The enduring image of the Jets’ 27-17 loss to the Chargers yesterday was Greg McElroy getting sacked over and over, the lasting memory Gang Green’s pass protection being as porous as it was pitiful. In his first start, McElroy got sacked 11 times, matching a team record and just one shy of the all-time NFL mark.
“I was out there running around and a lot of times I turned back and Greg was already on the ground,’’ wide receiver Braylon Edwards said. “It’s frustrating. That many sacks, I don’t care how you slice it, how you positively try to talk about it: It’s 11 sacks, for whatever the reason. It [stunk].
“If you give up 11 sacks you’re not giving your defense a chance, and you give [the opponent] all the momentum … It’s like they have you and they’re dominating you.’’
To say the Jets were dominated by San Diego’s twists and stunts was an understatement, allowing nine tackles for losses, 16 quarterback hits and averaging just 3.0 yards per carry. If offensive line coach Dave DeGuglielmo was vexed with the press and being forced to rotate Matt Slauson and Vlad Ducasse, yesterday won’t help his mood.
“That was great on their part, and ridiculous on ours,’’ said Jets coach Rex Ryan. “Offensively, you’re not beating anybody when you play like that. It’s just hard to put into words.’’
But the pictures told the tale: The image of McElroy getting sacked by Shaun Phillips and fumbling with 4:51 left … or getting hammered on a three-step drop … or, most fittingly, sacked on the Jets’ final play, dropped by Kendall Reyes at the two-minute warning, which might as well have been a standing eight count.
“I’ve got to learn how to negotiate in the pocket better. I was stepping up too far or I was sliding,’’ said McElroy. “There were some protection breakdowns obviously, but that’s the nature of the game. The quarterback has to do a better job of getting everyone on the same page.”
After leapfrogging Tim Tebow in the wake of Mark Sanchez’s benching, McElroy didn’t sense the rush and held the ball too long, but center Nick Mangold insisted McElroy had the Jets in the right protections and they simply had to block better.
“We’ve obviously got to do a better job,” Mangold said. “We have to be able to step up our game, and unfortunately we didn’t.”
“It’s our job as linemen to provide protection and we definitely need to do that a bit more,’’ said tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson. “We didn’t play and execute in the manner we’re capable of, but it’s our job to make sure that doesn’t happen.’’
It was the most sacks the Jets had allowed since Oct. 4, 1987, when David Norrie got dropped 11 times in a game played by replacement players. It was one shy of the NFL record, last accomplished in 2007 by the Giants.