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Obviously the top offensive storyline of the game was Brandon Moore’s domination of Ndamukong Suh.
Moore humiliated the hot-shot rookie. The only bad play by Moore against Suh, that I noticed, was when on the Jets thrid series. Suh got by Moore to stop LaDainian Tomlinson on the line.
Before I get back to the offensive line, I want to mention a few really nice blocks by Tony “T-Rich” Richardson.
On the Jets first running play, the fullback had a terrific block on safety Amari Spievey, paving the way for a gain of five. This was the Jets first offensive play. In the third quarter. Richardson had a great lead block on LB Ashlee Palmer, and LT ran behind him, off right tackle, for a gain of 13. However, this play was called back do to some technicality regarding how Wayne Hunter was lined up.
Another nice block by T-Rich was on a second-and-two, in the second quarter, on a quarterback keeper by Brad Smith. Richardson had an outstanding block in the backfield, which got Smith the space he needed to get the first down.
Defensive tackle Corey Williams did a great job jumping the snap count, on the Jets second offensive play, and this caused a botched snap between Mark Sanchez and Nick Mangold. Williams tried to jump the snap again, on the second series, but was flagged for off-sides. He tried to blame Matt Slauson, but to no avail.
While the offensive line had a solid game, running back Shonn Greene truly can be an offensive lineman’s best friend. The guy is so good at breaking tackles.
On the Jets second series, Greene had a gain of 12 to the left side. While there was some very good blocking on that side, Greene keyed the run by breaking a tackle attempt by cornerback Chris Houston, early in the run.
There were several more example of Green doing this.
On the Jets first possession of the second half, Greene broke a tackle attempt by LB DeAndre Levy on a gain of seven off right tackle. Then on the next play, he caught a short pass over the middle, broke a tackle attempt by LB Ashlee Palmer, to take a short pass, and make it into a seven yard gain. Late in the game, on a huge play that helped put the Jets in field goal range, he broke another tackle on his gain of eight up the middle.
Brick Ferguson had a pancake block on Williams, clearly the way for a Tomlinson gain of six on the left side, on the first play of a mid-second quarter drive.
Hunter didn’t have a very good game in his role as the sixth lineman. We already mentioned him lining up illegally. Also, on the Jets second series, he made two mistakes on a Greene loss of five on the right side. Not only did he get called for holding DE Cliff Avril, but he the defensive end got by him to stop the runner, so the Lions were able to decline the penalty.
In the middle of the second quarter, Nick Mangold had a picture perfect block on Williams, and this was a big reason why Tomlinson was able to run for eight yards on the left side. Mangold had a great block on DT Sammie Lee Hill on Green’s run up the middle for eight yards late to set up the game-tying field goal.
Damien Woody gave up a late first half sack to Avril. The Purdue-product was so quick off the ball, Woody didn’t have much of a chance to get a mitt on him. Sanchez fumbled on this play, and Woody recovered. Kudos to Woody for having a short memory, because on the very next play, he had an outstanding block on Avril, and L.T. ran behind him for a gain of 10.
Woody, Ferguson and Dustin Keller had false start penalties.
The Jets whole line did a great job of blocking Sanchez’s 74-yard touchdown pass to Braylon Edwards late in the first half. Suh was actually lined up a linebacker, but none of the Lions stunts and games that worked so well against Washington the week before, worked against the Jets line, and this play was a perfect example.