New York Jets Offensive Line Stats: Preseason Week 2

The Jets lost to the Redskins in their second preseason game and the offensive line took a huge amount of heat from fans. Let’s take a look at how I charted their performance in the game.

Previous editions: Pre 1

As I always say, it is impossible to capture everything with the stats, but with this series I hope to capture the most impactful plays accumulated by each linemen, both positive and negative, to help better our perspective on their production. Every single snap does matter, and here we will only be grading a small portion of those snaps, but this data can still help shape our opinions on players more properly and truly. Do not use them as final judgement, but as useful evidence.

So far, I’ve been tracking:

• Stuffs (runs for 2 yards or less and no first down) allowed in the run game
• Rushing first downs assisted
• “Setup runs” assisted (which I defined as a 6+ yard pickup on 1st/2nd down that did not result in a first down). Despite not resulting in a first down, these kinds of pickups are still positive plays that deserve to be tracked.
• Sacks allowed
• QB hits allowed
• QB pressures allowed (which I defined as instances where the QB was forced to throw an uncatchable incompletion)
• Penalties (Total accepted, yards, first downs wiped out, and declined)

Here are the numbers for the Jets in Week 2. Not all linemen who appeared in the game are on the list - only those who tallied one of the plays above.

Some notes from me on this week’s performance:

• Brent Qvale is just really stinking it up out there, quite frankly. I have him for a team high 7 stuffs allowed so far - 3 more than any other player. The team has relied on him to be a primary backup for a while, but he is not helping himself to keep that role in spite of the limited competition on the roster.
• Jonotthan Harrison doesn’t look all too bad on the chart above, but he has also really struggled. Sacks like the one he allowed early to Da’Ron Payne on Sam Darnold are just inexcusable. Even one sack allowed off of a deliberate 1-on-1 loss makes for a poor overall outing in pass protection. The Jets mitigated passing pressure by getting rid of the ball quickly as they did in Week 1, and they are lucky both of their quarterbacks have been able to protect themselves with the gift of mobility. Harrison really struggled - but he did throw a few assists in the run game in. I have him for a combined 5 first down + setup assists so far, most on the team.
• I hyped up Ben Braden last week but he came back down to earth with 3 stuffs allowed in the run game, including a key stifling at the goal line late in the game on a George Atkinson run.
• I’ve been impressed with Brandon Shell in his limited time. He is really flashing his athleticism in this zone running scheme and has played very solidly in the run game during his limited action thus far. I mentioned it last week and I’ll say it again - if Shell can take another step up, especially in the run game, it will work wonders for this offense.
• I have been an avid critic of Lawrence Thomas at fullback but he has looked pretty decent back there so far this year. He helped spring a big Atkinson run with a nice lead block on the left end.
• There was one sack and a few stuffs/pressures in this game that occurred due to an unblocked blitzer, so I didn’t credit anyone individually on those plays.

Here is a look at my total tallies through two weeks of Jets preseason football:

What did you think of the offensive line against the Redskins? Is there anything else you would like to see tracked, or any changes you would suggest making to the weekly study? Please do not hesitate to let me know!