Quote:I don't question that we NEED to play better.
 
I question our ability to do so early on, especially on the OL.
 
I would expect those teams early in the schedule (interestingly, all of them are 3-4 teams) to blitz us as soon as we get off the plane.

That's a really, REALLY important question man. And a good one to ask. The offensive lineman always kind of get overlooked each year here in Jacksonville. But if they're not on the same page, this offense will stall out consistently. Center will be spearheaded by a new body, Beadles is new, Joeckel didn't even play half a season last year, and that was at RT, now he's at LT. And I haven't felt comfortbale with the LG position in years, and even with Beadles in the mix, we also have a new face at RG with Nwaneri out of the mix.

To me, really, it's going to come down to what Bradley and the coaching staff decide to do with the first string offense during the pre-season contests. Do you give, say, the starting offensive lineman maybe an additional 20-30 snaps during each game? Regardless of who the skill position players are? Or, do you keep it simple and clean and just let them kick the tires and call it quits early during the first two weeks? That's what I am most interested in seeing. You always want to avoid early season injuries or setbacks, especially during meaningless football games. But, these guys still need to be battle tested.

I know it's off topic, and it's a completely different position. But does anybody remember that one year when Herman Edwards was basically running Curtis Martin like a regular season workhorse throughout the entire course of the pre-season? And everyone said he was foolish, he's crazy, etc? Martin went onto have arguably his best regular season performance as a Jet after that pre-season and led the leauge in rushing yardage that year in 2005 at 31 years of age. Sometimes you just have to let it go, and give it a shot. Maybe giving the offensive lineman an extra 100-150 snaps during the pre-season is 100-150 CRITICAL plays that won't be blown in 2014 on offense during crunch time. Just sayin'....

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