One of the things I was keeping an eye on in Saturday’s preseason opener was just how the offensive line looked against the Chargers defensive front. Luckily Josh Rosen Jersey , Joey Bosa did not dress. Still, with so many moving parts up front, how the unit worked together is what I was most interested in. Last year the line was middle of the pack in creating yards against the run, and 26th in the league in adjusted sack rate. If Sam Bradford is going to play an entire season, the latter has to change. Seth wrote about how the offensive line as a unit were winners. He was right. I’ll go over two plays by the first team offensive line to show that there’s reason to be encouraged. Play 1-David Johnson rushes up the middle for 14 yardsDavid Johnson is better than good. It didn’t take long to notice he’s back. Life will be easier on him if the offensive line creates holes like they did for him to run through yesterday. They set the tone from the very first play.Working from left to right, there is a hat on a hat. DJ Humphries Authentic Mason Cole Jersey , 74, has Melvin Ingram contained. Larry Fitzgerald has the corner sealed. Now is where the fun begins. Mike Iupati swallows the linebacker at the second level. If he can be consistent at the second level this year, look out. Third round rookie Mason Cole, who was thrown into the starting lineup after AQ Shipley was lost for the season, has the Chargers defensive tackle on the ground. That’s a big win for Cole. Justin Pugh and Andre Smith finish off the other defensive tackle by driving him four yards off the ball. Yes please. When Johnson has a crease, this is what happens.Play 2-If it ain’t broke Youth Chase Edmonds Jersey , don’t fix itMike McCoy liked what he saw so he went back to well. The play prior Johnson had to get skinny through a hole. On this play, Trent Richardson wouldn’t have missed the running lane.Apparently Cole is the best center ever. He got to the linebacker and drove him well out of the play. That’s after helping secure the defensive tackle with Pugh. Iupati ran his man well upfield and that’s how you get a running lane that you can drive through.Iupati is a beast. On each of the plays on the opening drive he handled his man. Cole playing next to him should be great for the rookies development. With game one the team establishing the run. We’ll see if next game they establish the pass. What we learned is they are certainly tougher up front. Let’s see if they can carry over the good performance to the next game. There haven’t been too many bright spots for the Cardinals this season, but defensive end Chandler Jones is certainly one of them.Jones led the league with 17 sacks last year and has not shown signs of regression. He has 6.5 sacks, eight quarterback hits, three forced fumbles and a fumble recovery through the first seven games for Arizona.That production has led safety Antoine Bethea to put Jones up as a candidate for defensive player of the year, but it’s not a case Jones is making for himself while his team is mired at the bottom of the barrel.“I’m not having a Defensive Player of the Year type of year http://www.cardinalsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-jamar-taylor-jersey , because if I was, I would be helping the team win more,” Jones said, via ESPN.com. “That’s how I look at it. I’m the type of player that’s putting it all on me. A lot of plays I left out there. Some people can say I’ve had a decent season. A lot of times when you talk about Defensive Player of the Year, which ultimately should be every defensive player’s goal, when you talk about things like that Antoine Bethea Jersey , one of the biggest factors is, what’s the team’s record. How is he helping the team win? What is Chandler Jones doing to help the team win? Right now, at 1-6, I’m not doing enough.”No player from a losing team has won defensive player of the year since Jason Taylor in 2006. Unless Jones reaches new levels and/or other top contenders fall off dramatically, that seems unlikely to change this year.
