Jets Offensive Line Is Root Cause for New York's Dreadful Offensive Output
The New York Jets may have switched out their quarterbacks last week in a desperate attempt to generate offense, but the signal-caller was not the reason why they put a bagel on the board against the San Diego Chargers.
While the quarterback situation will garner all the attention, it was an inept offensive line that led to the Jets' offensive demise. Few passers on the planet would have been able to produce any kind of offensive production under the conditions Geno Smith and Michael Vick found themselves in.
Not a single member of the Jets (outside of punter Ryan Quigley, who saw plenty of action) can claim he performed up to standards, but the failures with the offensive line, specifically in pass protection, had a crippling effect on the rest of the team.
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The numbers are not pretty: The Jets passed for just 60 passing yards throughout the entire game—a number that would embarrass most high schools. According to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), there were 11 hurries, hits and sacks on both Smith and Vick. Even the usually dependent veterans of this line gave up an uncharacteristic amount of pressures.
| D'Brickashaw Ferguson | LT | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Brian Winters | LG | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| Oday Aboushi (5 snaps) | LG | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Nick Mangold | C | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Willie Colon | RG | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Breno Giacomini | RT | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 3 | 7 | 1 | 5 |
Adding insult to injury were the embarrassing amount of penalties taken by members of the line. Not only did Willie Colon do nothing to help his reputation as a yellow-flag collector with two penalties, but even reliable veterans Nick Mangold and D'Brickashaw Ferguson were called for uncharacteristic penalties.
As poor as these numbers are, the only way to get a true appreciation for how the line put the Jets in an offensive dilemma snap after snap is to watch the plays unfold.
Geno Smith only completed four of 12 passes, but not because he was missing throws or was inaccurate. He was simply spending most of his time running away from pressure, finding a way to throw the ball away to live for another down—to do the exact same thing.
The bulk of the pressure the Jets surrendered came from the interior and not just from struggling guards Brian Winters and Colon. Mangold himself had trouble holding his own in one-on-one situations, and the fact that his linemates were not making the right calls to help him only exacerbated the problem.
On this early incompletion, Nick Mangold is in a one-on-one matchup with the defensive tackle. Winters, the left guard, is given an option between helping either Mangold or left tackle Ferguson.
After freezing up for a few seconds, Winters finally chooses to help out Ferguson, while Mangold loses his battle on a simple bull rush. Pressure is immediately in Smith's face, who is forced to run out of the pocket and throw the ball out of bounds.
Pass protection issues were not even limited to the offensive linemen. Running backs and tight ends were also culprits in protection breakdowns, succumbing to the most basic blitz concepts on a regular basis.
Here, running back Chris Ivory is kept in as an extra blocker. The Chargers are set to run a delayed blitz with the inside linebacker.
The blitz works well, giving the linebacker a clean alley to Smith. Still, all Ivory needed to do was recognize the incoming linebacker and make the block. Instead, he elects to help Ferguson, who was handling his man just fine.
The result? You guessed it—another Smith scramble and lost play.
Here's one more example of a delayed blitz for good measure. This time, safety Darrell Stuckey runs right by a preoccupied Brian Winters for yet another free run at Geno Smith.
Delayed blitzes can be effective if timed properly, but the Jets missed far too many to suggest that they were anywhere near being as prepared as they should have been for this game. Perhaps linebacker Demario Davis was on to something when he suggested the Jets' practice habits were not up to par to the New York Daily News (h/t Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk).
These breakdowns in protection cannot all be blamed on Geno Smith's inability to adjust protections either. The Jets were equally as inept protecting their passer when Michael Vick was in the game.
Their problems were not just mental mistakes. Here, Mangold and Colon are beaten badly by Sean Lissemore, a run-stuffing nose tackle who has never had more than two sacks in a season, for an easy sack on Vick in a matter of seconds.
Neither player is sure who to block, allowing Lissemore to split them clean and get to Vick before he ever had a chance to make an adjustment—just as if the Jets never prepared for this game.
Theses issues go deeper than just wasting precious downs and killing drives. After all, the Jets are not undermanned on the offensive line from a talent standpoint: Mangold and Ferguson have multiple Pro Bowl trips on their resume, while Breno Giacomini and Willie Colon have been regarded as sought-after free agents during at least one point in their careers.
Meanwhile, Winters was taken on the second day of the draft—quite high for an interior offensive lineman.
When a talented offensive line is making so many mental errors, it signals that preparation is an issue, just as Davis indicated. Smith was doomed before he took the ball from under center and not because he missed a meeting the night before. The fact that Vick struggled just as much in the second half all but confirms that quarterback was not the root cause of the Jets getting shutout.
Even if the Jets are showing their age and underperforming from a physical standpoint, no team should be this inept in a professional football game. It does not take much talent to miss simple blocks on a play-by-play basis.
Geno Smith has been a productive quarterback in the past, at least when given adequate pass protection. The difference in his output is night and day based on how much pressure in his face.
| No Pressure | 73.4 | 7.8 | 2 | 4 | 84.9 |
| Under Pressure | 31.5 | 4.1 | 2 | 2 | 42.2 |
Yes, high-level quarterbacks are able to overcome the deficiencies of the players around them but would not have had any kind of success under the conditions the offensive line (and running backs) set on Sunday.
The Jets need to fix just about every facet of their offense in order to become a competitive NFL team again, but nothing will improve until they sort out the protection issues along the offensive line.
Advanced statistics provided by ProFootballFocus.com (subscription required).
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