Three on O: Beachum, Dozier, McGuire
After each game, we're going to highlight three defensive and three offensive players and look in detail at their performance. We'll wrap up today with the offense:
Stout Dakota
At the end of last season, Dakota Dozier stepped in ably for Brian Winters as the starting right guard. However, the Jets opted not to consider Dozier for a starting role, instead committing to Winters for at least the next few years by signing him to a long term contract.
Winters was knocked out of Sunday's game with an injury, but it doesn't sound particularly serious. He has a "sore abdomen" according to Todd Bowles. However, how did Dozier fare in his place?
First let's consider how the offense was faring with Winters in the game. They had rushed six times for 16 yards, although they were stuffed on the first three of their runs, so there was already signs the Jets were starting to figure it out. Still, add that to the production from the first game and the Jets had just 54 yards on 21 carries.
After Dozier entered, the Jets racked up 110 yards on 19 carries, clearly ramping up their production. He made an early impact on this block where he initially double-teamed and then peeled off to the second level:
Breaking down Dozier's overall performance, there was probably more bad than good in terms of the running game but he had a couple of solid blocks at the point of attack.
In terms of negatives, he was stood up a couple of times in short yardage situations and missed a handful of blocks on the move including one that led to a tackle for loss on a screen pass and another that led to his man missing a tackle in the backfield.
He fared reasonably well in pass protection though, getting driven back once and only being cleanly beaten on a stunt. He also came over to help out on Brandon Shell's man at least once.
Kelvin can rate
Other than James Carpenter, Kelvin Beachum was probably the most consistent lineman on Sunday.
He gave up just one pressure and even on that play he was able to reanchor at the last minute to give Josh McCown enough time to get off his throw for a key third down conversion:
As you can see though, his lack of size is going to lead to him being overpowered by some of the stronger speed-to-power type rushers that he'll face this year.
In the running game, the Jets had most of their success running between the tackles, so Beachum didn't have too many impact blocks, but he executed well at the point of attack on one run and had a good kick-out block on another. He did whiff on a block at the second level though.
His key role is pass protection, though, and this was better than we saw from the left tackle position for the majority of last year. However, he wasn't flawless in week one so you can expect him to face some challenges over the course of the season, even with the quick passing approach.
Elijah Good
Having not had any reps in week one, the Jets got Elijah McGuire involved early against the Raiders and he gave them an immediate spark with a six-yard burst after their first three runs had netted just two yards.
Although it was meaningless because it came right at the end of the game, McGuire's last carry of the day was his best, showing good burst to hit the hole and power at the end of the run to battle for some extra yards:
Most of the rest of McGuire's carries were stuffed near the line as there wasn't much running room, but he showed good burst off the edge to pick up another seven and ended up with 29 yards on six carries. He was also stuffed short on 4th-and-one but that play didn't count because of a delay of game penalty.
Eventually, the Jets will hope that he can be a weapon in the passing game, as he was in college. However, he caught just one pass for seven yards on a dump-off in this game. They looked for him one other time, as he was matched up with a linebacker and his break to the outside wasn't sharp enough to get much separation with the pass thrown was wide and off his hands.
McGuire is pretty good at pass blocking too but only stayed in to block once in this game and the Raiders sent a big blitz on that play to record a third-down sack. It wasn't his fault though, although his cut block on a blitzing linebacker was only semi-effective.
Still, this was a good offensive debut from the youngster. Hopefully he can stay healthy and become a foundation piece going forwards.
PREVIOUSLY: Three on D: Maye, Burris, Williams