Here we sit, 5 days away from kickoff, and we've made no moves to shore up the o-line. I thought for sure we'd scour the waiver wire, make a little trade for a Brandon Moore-like, under the radar offensive guard somewhere, etc, but nothing. It looks like we're going on a Bender or bust! Is anyone else surprised we didn't sign some kind of 0-line depth or a competitor for a starting role over the weekend? The only assumption I can make is that Bender has really flashed in practice and the powers that be feel that, while he may have growing pains early on, his future looks solid, but that's a rose-colored glasses assumption...
No Surprise Here.. If they were looking for O line help , I think Tannenbaum would have explored Trades before they let Pete K go. Occassionally there is something to be had on the Waiver wire but in reality its like picking through your neighbors trash.
That's a generalization. Sometimes you can get a starting caliber player through the waiver wire because some teams end up unbalanced at a particular position and have to cut down.
Everyone is talking about how bad the o-line is going to be. No one seems open to the possibility that Bender might actually be really good.
The OL on the waiver wire was filled with UDFA and late round picks who are far worse than Bender. The only one with any type of buzz or talent is Vincent.
I agree with Coach K. It is not just Bender. Moore is a penalty machine and Clement is average on his best day. Still having Moore/Clement on the right side is going to hurt the run game far more then Bender (if the trend from last year continues). Not to mention the depth blows. Yes the O-line is bad. Even if Bender improves during the year, it is still bad. But I pray I am wrong and for a miracle, but I don't think so.
If the Jets go blessedly uninjured on the O-line we could get lucky and see a slight improvement from last year by the time the season is over. Not having Kendall early might be balanced by having a more-proven, younger and hungrier Bender late. If the O-line sees injuries I think 2005 is where we are headed, especially if Mangold gets hurt.
Hey, We are still a team rebuilding... The OL is still in that transitional stage. If Bender works out, we are all set on the left side for a very long time, at whicch point we can truly address the right side... We are gonna take our lumps now...but hopefully next year we start filling in the holes along both lines.
The lines are where competence in the NFL is determined. Ray Lucas took the Jets to a 6-2 finish because he had Mawae, Fabini, Elliot, Jenkins and Thomas in front of him. The Jets struggled when Vinny went down but as soon as they got somebody back there who had half a clue the line let them recover. Chad Pennington got destroyed in 2003 and 2005 because the O-line had holes in it. His replacements, Vinny Testaverde and Brooks Bollinger couldn't get anything going because the line wasn't any better for them than it had been for him. Right now the Jets line has holes in it and it's also thin. You could put Peyton Manning back there and the Jets would have trouble winning games. With Chad I half-suspect it will be laughable. We'll see.
Ding Ding Ding... We have a winner. We are rebuilding our OL. We were spoiled by the great OL's we had over almost the last decade. Most teams do not have that. Bender is going to be a beast in the run game, and Moore is OK at RG. We NEED a high calibre RT, and I am sorry but that is not going to happen until next draft/season. Until then we have to live and die by Clement, and he is way past his prime.
Great O Line the past 10 years - are you Kidding Me??? We havent had a GREAT OL since Joe Fields was at center
Have you been watching the same team? Do you watch other games? This is exactly my point. We're spoiled when it comes to the OL. The entire time Mawae was here we had a top 10 OL. How soon we forget poor Kenny O getting creamed every time he dropped back. Ask David Carr or Joey Harrington if they would have enjoyed the Jets OL in their respective cities...
They were not too shabby in 1998 or 2002 either. Ask Curtis what he thought of the OL while he was with us.
Past 10 Years is 1996 - 2006 , The line has been Subpar at least the last 2 Seasons , and before that Mawae was Great , Jumbo was past his Prime , Fabini was way overrated and we never had a real top level guard We did not have a GREAT O line.... Was it servicable? Yes , Was it Above Average?.. Probably.... Was it Great? Not in a Million Years.
Oh I agree, but championship teams have great lines. It HAS to be addressed next offseason. I think you might be jumping the gun on Bender, too soon to tell either way. And I think you are being too kind to Moore, he is not an OK RG. He gets way way way way way way too many penalties to be "ok" and he can't open a run gap for his life. Moore is good when he has a good line around him, unfortunately that isn't the case. But what worries me the most is depth, I mean all we have is Clarke, Smith and Jones. That is terrifying. Every game we must all pray for no injuries on the Oline.
