Left guard John Simpson has played in all 17 regular-season games in three of the past four seasons, for three different teams -- Las Vegas (2021), Baltimore (2023) and with the Jets last season. He's not a man who likes too much time off. Simpson didn't have much of a choice the past few weeks after sustaining a back injury in training camp that kept him off the field and out of the first preseason game at Green Bay.
He returned to play in last week's game against the Giants as the Jets trotted out their projected starting five on the offensive line.
"It was huge, that was like my third day back in pads that game," said Simpson, who turned 28 years old on Tuesday. "I definitely was a little rusty, but it was huge to be back out there with the guys and being able to play next to Tipp [C Joe Tippmann] and [LT] Olu Fashanu and just getting out there and getting it rolling."
Like all his teammates on the O-line, except for rookie RT Armand Membou, Simpson played two series (18 snaps, plus 1 on special teams) against the Giants. And it was on an intense second series when the Jets ran the ball 11 times en route to Nick Folk's successful field-goal attempt. HC Arron Glenn's emphasis on a robust run game is music to the ears of Simpson, a six-year veteran.
"I think the identity of this team is just physicality no matter what play it is, run, pass or whatever," Simpson (6-4, 330) said. "I think coach does a good job at telling us that that's what he wants. He wants it to be whatever it is, to be physical. And if that means we got to run the ball 12 times, 15 times in a row, that's what it is. So I'm ready for it.
"I love it. Like I said, I just want to be as physical as I can. And just dominate. Like it doesn't really matter to me what the play is. But when I do hear a run call, I do get a little bit excited."
There's little doubt that through the Jets' first two preseason games, at least where it concerns the starters, the emphasis has been on the ground game. Three running backs -- Breece Hall, Braelon Allen and Isaiah Davis -- have carried the load while QB Justin Fields has tossed 9 passes. During his time with reporters on Tuesday, Glenn bristled when he was informed that the NFL is a passing league.
"Passing league? The team that won the Super Bowl [the Eagles, the Jets' opponent Friday night at MetLife Stadium] what were they in passing?" Glenn said. "Twenty-ninth. What were they in running? First."
And now with a mobile and dangerous quarterback in Fields, there's an added element to the run game should the offensive line face a dynamic defensive front like the Giants threw at them last week.
"Going against a different front, the Giants run a different front than we've been accustomed to for the first couple weeks of camp," Simpson said. "So just getting that experience, that exposure to that, it'll definitely help us out throughout the season, for sure."
And when it comes to keeping Fields on his feet should protection break down, Simpson said he's had some experience with a guy he blocked for his one season with the Ravens.
"It's cool. I mean, it's just ball," he said. "I said previously, one time I played with Lamar [Jackson], so it's kind of not too different for me. It's just football, he [Fields] will find an open hole. If you got to get loose and run, just us five, doing our job, protecting. And then if he's got to get loose, he'll get loose pretty good."
