Laying it on the line
Don’t forget, big guys still key to Darnold’s success
The smartest guys in the room don’t have rabbit ears, but it’s impossible to ignore the chatter. They’d have to walk around with ear muffs on morning, noon and night to be unaware of the external concerns.
For all the excitement surrounding Sam Darnold’s grand opening Monday night in Detroit, the behemoths paid to protect him will play a central role in this 16-act play.
Gang Green’s offensive linemen might be the most pivotal pieces to this intricate puzzle.
“I’m very optimistic,” new offensive line coach/run-game coordinator Rick Dennison said on Thursday. “Obviously it’s the start of the regular season, (so) there’s a little bit of unknown.”
Will they adapt to a new scheme with a new quarterback? Have they had enough time to share one brain yet? Were the shaky moments this summer a peek into the future or simply a time to iron out the kinks before the train gets rolling? Are they good enough? “I understand that everyone wants to point to what’s happened in the preseason,” left tackle Kelvin Beachum said, “But we get paid to be professionals and we got to find a way to make it work. We’ve been working at it during practice and during the time that we’ve had together. Now it’s time for us to put it on display.”
The Jets allowed the fifthhighest sack percentage and ranked 19th in run offense last season before Todd Bowles switched offensive coordinators and philosophies. Dennison came aboard to help Jeremy Bates refine a run game that was shelved much too often in 2017.
Bates and Dennison graduated summa cum laude from Mike Shanahan University, fully aware that this zone-blocking scheme churns out yards on the ground with regularity.
The offensive linemen will be the catalysts to make it all work.
“We have all the pieces now,” right guard Brian Winters said. “We think we can be one of the Top 5 offensive lines in the league. We have to prepare every day mentally and physically. Everything should be good.”
Easier said than done for a starting unit that didn’t play a single snap together in the preseason. Beachum missed the entire preseason with a foot/ankle injury. Winters missed the second preseason game as he recovers from off-season core surgery. Everyone predictably didn’t play in the preseason finale.
“It’s tough, but we have some chemistry coming from practice,” Winters said. “Going into this game, I feel confident with who we are. We talk really well together. We communicate really well together. It’s going to be fun.”
Bowles isn’t publicly sweating that his starting five haven’t played together in a game, but there surely is some level of curiosity.
Although the Jets seemingly had a good amount of success on outside zone runs last season – their 2.07 yards before contact on outside zone runs ranked third, according to Pro Football Focus – Dennison has taught different elements (pulling, cutting down, motions to create an open-side run) to take it to a higher level.
“He’s brought a whole new (spin) to it,” Winters said. “He brought a whole new perspective on how we should look at outside zone. He’s been with some offenses that have been very successful with it. The techniques that he’s taught us really opened it up for us. We did a lot of last year, but we weren’t really crisp at it. Now I feel like we have a good understanding of what it is. He’s taught us a lot of cool tricks.”
Offensive linemen are typically the most cerebral guys in
every locker room along with quarterbacks, so it’s not a question of whether they can absorb Dennison’s lessons. It’s more about whether they can implement them quickly and efficiently. It’s a matter of transferring their classroom smarts to the field.
“Games are won or lost in the trenches,” Beachum said. “That’s what it is. For us, it’s really about being physical and being smart. When we do that consistently, we can handle anybody. Run the ball. Pass the ball. Do what we need to do to get up and down the field.”
New center Spencer Long’s previous experience in a similar scheme should help minimize the learning curve for everyone. He has the skillset and experience to tie both sides of the line together.
The mantra in the offensive line room isn’t overly complicated: Be physical and smart.
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to have a power blocking scheme to be physical. Zone-blocking offensive lines can be just as nasty even though there are finesse elements.
“You can finesse in both of them,” Beachum said. “You can have power (blocking) and run the ball outside every single time. “So, it’s not one of those things that because you run a certain scheme, you’re more physical than the other. It’s still football. Football is football. Schematics are schematics. X’s and O’s are X’s and O’s. But at the end of the day, there’s a man in front of you. You have to beat that man multiple times. You got to win your one-on-ones and win your doubles when you have them.”
The bottom line: The Jets want to keep an aggressive mentality to open up lanes for Bilal Powell and Isaiah Crowell. Recent history suggests the Jets could have success against the Lions, who opened the floodgates for opponents last season.
The Lions allowed 74.6 rushing yards per game (3.3 yards per carry) through the first five weeks before Haloti Ngata’s season-ending torn biceps changed everything. Detroit allowed 153.8 yards in the next five games without Ngata and 5.5 yards per carry over the final 11 games.
The Jets aren’t the only ones in transition. New Lions head coach Matt Patricia will employ multiple fronts, including more three-man fronts, than the traditional 4-3 scheme from a year ago. Detroit looked shaky stopping the run in the preseason.
Regardless, the Jets offensive linemen aren’t taking anything for granted.
“We can talk until we’re blue in the face,” Beachum said. “You can report (about it) until you’re blue in the face. But if we don’t do what we’re supposed to do on Monday, none of this stuff matters.”