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The offensive line had some issues in the first half. Dan takes a lot at those struggles and their resurgence in the second half in this 974 word report.
There was no excuse for the Jets offensive line in Indianapolis. They needed to dominate the Colts’ undersized Front Seven, and wear them down, and they did just that.
But they were somewhat inconsistent in the first half.
The first run of the game was a harbinger of things to come. LaDainian Tomlinson ran for 23 yards off right tackle. Obviously, the line deserves a great deal of credit for this play, but the non-offensive line blocking on this play was outstanding.
The two blocks that stood out the most were, first, Tony Richardson, around the line on DE Robert Mathis. And then, on the on the second level, Ben Hartsock locked up LB Pat Angerer. LT helped his own cause by breaking a tackle attempt by S Antoine Bethea in the middle of the run.
Matt Slauson didn’t get off to a good start. He’s a little bit of a slow starter at times. He was responsible for a loss of five by LT on the first series. Linebacker Kavell Connor blew by him and stopped LT in the backfield. Also, DT Dan Muir beat him soundly for a sack on the second series.
Late in the first quarter, Dwight Freeney pushed D’Brickashaw Ferguson back on skates, and the defensive end hit Sanchez’s shoulder as he threw, and the pass down the deep right to Santonio Holmes fell incomplete.
Early in the second quarter, Brick did a poor job of sustaining his block, and DT Fili Moala peeled off of him, and stopped Tomlinson on the line. Brick also had a false start with Freeney lined up over him, late in the first half.
On a Tomlinson gain of 11 on the left side late in the second quarter, Brick had a very nice block in space in the left flat on Bethea to get the run going. This shows you what a great athlete Brick is. It’s not easy for an offensive lineman to block a defensive back in space. Another key block on his play was by Braylon Edwards on CB Justin Tryon, down field.
In the middle of the second quarter, Connor blitzed untouched up the middle, and hit Sanchez as he threw, causing an incompletion to Dustin Keller over the middle. In a blitzing situation, often-times the free man is the responsibility of the quarterback. It’s hard to blame any of the linemen on this play, because they were all tied up in legitimate assignments.
In the middle of the second quarter, DT Eric Foster beat Brandon Moore with an inside move, and hit Sanchez as he threw, causing incompletion to Tomlinson to end a drive.
On the first play of a late second quarter possession, LT gained eight yards off left tackle. Dustin Keller had the key block on this play, and the runner helped his own cause a great deal by breaking a tackle attempt by Freeney on the line.
Right around the two-minute warning in the first half, Damien Woody led the way on a Shonn Greene run for seven yards on the right side.
Then in the second half, the offensive line took their game to another level.
Let’s look at the first drive of the second half. The Jets tied the score on this possession.
On the first run of the second half, Slauson had a great block on Moala, and Greene ran behind him on the left side for a gain of five.
On the first third down of this possession, third-and-two, Moore manhandled Foster, actually turning him around so his back was to the runner, and Greene ran behind Brandon for a gain of five.
Two player later, T-Rich had a great block on LB Gary Brackett, and Greene ran behind him up the middle for a gain of seven.
And then Nick Mangold had two great blocks, on consecutive plays, on a Tomlinson run for 11 yards up the middle, and then a Greene scamper for eight yards also up the middle. He destroyed Moala on both of these plays, opening up big holes in the middle of the line. And this guy isn’t one of the undersized players in the Colts’ front seven – he’s 6-4, 303.
This drive ended with a one-yard TD run by LT. There wasn’t one standout block on this play. The runner did a good job finding a small seam.
At the end of the third quarter, carrying into the fourth, the Jets had another long scoring drive dominated by the run.
Early in this drive, LT had an eight-yard run to the right side. Aside from terrific blocking, LT helped his own cause a great deal by making Brackett miss with a nifty move. He gained eight yards on this play.
Two plays later, Woody did a good job of pushing the right end inside, and Brad Smith took a QB keeper for eight yards off right tackle.
Later in the drive, Brandon Moore locked up Mili, and Greene ran behind him on the right side for a gain of six. As he often does, Greene broke the first tackle attempt on this play, by Angerer, to help a great deal on this run.
This drive wrapped up with a Tomlinson one-yard TD run on third-and-one. Robert Turner, as a sixth lineman/tight end, had a tremendous block on this play, on Angerer, to create a lot of space on the right side.
These two long running drives were huge. Not only did they result in scores, they killed a lot of clock, and kept Peyton Manning off the field.
The final drive of the game was mostly a passing possession, and the line did a good job in pass protection.