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The run blocking was terrific and the pass protection was inconsistent . . . Brick was up-and-down . . .
DE Adam Carriker had a sack on the first possession. Here is what happened. LB London Fletcher blitzed and nobody picked him up, so Sanchez stepped up to avoid him, and right into the arms of Carriker. It’s unclear who should have picked up Fletcher.
The Jets run blocking was superb on the first series with Shonn Greene runs of five, eight, and five yards. LaDainian Tomlinson added a run of eight yards. Those were four excellent running plays.
While the run blocking was excellent, Greene helped the guys of front with some rugged running. On his gain of eight, in the middle of the run up the middle, he broke a tackle attempt by LB London Fletcher, who is a great tackler, to double the length of this run.
On Greene’s first gain of five, D’Brickashaw Ferguson and Nick Mangold opened up an enormous hole on the left side for the runner.
The best run blocking play in this game was on Tomlinson’s gain of 43 at the end of the first quarter. D’Brickashaw Ferguson showed his great mobility – getting into the left flat and leading the way on the initial part of the run. Another impressive block on this play was by Matt Slauson, who drove massive Albert Haynesworth about three yards back and to the right side, and out of the picture helping to open up the massive left-side hole. To drive the 6-6, 350 Haynesworth back on skates isn’t an easy thing to do.
Ferguson had an up-and-down second quarter. On the first play of the stanza, OLB Brian Orapko got by him to stop Tomlinson for a loss of one. I will say one thing in his defense on this play. Haynesworth was also in the area, and the Brick didn’t seem to have a lot of help on that side.
On a later second quarter possession, Ferguson had one real nice play and two bad ones. On the first play of this possession, Brick had a perfect block on DE Kedrick Golston, and Green ran behind him for a gain of six yards off left tackle. But then he had two poor plays in a row. He was beat on an inside move by OLB Andre Carter, and was forced to hold the outside linebacker to prevent a big hit on Mark Sanchez. Then on the very next play, Brick had issues with Haynesworth who stopped Tomlinson for no gain.
Brick bounced back late in the quarter on a Tomlinson gain of 15 off left tackle, neutralizing Haynesworth, allowing LT to bounce outside. Another key block on this play was by Jerricho Cotchery down field, and Slauson at the point of attack.
Brandon Moore was beat for a quarterback pressure by Carrikker late in the first half.
Damien Woody was beat soundly by OLB Chris Wilson for a late second quarter sack of Sanchez. The Northwood-product used a nice club move on the play, and good quickness to blow by the right tackle.
Late in the first half, Nick Mangold had a terrific block on Haynesworth allowing LT to gain 14 yards on a draw. Dustin Keller, who is much improved as a blocker, also had a key block on this play.
In the third middle of the third quarter, on the first play of a possession, Moore had a great block allowing Greene to gain nine yards behind him. On the next play, Greene ran behind Vlad Ducasse on the left side for a gain of seven. On this same drive, Ferguson held Haynesworth, bringing back an LT run that went for 21 yards.
Ducasse was beat for a fourth quarter sack by DT Jeremy Jarmon. Mark Brunell was at quarterback.
