Jets new era proves its identity starts with the OL in preseason opener

Three yards and a cloud of dust. The old idiom from legendary Ohio State head football coach Woody Hayes originated in the 1950s, referencing a style of offense focused on winning the battle of the line of scrimmage to move the ball down the field methodically.

This tried-and-true method remains prominent over six decades later. The New Yorl Jets will have to embrace this style of offense all season if they'd like to win any football games. Saturday's preseason victory in Green Bay was a significant first step in that direction.

In a perfect world, you'd like to have a breadth of options to "metriculate" the ball through defenses. But as Jets fans know better than anyone, we don't live in a perfect world. At least, the Jets sure don't.

With the wide receiving corps in the state that it's in, coupled with an unproven passer at quarterback, the Jets don't have that luxury. Breece Hall, Braelon Allen, Isaiah Davis, and whoever else has a pair of cleats and a Jets jersey are going to have to shoulder the load via the run game.

The offensive line will determine how successful they can be. Against the Packers, they showed a glimpse into what is hopefully their reality in 2025. They looked good — real good. And, in theory, they should only get better.

The Jets proved they will lean on their offensive line in 2025

The Jets are in an interesting spot with their offensive line. They've undergone significant retooling in recent years. Some of it (most of it) was done by former general manager Joe Douglas, and some of it (see rookie Armand Membou) is the doing of current general manager Darren Mougey. But whoever the architect is, the current iteration shows considerable promise.

An issue, however, has been the health of starting left guard John Simpson. With Simpson out, the Jets shifted starting center Joe Tippmann over to guard and slid backup center Josh Myers in to replace him. Simpson did return to practice on Tuesday after missing over a week due to a back injury.

This is a strange strategy, made even more odd by the fact that the Jets are also seemingly forcing a competition at center between Tippmann and Myers. While most agree that Tippmann should be the clear starter, it seems that both players will get starting reps.

For what it's worth, the slight alteration certainly didn't slow the offensive line down. The big men upfront did their job, paving the way to victory. They provided a nice, clean pocket for Justin Fields, while also blowing up holes for Jets' running backs to glide through.

They did so with both the starting group and the backups. From top to bottom and start to finish, it was an end-to-end dominant performance for the unit.

While "three yards and a cloud of dust" will be a crucial mindset for the offense to have, that cannot be the only plan of attack for any offense in 2025. Whether it's to give Fields time to throw or allow him to navigate into the open field to run, they are going to have to do their part in the passing game, too.

On Saturday, they did so. As you can see in this clip, on Fields' lone drive, he had a clean and lengthy pocket to work in. You can specifically thank rookie Armand Membou, who had a great first showing on the right side.

You can also see a sneak preview here of how dominant the Jets' rushing attack can be. Although aided by a nice edge block from Allen Lazard, the entire right side of the line does an outstanding job here, from Tippmann at guard to Membou at tackle. There's no reason holes like this can't exist all year long for the Jets.

As previously mentioned, it wasn't just the starters who performed well. According to Pro Football Focus, some of the depth pieces on the line scored very high as well.

Every football fan understands the prevalence of injuries, so having reliable depth isn't just important — it's crucial. The promise some of the backup linemen showed on Saturday was an underrated development.

It's a shame to see Myers with such a poor grade. This only further speaks to my confusion as to why he is being given the chance to possibly compete with Tippmann for the center spot. But you also don't want to overreact too heavily to preseason either, so it's probably best to wait and see.

What's clear is that we don't know for certain which version of the Jets' offensive line we will see on opening day, and which version will persist through the season. But what is also clear is that there is a lot of talent in that group.

They'll need to turn that talent into production if the Jets' offense is to have any success in 2025.

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