The New York Jets boasted the NFL's best offensive line during Rex Ryan' first season as head coach in 2009. It's gotten worse each year since, but so has the rest of the offense.
Gang Green's front unit surrendered a team record-tying 11 sacks in yet another debilitating loss, this time a 27-17 stinker against the San Diego Chargers with Greg McElroy at the helm in his first career start.
While New York's protectors had maybe the worst day of their careers, there's likely plenty of blame to go around.
McElroy said after the game that he should've been getting the ball out quicker, and receiver Braylon Edwards noted that the sacks could probably be attributed to a number of things, including the receivers not simply getting open.
"It’s one of those situations where you [have] to go to the film," Edwards said. "It’s easy to see 11 sacks and say the line got beat up. What you can’t see right away is, did the quarterback hold the ball too long? Did the receivers not get open during their routes?
"The big thing is to watch the film and really assess how those 11 sacks happened, who’s to blame and how we can get better."
Jets coach Rex Ryan didn't single anyone or anything out Monday. "It was multiple things," he said, via ESPNNewYork.com.
"Yes, the pass protection, the offensive line, you can say that wasn't up to our standards without question," Ryan said. "The pickup, the blitz protection which we've done an outstanding job, in particular with our backs, of picking it up wasn't as strong as we've done in the past. Even the drops by Greg probably could have been a little cleaner."
The point is, the Jets have a ton of things to clean up. Not that we didn't know that already.
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