeff Saturday, etc. Give me a break. The Jets have a fuckin joke lineup on the line
Isn't it funny that our OL seems to be bad every year? Can the OL be better? Of course, anyone playing can and should get better. Nevertheless, your second, third and fourth points, valid as they are, backs my point that it's the offense, and especially Wilson and the skill players, that needs to improve dramatically. Your fourth point is very true. Lafleur needs to tone down the offense to short gainers and Wilson has start thinking about throwing to someone other than Davis. However, I disagree about having Wilson run the ball. Wilson is not Josh Allen, who's built like a tank. The whole idea of building the OL was to protect Wilson. Finally, we as fans have to realize that opposing defenses are going look at Wilson and drool. The way to handle a rookie QB is to make him throw the ball. You do that by stopping the run on first and second down and put him in third and long situations so he's forced to throw. Then you bring the pressure and hope he makes a mistake. When a defense concentrates on one area, they leave another vulnerable, so it's up to the Jet coaches to figure that out and exploit it. If the Jets get down by a few scores as they did in Denver, then it's party time for the defense.
Whoever wrote the article called it throwing him under the bus; throwing a bit of shade is quite a bit less dramatic. If you guys don't see it, I'm okay with that - better things could have been said if that was the intent.
As I said in my post, many of the lineman were good, but these QBs played a long time and were consistently good and not with the same OL every year they played. Of course we remember Brady's original OL. They even appeared in a commercial back then, but many of those linemen left and others took their place, yet Brady continued to perform at the highest level. Case in point: when Manning went down, the Colts were awful. Where was the OL then? Then Manning went to a mediocre Denver and turned them into contenders every year. So what happened? The Denver OL got good all of sudden? No, it was Manning who made the Colts and Denver great. Sure the OL helped, but it was Manning who made the difference. Brady goes to TB and wins a SB year one. The OL got good all of a sudden? I don't think so.
Denver's offensive line at the time was in the top 10 when Manning was behind center. They had Ryan Clady, Manny Ramirez, etc. They were the 4th highest graded unit in 2012 when Manning went to Denver. In 2013 they were the third ranked unit with guys like Louis Vazquez, Manny Ramirez, Ryan Clady, and Chris Clark. Further to this argument, in 2015 Manning sucked. He was horrible. Their offensive line? Was ranked 20th total and was 23rd rank in pass blocking.
You’re comparing phd Manning and Brady to freshman Wilson though. Rookie Brady was very much carried by a good o line, run game and defense. Manning didn’t have the same luxury and holds the rookie int record in part because of that.
And for the record, in 2020 Tampa Bay had the 5th best offensive line in the league. Brady was pressured on 24% of his dropbacks which was 4th lowest in the NFL. Wirfs was an all pro last year. Marpet and Wirfs were amazing last season.
All of our highest graded guys are in the 60's. Just incredible. It would be hard to put together an offense this bad if you were trying to.
We are not talking HOF, we are talking a cohesive, capable line. The QBs you referenced all had great lines which the QBs made them even better. NE had a Monster line for many years with Brady. When the OL is weak, the QBs suffer, period, that absolutely happened to Mahomes last year, and to All others. I don’t care how good of a QB you are, you don’t go far with a putrid line.
More to the point, it is no coincidence Baker Mayfield is producing when he's had arguably the best offensive line in football in two straight years. Fuckin blows saying this, but the Browns figured it out far before we did.
I think the true problems lie with the Owners of this team. So, your metaphor Is moot for me because until that Is fixed, no amount of duct tape Is going to matter.
I just think the problem Is bigger than just pointing the finger at the OL. It was "reshaped and rebuilt". That unit really shouldn't be as bad as last years OL, hell, they shouldn't be worse than. It's hard to keep pointing at the same things to blame, when certain things change, but the results stay the same.
I mean it's no secret the johnsons have sucked as owners. so did leon hess.but owners don't need to be good as long as they hire the right people. With JD and saleh it seems they did so just give it time
While I don't disagree wiht you about the ownership of this franchise, teams like the Browns seemed to find a way out of their hole. They have had the same ownership since 2012. Before their transformation from 2012 - 2019, they were 33 and 94. They went 3-13 in 2015, 1-15 in 2016, and 0-16 in 2017. The Johnsons have owned this franchise since 2000. In those 20 years, we are 150 and 186. Again, I don't disagree that this ownership sucks, I just don't know if this is part of the process in reversing the trend. The Browns were dogshit before finally turning the corner. Maybe this is our dogshit? I don't know anything anymore lol
fant had an 80 something for week 3 at LT and was one of the highest graded LTs in the NFL for week 3. AVT is a rookie and needs time. becton will be back, moses is solid at RT. it's really GVR and mcgovern that have been the worst mostly GVR.
We have a revamped OL, we have a new QB, new receivers, new RBs, new coaches. One of the reasons I wanted to keep Darnold was because I didn't want to have to experience going back to Square One after only 3 years. I was criticized by many saying with Wilson so much better than Darnold, new talent on the OL and new "good" coaches, it wasn't going to be Square One. Well, it sure looks like Square One to me on the field. If that's truly where we are, then fine, we have to recognize it for what it is, take a deep breath and summon up the good ole Gang Green patience that we should all be familiar with. It's going to take a while to get this team sorted out.
