The heartbreak of a loss can bury the good stuff fast. That was the case for the Jets after they let a 17-7 lead slip away against the Green Bay Packers, but the collapse shouldn’t wipe out what was working for most of the night.
New York had control of the game deep into the fourth quarter, and a big reason for that was a defense that held Green Bay to 199 total yards. On offense, the Jets did enough to keep the game in front of them, even if they couldn’t finish enough drives. They moved the chains 21 times and owned the ball for 37 minutes and 40 seconds.
The most encouraging part of all that? The protection up front keeps looking real.
Through two weeks, the Jets’ pass blocking has gone from intriguing to borderline outrageous. According to Pro Football Focus, New York owns the NFL’s top pass-blocking grade at 77.4, ahead of Carolina, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Cleveland. For a franchise that has spent years treating pass protection like a weekly emergency, that is a stunning development.
Against the Packers, the line backed it up again. Geno Smith had time to work, time to scan, and time to trust the pocket.
He wasn’t rushed into bad decisions. He was able to move through progressions and let plays develop.
The numbers tell the same story. In Week 1 at Tennessee, Smith averaged 3.12 seconds to throw and was pressured on 23.7% of his dropbacks. In Week 2 against Green Bay, he averaged 3.05 seconds to throw and was pressured on 32.7% of his dropbacks.
Through two games, Smith has been pressured on just 29.3% of his dropbacks, fifth-lowest among 32 qualified quarterbacks, while averaging 3.07 seconds to throw, the 10th-highest mark in the league. He is the only quarterback who has been pressured on under 30% of his dropbacks while averaging 3.00+ seconds to throw.
That combination matters. A quick-trigger quarterback can make his line look better than it is.
A quarterback who holds the ball too long can make a shaky line look even worse. But when the throw time is up and the pressure rate stays down, that usually points to real blocking strength.
That doesn’t mean Smith is just standing back there forever, either. His career-average time to throw is 2.87, the same as the 2025 league average.
What’s happening now is that he’s being given room to operate, and he’s taking it. The pocket has been good enough for him to stay calm and work through his reads.
It was not flawless against Green Bay. The protection broke down in overtime, and Smith took back-to-back sacks to open the extra period.
Still, for most of the game, the pass protection was the offense’s lifeline. The run game never got going, which put extra weight on the passing attack in long-yardage spots. Smith was able to survive those situations because the line kept him clean long enough to stand in and make plays.
The run-blocking picture was different. The offensive line itself graded well, but the skill-position blockers were the main issue in the ground game.
That leaves the Jets with something real to build on. Through two weeks, the pass protection has looked like a strength that can carry weight, even in a loss. There are still questions in the run game, but up front in pass protection, New York has been a brick wall.
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