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It’s time for Dan to dive deep into the Jets blocking from their win over San Diego. Here is Part I of an intriguing look at the Jets blockers. There were some penalty issues, but some awfully good blocking . . .
LaDainian Tomlinson started, and on his first carry, he went for nine yards up the middle. Perhaps the best block on this play was by Brandon Moore, who locked by LB Takeo Spikes, and LT ran behind him.
But a few plays later, Spikes caused a problem for the Jets protectors. Sanchez attempted a pass to Dustin Keller –a short out to the right side, and the pass was bobbled and grabbed by LB Donald Butler, who returned it for a touchdown.
It’s hard to discern this for sure, but it is possible Sanchez could have delivered a better pass if he was hit just as he threw by Spikes. Connor, who is somewhat inconsistent, didn’t do a great job of sustaining his block on this play, and Spikes bounced off of him, and hit Sanchez.
On the Jet second series, Shonn Greene ran for 24 yards off right guard with Brandon Moore locking up Spikes on this play, and Wayne Hunter taking care of DE Vaughn Martin. On the next play, Moore pancaked DT Cam Thomas, and Green ran behind him for a gain of three. Moore also had a false start on this series.
Nick Mangold did a lot of good things, but he had more negative plays than we are accustomed to seeing  from him. He was called for holding on Rahway’s Antonio Garay, bringing back a Santonio Holmes touchdown, late in the first quarter.
This drive ended in a pick by Eric Weddle around the goalline on a pass forced to Burress. D’Brickashaw Ferguson showed great hustle, stopping Weddle on the left side early in his interception return.
On the first play of an early second quarter possession (right after the Antonio Gates touchdown catch), Shonn Greene ran for a gain of nine up the middle. The key to this run was Green breaking a tackle on Spikes early in the scamper. On the next play, the Jets were called for an illegal formation – six men on the line. This drive ended in a Burress TD catch. The line did a solid job running blocking (Greene had several nice runs), and in pass protection.
On the Jets last possession of the first half didn’t amount to much, but there was one block worth noting on this possession. On a third-and-five, Sanchez hit Jeremy Kerley for a gain of nine, and one reason this was able to happen was a great blitz pick up by Tomlinson.
Clearly the Jets offensive line was hurt by penalties, but one thing was clear in the first half, the Chargers defensive line was no match for the Jets offensive line. For the most part, the Jets were dominating the trenches.
Remember the days of that awesome Chargers 3-4 line of Luis Castillo, Igor Olshansky and Jamal Williams, well those days are long gone. Olshansky is on the Miami Dolphins, Williams is out of the league and Castillo is on the injured list. The new line is nowhere near as effective as this group, and were no match for Brandon Moore and company.
We will have Part II of our blocking section on Thursday.