Jets O-Line Task: Make Mario Less Super

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Jets O-Line Task: Make Mario Less Super

 

 

Posted 2 hours ago

 

 

  Charlie Frankel  Reporter

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our O-linemen will have their work cut out for them this week as DE Mario Williams and the Buffalo Bills come to town.

 

 

Williams brought Panthers QB Cam Newton to the ground for 4.5 sacks in Week 2, surpassing Pro Football Hall of Famer Bruce Smith for the club’s single-game record and vaulting him to the top of the NFL leaderboard in sacks for this young season.

 

 

 

 

 

“He’s just the same old Mario Williams,” T Austin Howard said after watching film of Buffalo’s final-seconds 24-23 win over Carolina. “He’s a speed-rush guy, but he also has good power. He kind of has it all.”

 

 

Super Mario looked more like Luigi in two games vs. the Green & White last season with no sacks and four tackles. Protecting QB Geno Smith from the 2006 first-overall pick won’t be our only challenge, though.

 

 

“The whole line is very, very talented,” G Vladimir Ducasse said. “We just have to go out there and do what we’re capable of doing. That’s definitely going to be a challenge, but we have the whole week of practice to prepare and figure things out together.”

 

 

Vlad seemed to have figured things out on Thursday night when he faced off against Patriots DT Vince Wilfork. On Bilal Powell’s touchdown run, Ducasse made the 325-pound 10-year veteran look like he was gliding backward on rollerblades.

 

 

He refused to accept any sort of individual praise, but was very satisfied with what the offensive line as a whole was able to accomplish against Wilfork and the Pats.

 

 

“I was just doing my job,” he said. “Most of the time I was working with Nick. It was not so much an individual effort but a group effort.

 

 

“There’s still a lot of room for improvement, but as a group, we worked real well together and we definitely took another step. We definitely got it going in the running game.”

 

 

RBs Bilal Powell and Chris Ivory combined for 44 yards on 22 carries in Week 1 (2.0 yards per rush), but doubled their production in Week 2 with 100 yards on 25 carries (4.0 yards per rush).

 

 

And the trend could continue for the Jets run game this week, as they will have had a week and a half to prepare for a Bills team ranked No. 30 in the NFL with 141.5 rushing yards allowed per game.

 

 

Whether the gameplan calls for keeping Williams and Co. away from Geno or driving the four-man Bills front backward and opening up holes for the backs, the men in the trenches will be ready.

 

“We know they have a lot of talent up front,” Howard said, “and we really have to study and we really need to focus in this week for preparing to go up against what they deliver. I believe we definitely took advantage of our extra days off this week. Hopefully it will show on Sunday.”

 

http://www.newyorkjets.com/news/article-5/Jets-O-Line-Task-Make-Mario-Less-Super/2a03c32f-aa54-4fe3-bc75-febf33f8e45b

[bitonti]

there was a play last week when Brick was charged with a sack after blocking his man for over 5 seconds. At a certain point it's not up to the OL to block better. It's up the QB to get the ball out of there, and smartly. 

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there was a play last week when Brick was charged with a sack after blocking his man for over 5 seconds. At a certain point it's not up to the OL to block better. It's up the QB to get the ball out of there, and smartly. 

 

Brick was only charged with one sack last week.  In Cimini's article he said that Brick was beaten twice.  One he held his block for 5.1 seconds, the other he held his block for 4.3 seconds (which IMO is still a heck of a lot of time to get rid of the ball)  I suspect the one sack accredited to Brick was the 4.3 second one.

 

Ball should have been out both times.  The only sack that was on the OL IMO was the 3.5 second one by Vlad.  Still questionable. 

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Jets must keep sack master Mario Williams off Geno Smith's back

 

 

Published: September 17, 2013 3:34 PM

 

By KIMBERLEY A. MARTIN  kimberley.martin@newsday.com

 

 

Mario Williams says he hasn't felt better.

 

 

The Bills defensive end was in vintage form Sunday, hunting down Panthers quarterback Cam Newton on every snap. Williams, the first overall pick in 2006, registered a career-high -- and a Bills' single-game record -- 4.5 sacks in their dramatic 24-23 come-from-behind home win.

 

 

After a preseason interrupted by a foot injury, Williams is back, it seems, both mentally and physically.

 

 

Jets players maintained Monday that they've got nothing but respect for the two-time All-Pro and Pro Bowl defensive lineman. But there's no chance Williams, the NFL's sack leader, will post those same numbers against the Jets Sunday, said Antwan Barnes.

 

 

"It's the Panthers we're talking about," the Jets outside linebacker told Newsday with a laugh. "Obviously, he's a first-round pick, they pay him so much money, so he's got to go out there and do something. For our O-linemen, it's the same. They go against us every day. They won't be scared or intimidated by it."

 

 

Since entering the league in 2006, Williams' 68 career sacks (in 100 games) are the sixth-most in the NFL behind DeMarcus Ware (105), Jared Allen (98), Julius Peppers (71), Robert Mathis (69) and John Abraham (68.5).

 

 

Williams, who signed a six-year, $96-million contract (with $50 million guaranteed) before the 2012 season, has 18 tackles and two sacks in five games against the Jets, both with the Texans, the team that drafted him, and the Bills.

 

 

Meanwhile, the Jets' offensive line has struggled in the first two games, allowing nine sacks of rookie Geno Smith for a combined loss of 67 yards. He and Miami's Ryan Tannehill are the second-most sacked quarterbacks in the league, behind Cleveland's Brandon Weeden (11).

 

 

And Williams will make it his mission to harass the Jets' rookie quarterback, just as he did with Newton.

 

 

"He's one of the premier defensive ends in the league," right tackle Austin Howard said. "He has a lot of talent and you really have to focus in on the game film and really study his techniques. He does a lot of things well."

 

 

Much of this week's focus will be geared toward stopping the "hybrid" defense of Bills defensive coordinator Mike Pettine, who served in the same capacity for Rex Ryan and the Jets from 2009-12. And to replicate the speed and power moves of Williams in practice, Howard said "they'll switch it up" by using speedy linebackers Ricky Sapp and Barnes, as well as Muhammad Wilkerson.

 

 

"He shows good power moves and you can just work off him," Howard said of Wilkerson.

 

 

Bruce Smith (1994, '90) and Cornelius Bennett ('87) were the last Bills to record four sacks in a game. It took 18 games for Williams to eclipse them both.

 

 

"Physically, I feel great," he said. "And mentally I'm better than ever."

 

 

Barnes knows the Jets have no choice but to double-team Williams on Sunday. But don't expect the defensive end to have another career day at MetLife Stadium, he added.

 

 

"No, not at all," Barnes said. "Not on my O-line."