Memes, 'Call of Duty' and group chats fuel emerging team chemistry for the New York Jets
They may not have had offseason workouts or a minicamp but group chats, memes and Call of Duty are fueling the chemistry of the rebuilt New York Jets offensive line.
For a line that will feature four new starters from last year and a completely revamped offensive line from Week 1 in 2019, the Jets are trying to make up for lost time. In an offseason where there have been none of the usual offseason workouts or minicamp and where there won’t be preseason due to COVID-19, the offensive line is using technology and down time for the crucial work of coming together and building chemistry.
A unit built by general manager Joe Douglas and charged with doing a better job of protecting quarterback Sam Darnold this season is trying to take advantage of all the time they have together right now.
Even the down time.
“It’s been a little bit difficult but we’ve been doing what we can. We have a group text that we’re always communicating with each other where we are sending in memes or jokes or topics or whatever,” said center Connor McGovern said Friday on a virtual media conference following practice at the team facility.
“That’s how we kind of started. Now that we’re been together, there is not a whole lot else to do other than hang out with each other. You go back to your hotel room and you got a two-hour break when you’re done watching film or studying your notebook and you hop on X-Box together for a little bit. It’s actually kind of funny how something simple like playing 'Call of Duty' with the four of us because you’re joking the whole time and all that kind of stuff.
“Obviously we haven’t been able to do the big offensive line dinners and all that kind of stuff. Whenever we have a chance, we’re together and Sam is with us. We’re trying to build that chemistry and to be honest with you – I don’t know if it is the group of guys Joe Douglas has brought together or the pandemic or what have but it’s one of the closer groups I’ve been around.”
McGovern wouldn’t divulge too much about the group chat but he did say that guard Greg Van Roten, a graduate of Pennsylvania in the Ivy league, has the most “high-brow” humor.
But for a team with so many new starters on offense – there could be as many as six new starters on offense come Week 1 – and a defense that lost two All-Pro players over the past two weeks – chemistry and coming together is a must.
“It’s so early, I mean this is our first time we’ve been on the field since December, and there’s so many new guys,” head coach Adam Gase said. “We have so much, so much to learn about each other because the amount of new guys that we do have.”
And while the offensive line hasn’t had their usual dinner together and practice is just starting for the Jets, there is still a sense that the team is starting to come together…at least off the field. Signed this offseason as a free agent, McGovern likes what he has seen from the team chemistry so far.
“Everyone is working really hard to get to know one another and honestly in a genuine way – not in a ‘you’re my teammate, I have to get to know you’ – it’s an honest way. We want to achieve something great,” McGovern said.
“I think Joe Douglas has brought us in, we all know our roles and we want to win as many football games as possible. It goes to the character of who we are.”
