Content available exclusively for subscribers
When you watch some of these struggling offensive lines, like the Pittsburgh Steelers and Los Angeles Chargers, getting destroyed in the playoffs, it makes you think about what a wasted season this was for a Jets offensive line, loaded with talent, that started the same five guys all year (very rare in the injury-plagued NFL).
Things were a little rough for the Jets offensive line early in the season, as they attempted to get on the same page facing stunts, twists and games, but as the season progressed they got better and better.
Don’t hold the New Orleans game against the Jets’ offensive line. Brady Cook was sacked eight times. Cook, like many young quarterbacks, tends to hold the ball too long. The Miami Dolphins also sacked him six times.
A lot of this wasn’t on the line.
Mike Vrabel raved about this line before the Jets-Pats encounter late in the season.
“Upfront, I really enjoy watching their offensive line – it’s a good group, a young talented group [at tackle], love the play-demeanor of the guys inside, Myers, [Tippmann], and Simpson – they come off the ball, they are good with their combinations,” Vrabel said. “They allow Breece (Hall) to get going. There is not a lot of a first contract. He is averaging more than 4.2 yards per carry. Last time, they ran the football on us. The formula for us to win is not giving up 140 yards on the ground. I’ve told the team that a number of times.”
If the Chargers or Steelers had this line, maybe they win those first-round playoff games. I’m being serious.
The Jets had a good line, and the Jets kind of wasted it.
In so many games, the Jets ran the ball well, with great run blocking, but still had an anemic passing game.
This is strange.
Many teams around the league accomplish a great deal in the passing game, thanks to their strong running game, which sets up play-action fakes that create large passing windows. If you look at the success of Chicago second-year QB Caleb Williams this year, so much of it is connected to the Bears’ solid running game. One of the game’s best play-callers, San Francisco’s Kyle Shanahan, has a run-first attack, which sets up ideal throwing scenarios for the quarterback.
But this didn’t seem to happen with the Jets this year, even with a pretty solid running game.
A perfect example was the first New England game, the one Vrabel’s praise in the quote was based on. Remember, the Jets’ opening drive where they marched down the field for a touchdown, spearheaded by their rushing attack?
Well, their effective running in this game didn’t seem to help their passing offense. At one point in the third quarter, they had 23 yards passing, and Scott Zolak said on the Patriots Radio Network – “23 passing yards in the third quarter, I’d run [Justin Fields] every play.”
The bottom line is the Jets wasted a strength that many teams don’t have – a talented offensive line that started the same five guys in every contest.
I know you aren’t allowed to say that maybe the Jets should have kept Aaron Rodgers. It’s not allowed in the echo chamber, but he went 10-7 this year in Pittsburgh behind a bad line, it makes you wonder what he could have done behind – Fashanu, Simpson, Myers, Tippmann and Membou.
January 14, 2026
Premium will return by 9:30 pm (or sooner) on Thursday.
