Keith Carter said he thought his unit played fine in the Jets’ first 2023 preseason game, against the Panthers nearly a month ago.
It was a joint practice with Carolina — the one that prompted a “Hard Knocks” speech filled with F-bombs from head coach Robert Saleh — that disappointed the offensive line coach and run game coordinator.
Pressures and sequences that would have ended in game day sacks were a “kick in the pants” for a line that was facing constant shuffling.
The Jets’ offensive line needed the “moment of growth,” Carter said Friday, because it reminded them about the importance of every rep.
That’s especially the case with Aaron Rodgers now at quarterback.
“It was a low point, I think, for us,” Carter said of that mid-August practice, “but I think they responded really well and have been on the right track since.”
Injuries and recoveries prevented the Jets’ offensive line from featuring five consistent players until recently, when Duane Brown, Laken Tomlinson, Connor McGovern, Alijah Vera-Tucker and Mekhi Becton topped the Week 1 depth chart from left to right.
Offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett said the constant movement could benefit the Jets, starting Monday night against the Bills.
“It’s so fluid with those five guys because so many different things can happen,” Hackett said. “We’ve had a lot of movement within there and everybody’s played different positions, because in any jam, anybody can play any position.”
Carter, in his first year with the Jets, called it a challenge for his linemen to experiment at multiple spots and morph into a versatile group.
Tomlinson told The Post that communication has improved and shuffling will “get guys to have good chemistry with each other.”
The Jets needed to adapt when Brown began the summer on the physically unable to perform list and Becton gradually worked toward his first regular-season snaps since 2021.
To Hackett, more flexibility makes him more comfortable as a coordinator.
They needed to prepare for adjustments since “there’s always going to be injuries,” Carter said Friday, just hours after Becton missed practice due to an illness and Brown was limited for the second consecutive day due to his left shoulder, on which he had offseason surgery.
Entering the opener, the offensive line remains the Jets’ unknown.
The Bills’ defense won’t be completely intact, with Von Miller (ACL recovery) out, but Gregory Rousseau still compiled eight sacks in 2022.
The Jets have to be conscious about protecting Rodgers and make sure he’s “out there for the entire year,” Carter said.
That’s vital with a quarterback of his caliber. But after the rough stretch in Carolina, and despite all the injuries and movement, Carter thinks his unit has continued to progress.
“I wouldn’t say pressure in the point where it locks you up and you play scared, but definitely, it gives you a sense of urgency — and a good urgency — that we gotta be on it at all times,” Carter said about playing with Rodgers.
“Every once in a while, I go, ‘Oh man, we got Aaron Rodgers at quarterback.’ We gotta do our job and do it well.”
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