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New Jersey – Time for a closer look at Greg McElroy’s performance, and a part of the blocking issues that isn’t brought up enough . . .
You know who the Jets miss a great deal this year? It’s a name you might not expect. His name is LaDainian Tomlinson.
Not so much as a runner, but as a receiver and blocker.
They have been shaky catching the ball out of the backfield, and LT was one of the greatest receiving backs of all time.
But an even bigger problem has been blitz pickup.
Sometimes we tend to blame the offensive line for every sack or pressure, but don’t forget the other blockers – like the running backs.
In yesterday’s sack-a-palooza from the San Diego Chargers, there was one perfect example of the blocking issues at tailback.
The Jets’ first series ended with a sack of McElroy that was shared by the two 3-4 edge pass rushing OLB’s Melvin Ingram and Shaun Phillips.
However, the reason the pocket collapsed was because Bilal Powell got pushed back on skates by ILB Donald Butler, and this destroyed the pocket, and created the chaos.
It’s not a lack of toughness or effort from Powell, but he’s still a work in progress as a blocker.
The Jets really, really miss LT as a blocker at tailback. He was one of the best blocking tailbacks in the league . . .
Let’s put the sacks to the side for a second (I’m sure that is hard for McElroy to do – he probably lived in the ice tub), and take a closer look at some of McElroy’s work.
After going three-and-out on the first series that ended in the aforementioned sack, the Jets scored on the next two series.
On the first play of the second series, the Jets ran a perfect screen to Shonn Greene on the right side. With Brandon Moore out front, the runner went for 30 yards.
I know this was a very short pass, but honestly, too often, Mark Sanchez is inaccurate on short passes to runners and hurts their ability to run after the catch. McElroy put the ball in a good spot.
Obviously, this second drive was aided quite a bit by the 42-yard pass from Jeremy Kerley to Clyde “Edmund” Gates. This pass took the Jets to the 11.
Two plays later, McElroy threw high to Braylon Edwards on an out-route on the right side. It’s possible he threw it this way because the receiver wasn’t open, and he wanted to avoid a potential Pick Six.
On the next play, McElroy scrambled seven yards to the one. Shonn Greene took it in two plays later.
On the Jets’ next drive, early in the possession, McElroy hit Edwards for a gain of 13 on an out-route to the right side. Two plays later, McElroy threw a pass, he would surely would want back. He had Kerley open over the middle, and threw the pass high and behind him.
On the next play, McElroy threw a pass, from the 23, to Edwards in the end zone, and it drew an interference call on Quintin Jammer.
Greene took it in two plays later.
The next two drives didn’t amount to much, with four sacks.
I will say this about the sacks. Some of the 11 might have been on McElroy, but my sense was he was more inclined to take some of these sacks, and live for another play, than throw a pass up for grabs as he was getting hit.
McElroy replaced a quarterback who turned the ball over way too much, so he clearly wanted to stay away from that stigma.
On the second of these two drives, McElroy did have a couple of nice throws.
The Jets caught the Chargers off guard by throwing to Aussie TE Hayden Smith, for his first career catch. This was a good call by Tony Sparano that the Chargers didn’t expect. Smith snuck off the line and was wide open on the left side, and McElroy hit him in stride. These two have good chemistry from all the time they’ve spent together on the scout team.
McElroy also hit Chad Schilen for a gain of seven on the short right side.
There was one pass on this series that McElroy arm detractors will point to, and say – “see he doesn’t have a great arm.”
McElroy attempted a pass to Edwards over the middle, and short-armed it.
But in all fairness to Greg, this was the only one of those – “McElroy doesn’t have a great arm” throws of the day.
We will have more on McElroy tomorrow.
December 24, 2012
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