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Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and offensive line coach Keith Carter need to get on the same page.
The Jets had major protection issues against Denver. Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph dialed up a lot of blitzes, and the Jets often had no answer.
And something rare happened with Aaron Rodgers. His eye level wasn’t as good as it usually it is, because he got hit so much.
Eye level issues at the quarterback position is when the quarterback doesn’t trust his line, and is looking at the rush sometimes, instead of keeping his eyes downfield.
But could you blame Rodgers for having eye level issues at times against Denver. He was sacked five times and hit 14 times in this game.
Hackett and Carter is a shotgun marriage. They never worked together, and sometimes that shows.
Remember, in the Athletic story in late January, which reportedly had 30 sources, there was an anecdote that in Week 2 of the 2023 season, when Dallas Cowboys pass rusher Micah Parsons was dominating Duane Brown (two sacks and four quarterback hits), Carter asked Hackett to give Brown blocking help, but it didn’t happen.
It certainly didn’t look like Hackett and Carter were on the same page Sunday in the Denver game.
This offensive line often doesn’t seem on the same page when it came to switch-off blocks against stunts.
The offensive line not playing at all in the preseason probably didn’t help with three new starters added.
But if Rodgers keeps getting hit like he did on Sunday, it’s going to be hard for him to make it through the season.
Jets owner Woody Johnson and GM Joe Douglas must demand that Hackett and Carter come up with a better plan to protect the franchise QB.
And line-up changes can’t be out of the question. If the head coach doesn’t want to do that because he doesn’t like to hurt people, maybe Douglas and Johnson need to force his hand.
But whether there are lineup changes or not, the communication up front needs to get better.
The quote of the day yesterday after the Jets loss to Denver was from Rodgers, when asked if cutting back on all his cadence variations could help cut down on all the false starts the Jets suffered against the Broncos, Rodgers said, “That’s one way to do it. The other way is to hold them accountable.”
That was a challenge to the head coach to hold the linemen (and other offensive players) more accountable for their false start penalties.
Why take away one of the quarterback’s superpowers of being a cadence master at the line? Why not put it on the protectors to get their acts together?
Saleh is such a good guy and great family man that he doesn’t seem to like to call players out or bench them, so he inferred after the game that maybe the answer is to pull back a little on the cadence stuff.
But keep in mind, aside from trying to get the defense to jump, there is something else going on with Rodgers’ long cadences – he’s trying to “read the mail” of the defense, so he’s milking the clock as close to zero as possible to make the defense show their final look before the snap.
So the answer is probably not to take away this strength of his. It’s probably more pragmatic to force the linemen to be more focused and disciplined.
And to demand that Hackett and Carter get on the same page, which clearly they weren’t on Sunday afternoon in the Jets inexcusable loss to the rebuilding Broncos with a rookie QB.
September 30, 2024
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