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Dan puts the offensive line under the microscope for premium members, and discovers that one veteran struggled a lot more than first-time starter Matt Slauson . . .
It’s easy to point Matt Slauson as a problem in this game, but he had plenty of company from seasoned veterans.
The offensive line play that stands out the most is when he was steamrolled by defensive tackle Haloti Ngata for a fourth quarter sack. Ngata is a great player, but still, this was bad play for Slauson. It’s surprising he got no help on that play. It was straight one-on-one, not a good idea for a first-time starter against a Pro Bowl defensive end.
But Slauson did some good things. He had a real nice block on Brad Smith’s 22 yard quarter keeper. He drove his man to the right, opening up a gaping hole.
Damien Woody didn’t have a great game. On an incompletion late in the game, outside linebacker Terrell Suggs got by Woody and hit Sanchez as he threw. Woody had issues with Suggs, and outside linebacker Jarret Johnson went unblocked, and they combined to sack Sanchez to end a fourth quarter drive.
Woody was beat by defensive end Trevor Pryce for a QB pressure ending the Jets second possession. The pressure made Sanchez throw a pass to Braylon Edwards before he wanted to, and it was off target in the end zone. If Sanchez had that extra second, this might have been a touchdown pass because Edwards was breaking open, but didn’t have time to get out of his cut properly.
Woody did a terrific job sealing the edge on a Shonn Green sweep right that gained eight yards and then had 15 yards added for a horse collar.
But while the offensive line was inconsistent in pass protection, there were plenty of plays where Sanchez had plenty of time and couldn’t find anybody, or was afraid to take a chance. On first-and-ten on the Jets final possession, Sanchez had an eternity to throw, couldn’t find anyone and you guessed it, attempted to dump the ball to LT, but it fell incomplete.
On the Jets best running play of the game, a run off left tackle by LT, Dustin Keller had a real nice block on safety Dawan Landry on this 21-yard scamper. Also helping the success of this run was Tomlinson breaking a tackle attempt by Suggs early in the jaunt.
Brick Ferguson was called for holding late in the third quarter. Ferguson also had a false start in the middle of the second quarter on the 15-yard line, pushing the Jets back to the 20.
Nick Mangold and Brandon Moore combined to open a huge hole between them and LT gained 18 yards in the middle of the fourth. On the next play, Ben Hartsock at the key block on an LT gain of six off right tackle.
Hartsock missed a block Suggs on the last play of the first quarter and LT was stopped on the line by the linebacker.
Overall, it was a very inconsistent outing by the guys upfront, and Bill Callahan needs to get this fixed.