Through eight quarters of football, the much-hyped 2024 New York Jets look like a work in progress in many areas. While the makeup of a playoff contender is there, the Jets clearly have plenty of growing to do before they can be taken seriously as an AFC powerhouse.
From the run game to the pass rush, there are many high-ceiling units on the team that have undergone shaky starts to the year. However, one particular facet of the team is already firing on all cylinders: the pass protection.
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According to Pro Football Focus, Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers has only been pressured on 18.2% of his dropbacks this season. That is the second-lowest rate among qualified quarterbacks.
In their Week 2 win over Tennessee, the Jets’ offensive line was magnificent in the passing game. New York’s five offensive linemen combined to allow just one pressure, per PFF’s tracking. Left tackle Tyron Smith, left guard John Simpson, right guard Alijah Vera-Tucker, and right tackle Morgan Moses each allowed zero pressures on 34 pass-blocking snaps. Center Joe Tippmann allowed a sack, but that was his only allowed pressure on 34 pass-blocking snaps.
Look at how much space Rodgers had at the start of his windup on each of his three deep completions against Tennessee.
While the offensive line deserves credit, Rodgers himself is also largely responsible for the Jets’ statistical success at preventing pressure. Rodgers has averaged 2.38 seconds from snap to throw, second-fastest among quarterbacks.
Rodgers doesn’t fully count on the offensive line to protect him. He plays a part in his own safety by getting the ball out fast and preventing the defense from even having a chance to reach him. This helps make the offensive line look a lot better; it’s the inverse effect that previous Jets quarterbacks had by holding the ball too long.
Still, Rodgers’ quick release time should not take away from the effort of the Jets’ offensive line. The Jets have a team-wide pass-blocking grade of 72.7 at PFF, which ranks 10th-best in the NFL. That is not quite as great as Rodgers’ No. 2 ranking in pressure rate, but it’s still a great spot for a five-man unit that never played together until the last two games – especially considering that they’ve faced two good defensive lines in San Francisco and Tennessee. As the season goes on, they should only be expected to get better.
And even if they do not improve, settling in as approximately the 10th-best pass-blocking team in the NFL, that is plenty good enough with a quarterback of Rodgers’ play style. As the Jets have already shown, when they combine Rodgers’ quick release with a top-10 pass-blocking unit, they can hold Rodgers’ pressure rate to an incredibly low level.
We are still waiting to see the Jets reach their full potential in many areas. The pass rush was already iffy and is now in dire straits after Jermaine Johnson’s injury. Rodgers is still working on getting the most out of Garrett Wilson and Mike Williams. And as good as the offensive line has been in pass protection, their run blocking needs to be far more consistent for Breece Hall to reach his ceiling.
With all of those areas in development mode, it’s been the Jets’ pass protection keeping the team afloat through two games. It prevented a rough day in San Francisco from looking even worse, and it was the primary reason they escaped a brutal start in Tennessee to pull out the victory. Without the clean pockets afforded to Rodgers on those huge downfield passes to Hall, Williams, and Wilson, the Jets do not come back and win the game.
The Jets had a high ceiling in pass protection entering the year, just like they did in all of the aforementioned areas where they have started off relatively slowly. So, it’s not necessarily surprising to see them thriving in that area.
However, it is somewhat surprising that it’s the pass protection of all things that has been New York’s lone thriving unit. If I told you the Jets would only be great at one thing through two games, I would pick something that seemed a little more reliable, such as any aspect of their defense or the individual greatness of either Hall or Wilson – not a completely rebuilt unit featuring three new starters (two being vets with injury questions), a second-year center, and a guard coming off an Achilles injury.
Yet, the Jets’ pass protection has hit the ground running, while everything else is coming along slowly. For that reason, it seems obvious: The Jets’ pass protection is the identity of this football team.
Every championship team has a calling card – the thing you fear the most when you play them. The Seahawks’ Legion of Boom secondary. The Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes-Travis Kelce passing game. The Giants’ pass rush.
… The Jets’ pass protection?
With a talented offensive line and a Hall-of-Fame quarterback who knows how to protect himself, the Jets offense is poised to finish the year allowing one of the lowest pressure rates in the NFL, if not the lowest. The only quarterback who has taken a lower pressure rate than Rodgers this season is Tua Tagovailoa, who has become a master at getting the ball out quickly in Mike McDaniel’s offense. With Tagovailoa’s future in doubt, Rodgers very well could end up taking the lowest pressure rate of any quarterback this season.
That’s a scary sight for New York’s AFC rivals.
Considering the weapons at his disposal in New York’s offense, it’s terrifying to think about trying to stop Rodgers without being able to put pressure on him. It’s especially troubling because of Rodgers’ ability to attack deep on quick dropbacks.
Typically, quick-releasing quarterbacks sacrifice the downfield passing game to achieve their low pressure rate and low time-to-throw, but not Rodgers. All three of his deep completions against Tennessee were released in under 2.6 seconds. On the year, he is averaging an NFL-low 2.59 seconds to throw on passes that traveled at least 10 air yards, and it’s led to incredible results. His 0.93 EPA per attempt on throws of 10+ air yards is third-best behind Josh Allen and Derek Carr. Rodgers is showing that he can beat you downfield before the pass rush gets a chance to touch him.
If the Jets had an offensive line like the ones they did in recent years, then it wouldn’t matter that Rodgers gets his deep passes out quickly. We’ve seen the Jets’ offensive line allow even the quickest of plays to be blown up. But this offensive line – even if it is helped by Rodgers’ release time – is at least proving that it can consistently give Rodgers a pristine pocket on quick dropbacks. And considering Rodgers’ success on those quick dropbacks so far, that combination gives the Jets offense dangerous potential.
Rodgers is already the most turnover-averse quarterback in NFL history. Only 1.4% of his career pass attempts have been intercepted, the lowest rate in NFL history. Now imagine if you can only apply pressure on him 18% of the time. How are you going to get takeaways on this Jets team?
Through two games, Rodgers has thrown only one interception, which was off an unlucky tip on a pass that was not necessarily turnover-worthy. Per PFF’s tracking, Rodgers still hasn’t thrown a turnover-worthy pass, making him one of only four starting quarterbacks to do so. It goes without saying that the Jets’ pass protection is a huge reason why Rodgers has been able to pull this off.
Against Tennessee, the Jets’ edge in the turnover department is arguably the main reason they won. The Titans had two turnovers to the Jets’ zero. In a game where the two teams were pretty even otherwise (Tennessee even outgained New York 300-265), those turnovers were the difference. At last, it was the other quarterback making the killer mistakes, not the Jets’ quarterback. This has been a rarity for the Jets, especially on the road – it was their first road game with no turnovers and two-plus takeaways since Week 4 of 2018.
This is a major asset Rodgers brings to the Jets. Even when he and the Jets offense are not thriving – which they were not for most of the first half in Nashville – Rodgers will not make matters worse by throwing the game away. He will allow the other quarterback to do that. It made the difference on Sunday, and it will make the difference in a lot of games for the Jets, because they have the pass protection to help ensure Rodgers will throw as few turnover-worthy passes as possible.
If they develop as hoped, the Jets will have a ton of different strengths once they hit their stride. Their run game could be one of the NFL’s best. Their secondary can do the same.
But even when it all comes together, the idea of four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers throwing behind an offensive line that has allowed the second-lowest pressure rate in football is what will be the identity of this entire football team.
Think about the potential of a team with that as its anchor. If you’re the Jets, you’re thinking, “We’ve got Aaron Rodgers, and you’re not touching him. Good luck.”
It’s a tremendous floor-raising anchor. Thanks to the combo of a low-risk QB and a strong pass-blocking OL, the Jets are poised to finish as one of the league leaders in both fewest turnovers and fewest sacks. They’ll keep the negative plays to a minimum and dare the opponent to beat them in a war of attrition. The New England Patriots spent two decades beating opponents with this formula. They just focused on not beating themselves, and they would capitalize once their opponents inevitably did.
For one day in Nashville, the Jets mimicked the formula that Tom Brady rode to hundreds of victories. The competition will get much tougher than Will Levis, so the Jets do need to be better in other facets for this formula to work all season. They are not going to win every game by waiting for the other quarterback to roll a one-handed lateral in the red zone.
Nonetheless, the Jets have found the anchor they can rely on throughout the 2024 season. They are not resting on their laurels by simply having Aaron Rodgers. They’re going to keep him safe, too. Not only will it help keep their most prized asset on the field, but it will allow them to excel at minimizing negative plays offensively, giving them a chance to win every single week simply by not beating themselves.
Before we close this out, I’m going to write a quick little sentence. Take a look at it, and then think to yourself: when was the last time Jets fans were able to say either part of this sentence, let alone both simultaneously?
The Jets have a good quarterback who hardly ever gets touched.
That can be the foundation of a Super Bowl team.
There are numerous issues on this team that need figuring out, but the Jets seem to finally have the two things they’ve been lacking the most over the past 13 years.
