New York Jets Offensive Line Takes Big Step Back in Denver Broncos Loss

After three weeks of quality performances, the New York Jets’ offensive line took a significant step back in Week 4.

Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; New York Jets center Joe Tippmann (66) walks to the line of scrimmage with offensive tackle Morgan Moses (left) and guard Alijah Vera-Tucker (center) during the first quarter against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium. / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

New York Jets offensive lineman Alijah Vera-Tucker told reporters after Sunday’s 10-9 loss to the Denver Broncos to go back and look at the tape.

"We definitely played our asses off,” Vera-Tucker said. “When you go back and look at the tape, you'll see we did that.”

Whether you agree with the sentiment or not, it didn’t translate on the field.

New York’s sloppiest offensive effort since Week 1 — and perhaps the season — was rooted in the offensive line’s inability to replicate the quality performances of the last two weeks.

And, it didn’t have that much to do with breaking in first-round pick Olu Fashanu at right tackle, who was playing for the injured Morgan Moses.

The entire line was out of sync all afternoon. From veterans like left tackle Tyron Smith and left guard John Simpson, to youngers players like center Joe Tippman and Vera-Tucker, little worked right.

Start with the pass protection. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers was one of the least disturbed quarterbacks in the NFL the past two weeks. That wasn’t the case against Denver’s terrific pass rush. The Broncos sacked him five times and pressured him 14 times.

Per ESPN, Rodgers faced pressure on 10 of his 22 drop-backs in the first half. That was the most he faced in the first half of a game since 2018. By the end of the game, Rodgers was clearly not 100% and admitted to reporters that he had issues in both legs after the contest.

Head coach Robert Saleh called it “wear and tear.”

Next were the penalties. The Jets committed 13, which is awful for any team. But the Jets’ offensive line was responsible for three of them. ESPN tracked the culprits.

No, it wasn’t Fashanu, who made his first NFL start. Simpson had two and Smith, the future Hall-of-Famer, had one. Even running back Breece Hall got in on the action and had two false starts.

So, the Jets’ offense had five in all.

“That was way out of character for us,” Rodgers said.

Finally the running game. Hall went into the game with three straight games with at least 75 scrimmage yards and at least one touchdown, per ESPN.

Well, the running game managed just 64 yards. Running back Braelon Allen led the team with 34 yards. Hall gained just four yards on 10 attempts. He carried nine times in the first half and was hit behind the line of scrimmage seven times, per ESPN.

The Broncos bottled him up and the Jets’ offensive line just couldn’t any kind of push.

Hall’s role in the offense is fine, Saleh said.

"We're always going to lean on Breece, he's our workhorse back,” he said.

But for the offensive line, regardless of the effort, the execution has to be better when the Jets play in London next Sunday.