After Aaron Rodgers, the thing I was second-most excited to watch in the New York Jets’ season opener was their revamped offensive line.
In New York’s 32-19 loss, the offensive line’s debut performance was quite polarizing. The highs were high and the lows were low.
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Let’s jump straight into it. Here are some of the main takeaways from this unit in San Francisco.
Pass protection
Sacked once and hit four times, Aaron Rodgers was protected fairly well in this game. Next Gen Stats had Rodgers getting pressured on 26.7% of his dropbacks, the eighth-lowest rate of Week 1, while Pro Football Focus had the number a bit lower at 22.7%, ranking fifth-lowest.
Those are rare numbers in the world of Jets football. The NGS pressure rate (26.7%) would have been New York’s second-best mark out of 17 games in 2023, while the PFF pressure rate (22.7%) would have been New York’s best mark of the 2023 season. Past Rodgers’ individual performance, these numbers are arguably the second-best takeaway on the entire team from New York’s season opener. Jets fans are not used to seeing their quarterback getting pressured this infrequently.
However, those numbers were buoyed by Rodgers’ lightning-quick release time. Per PFF, Rodgers averaged 2.33 seconds from snap to release, the fastest mark of any quarterback in Week 1. This was certainly the main reason Rodgers did not take much pressure. The offensive line’s protection was not quite as good as his pressure rate suggests.
Still, there some extremely positive signs from the offensive line. Three of the Jets’ five offensive line starters earned pass-blocking grades over 76.0 at PFF, placing each of them in the top-10 at their respective positions:
- LG John Simpson: 76.7 (10th among LG)
- C Joe Tippmann: 76.9 (9th among C)
- RG Alijah Vera-Tucker: 76.7 (8th among RG)
As you probably noticed, all three of the standouts were on the interior. That group did a fantastic job against the 49ers’ electric interior pass-rushing duo of Javon Hargrave and Maliek Collins. Hargrave finished the game with one pressure while Collins had zero.
Tippmann was credited with allowing zero pressures on 32 pass-blocking snaps, per PFF. Simpson and Vera-Tucker were credited with allowing one apiece.
So, the Jets’ interior pass protection was solid in San Francisco. The tackles, however, were a little concerning.
Left tackle Tyron Smith was credited with allowing four pressures, which is shocking by his standards. Four pressures was Smith’s season-worst mark in 2023, which he only hit once. Through his first six games of 2023, Smith allowed just five pressures.
This was a concerning rep from Smith.
Nick Bosa’s spin move doesn’t work, but he is still able to plow Smith into the pocket while walking backwards.
Right tackle Morgan Moses allowed three pressures, although he generally looked worse than Smith. While Smith earned a 64.0 pass-blocking grade at PFF (23rd among LT), Moses earned a 22.4 pass-blocking grade, the worst among right tackles.
Here’s a rep that sums up the offensive line’s day in pass protection pretty well.
The ball is out quick here, as it was for most of the night. Nonetheless, this is the type of space the Jets are capable of creating for Rodgers with the talent they have up front. Ball out quickly or not, we haven’t seen the Jets create many pockets like that in recent years.
It’s third-and-7, so it’s an obvious passing situation, meaning the 49ers’ explosive four-man rush is going to be coming full-throttle. With no extra help, the Jets OL does a mostly great job.
Smith locks his man down on an island. Simpson plows his man horizontally, creating a huge throwing lane. AVT and Tippmann have their man taken care of on a double team. The only blemish is Moses, who gets walloped by Nick Bosa and is lucky the ball comes out quickly. Hence why Moses’ pass-blocking grade was poor; this play wasn’t charted as a pressure, because it technically isn’t, but Moses still blocked poorly, hurting his grade. Meanwhile, Smith earned a competent grade despite his four total pressures because he made up for it with a lot of strong one-on-one reps like this one.
Summary
Overall, the Jets’ pass protection was a mixed bag against San Francisco. There weren’t a lot of opportunities to evaluate them in this phase, as Rodgers dropped back only 22 times, and he got the ball out quickly on many of those. However, it’s fair to say that the interior trio looked very good, while the veteran tackles need to prove that Week 1 was a mirage.
There were some important factors working against Smith and Moses in this one. The Jets were on a cross-country road trip against an elite EDGE unit, with both veteran tackles debuting in a new offense. Not to mention, their offseason workloads were lighter than their younger counterparts on the inside, so they could have been rusty from a physical standpoint. Hopefully, this is about as poorly as Smith and Moses play all year.
It is very early, but this is another reason why it is great to have Olu Fashanu waiting in the wings. While Fashanu was primarily drafted to provide injury security, it cannot be ruled out that either Smith or Moses hits a wall this year, both being 33 years old. If that occurs, it is a luxury to be able to call on a blue-chip alternative instead of riding out a declining player until the wheels fall off.
Again, we’re talking about the nightmare scenario here. I believe Smith and Moses will be just fine, but they both need to turn things around quickly after a rough start.
The Jets’ edge-rushing competition is about to be significantly weaker over the next few weeks compared to what San Francisco offered. If Smith and Moses’ struggles continue against the likes of Tennessee, New England, and Denver, it will be concerning.
For now, I would expect them to rebound. If they can do that, along with the interior trio maintaining the production it displayed in the season opener, the Jets’ pass protection could be fantastic this season. There were flashes of greatness in San Francisco.
Run blocking
While there were some positives to talk about in the passing game, there is nothing positive to say about the Jets’ run-blocking.
I would argue the offensive line’s run-blocking was the most disappointing aspect of the team’s performance in San Francisco. Most people are pointing fingers at the defense, and rightfully so, but we should have been expecting the Jets defense to have a rough time in that game (regardless of who played RB; Shanahan can make it happen with anybody). San Francisco’s offense is not a good schematic matchup for the Jets.
But the opposite was supposed to apply. New York should have been able to keep pace with San Francisco in a battle of dominant run games. Everything San Francisco’s offense exploited could have been exploited by New York’s offense.
The Jets did not take advantage, and it was mainly due to their atrocious run-blocking.
No matter what stat you look at, it is obvious that the Jets’ offensive line did absolutely nothing for Breece Hall. Next Gen Stats charted Hall at -10 rushing yards before contact, the second-worst total among running backs in Week 1. PFF had Hall at -3 yards before contact, which was also second-worst.
Hall finishing with 54 yards on 16 carries (3.4 yards per carry) was fully by his own creation. Among the 18 running backs with at least 15 carries in Week 1, Hall ranked fourth in yards after contact per carry (3.6) and fifth in missed tackles forced per carry (.375). He gained 57 yards after contact – 106% of his 54 rushing yards – and forced six missed tackles on his 16 attempts.
This is immeasurably disappointing. These are the kinds of numbers that should have been left back in 2023. This was never supposed to happen with a first-round pick at guard, a second-round pick at center, two accomplished veteran tackles, and a solid free agent at the other guard spot.
It is even more disappointing when considering this was a favorable matchup for the Jets’ run game. On the other side of the field, San Francisco’s run game showed how weak the Jets’ defensive scheme is against runs up the middle. San Francisco’s defensive scheme has the same weakness. The 49ers allowed the second-most EPA per rush attempt on carries between the tackles last year. Nathaniel Hackett tried to exploit that, consistently feeding Hall early in the game, but the line simply wasn’t creating holes.
PFF saw Joe Tippmann as the Jets’ worst run blocker, giving him a 50.4 run-blocking grade that ranked fifth among the Jets’ starting linemen and third-worst among centers in Week 1.
Alijah Vera-Tucker (61.5) and John Simpson (60.2) ranked 43rd and 46th, respectively, out of 66 qualified guards. Morgan Moses (58.0) was 48th out of 64 tackles. The only positive was Tyron Smith, who placed 21st among tackles with a 74.4 run-blocking grade.
Everyone can share in the blame for this performance, though. When watching through the film, each player was involved in allowing runs to be stuffed.
This one is on Tippmann and Moses. Tippmann gets blasted into the backfield while trying to execute a reach block, forcing Hall to cut back. When Hall cuts back, he has nowhere to go due to Moses failing to corral his man on the back side.
This one is on Vera-Tucker. The Jets try to challenge San Francisco up the middle, but Vera-Tucker is immediately beaten with a swim move, blowing up the play.
This third-and-1 failure can also fall on Vera-Tucker. He ducks and gets beat inside on a rip move, which is what primarily creates the brick wall that Hall runs into. Tippmann also whiffs on his man and blocks nobody, making it harder for Simpson to generate vertical movement.
Simpson is primarily responsible for this one. He fails to seal his man outside (despite solid help from Tippmann), allowing him to get back inside for the stop.
The Jets get great front-side blocks from Smith, Garrett Wilson, and Simpson, setting up a big hole. However, Tippmann is unable to execute the reach block, allowing his man to cross his face and get in front of Hall for the stop. Simpson did a great job of setting Tippmann up, too. After Simpson’s pass-off, Tippmann is out in front of his man, but he ceded the advantage after Simpson peeled off.
Summary
One way or another, the Jets offensive line needs to forge a major turnaround in this phase going forward. They weren’t just disappointing on Monday – they were terrible. And you can’t make the “elite competition” excuse like you can in other facets of the game. This unit had a favorable matchup in front of them and blew it.
Next week, the competition will arguably be even tougher. Tennessee may not be a great team overall, but they can definitely stop the run. The Titans allowed the seventh-fewest yards per rush attempt in 2023 (3.8) and proceeded to allow an identical 3.8 yards per rush attempt in their season opener against Chicago. New York’s run-blocking cannot depend on a decrease in competition in the same way that other parts of the Jets’ roster can.
There is too much talent on this offensive line for them to continue run-blocking as poorly as they did. I believe they will get their act together starting this week. But it is troubling that they already showed as low of a floor as they did. Hopefully, this is something that gets chalked up as a Week 1 outlier for a group of guys who were playing their first live reps together.
The good news is that with Breece Hall in the backfield, the Jets don’t need this group to be incredible. They just need to be “solid.” Hall already produced 4.8 yards per carry over his first two seasons with abysmal run blocking. If he gets anything above that, he is talented enough to produce elite results.
The Jets need an elite rushing attack to fulfill their championship aspirations. And to field an elite rushing attack, they need their offensive line to be much better than it was on Monday. That does not mean they need to be dominant, but as long as they are competent, Hall will have all of the room he needs to take over games.
