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While it’s easy to point a finger at the offensive line, but there was also a lot of poor non-offensive line blocking – a lot . . .
On LaDainian Tomlinson’s first carry he ran for five yards up the middle thanks to a pancake block by Matt Slauson on DT B.J. Raji.
The Jets second possession ended thanks in part to a pair of poor blocks by wide receivers. LB Clay Mathews tossed aside Jerricho Cotchery to stop L.T. for no gain. In all fairness to Jericho, Mathews outweighs him by 52 pounds, so this is a terrible matchup for the wide receiver. Also on this play, Braylon Edwards was guilty of holding.
Another example of poor non-offensive line blocking ended the third possession. OLB Brandon Chillar got by Tomlinson to sack Mark Sanchez.
Tony Richardson did a poor job of forging ahead and picking a man to block, and L.T. ended up running right into him, on a run that went nowhere on the fourth possession.
Yet another case of poor non-offensive line blocking occurred early in the third quarter. On an Tomlinson sweep to the left that went nowhere, neither John Connor or Edwards blocked anybody, and they were both out in front of the runner.
Shonn Greene was called for holding a blitzing A.J. Hawk in the middle of the second.
Keller was called for holding Mathews on a Greene run middle of the fourth – he got his hand outside the shoulder pads, which is a no-no.
One more example of this underrated problem in the Green Bay game. Dom Capers blitzed two guys off the blindside in the middle of the third, and S Charlie Peprah and OLB Frank Zombo hit Sanchez as he threw. Shonn Greene did a poor job on Peprah and T-Rich didn’t get the job done against Zombo.
At the end of the first quarter, Damien Woody jumped off-sides with Howard Green lined up over him. I could understand jumping, being anxious, if Clay Mathews was lined up over you, but our old friend Howard? To Woody’s credit, he bounced back on the very next play, and pancaked Mathews, allowing Tomlinson to run for five yards. In the middle of the second quarter, Woody had a nice block on Green on a gain of eight by Tomlinson. Another nice block by Woody on Mathews was on a gain of six, to the right side, late in the third.
Nick Mangold had a false start early in the second quarter. He also held Raji, bringing back a nice run by Shonn Greene off right tackle. Mangold, along with the right side of the line, did a nice job on a gain of eight by Greene, off right tackle, in the middle of the third.
In the middle of the second, Dustin Keller ran into Tomlinson in the backfield, and the runner fell to the ground for no gain.
Robert Turner had the key block, and Brad Smith was off to the races, on the second half kickoff return that went for 47 yards.
While there were some pass protection issues, there were a number of plays where Sanchez had plenty of time to throw, but couldn’t find anyone. He didn’t seem to be seeing the field well. An example of this was late in the third quarter, Sanchez had an eternity to throw from his own goalline, but ended up spiking the ball.
Late in the third quarter, Brandon Moore did a nice of getting out in front, on the Jets most effective screen, a gain of 11 by Tomlinson.
Mangold did a great job of picking up a blitz up the middle by Mathews, and Sanchez was able to get a pass off to Keller over the middle, and Chillar was called for interfering with the tight end. Mangold had a nice drive block on Raji, knocking him out of the way, opening up a big hole on Greene gain of five early fourth.
And wrapping up a shaking day in the trenches for the Jets, Woody got beat on a spin move by Mathews for a late sack.