Protecting Brady: OL Midseason Review (Three Part Series)

[nazz45]

 
Before training camp started, members of the Patriots’ offensive line headed into the summer knowing things would be different from previous seasons. After a 30-year tenure with the franchise, assistant head coach and offensive line guru Dante Scarnecchia announced his retirement.
 
Continuity among offensive linemen is often considered to be as important as talent, and Scarnecchia’s aura helped unit after unit find success as the first line of defense in front of Tom Brady for the past thirteen years. Undrafted free agents (Stephen Neal) and late-round picks (Dan Koppen) were “coached up”, while high draft picks (Matt Light) usually panned out.
 
The Patriots replaced Scarnecchia with former Jets offensive line coach Dave DeGuglielmo, a 9-year coaching veteran in the NFL, but still a young pup compared to the shoes he had to fill. However, a new coach would not be the only change impacting the unit for the 2014 season. The offensive line underwent another major shakeup following the trade of longtime starting left guard Logan Mankins to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers just weeks before the start of the regular season.
 
The shake up of the offensive line resulted in a game of musical chairs early in the season.  Only LT Nate Solder and RT Sebastian Vollmer remained a consistent presence early in the year, as the Patriots utilized eight unique line combinations through the first quarter of the season.

 
Here's part one of a three part series reviewing the offensive line through the bye week. Before getting to the good (or improved) play, we have to look back at what went wrong (aka Marcus Cannon should stick to the tackle position while Jordan Devey should.... well, he's a pretty good tuba player, I hear).

 

[Kenny F'ing Powers]

I'm curious what the end game of this piece is.
 
We're seeing 2-3 sentences summarizing an entire game of offensive line play, followed by the breakdown of one play per game. While it's very cool to see the film breakdown (well done on that count), I'm not sure what the focus is. Should I simply be focusing on the authors ability to break down a play on the offensive line?

 

[nazz45]

Obviously this is a snapshot of select games. The focus for part one is the interior line play. The Patriots decided that Cannon and Devey were starting caliber guards. Here's a glimpse at why they quickly abandoned that theory.

Again, not every play was bad or good - breaking down every play would be quite a chore. I think hopefully the last two parts will bring everything Into focus as they start to piece together a line that can execute in pass protection more consistently unlike the first month of the season.

 

[Kenny F'ing Powers]

Obviously this is a snapshot of select games. The focus for part one is the interior line play. The Patriots decided that Cannon and Devey were starting caliber guards. Here's a glimpse at why they quickly abandoned that theory.

Again, not every play was bad or good - breaking down every play would be quite a chore. I think hopefully the last two parts will bring everything Into focus as they start to piece together a line that can execute in pass protection more consistently unlike the first month of the season.

 
This makes more sense. Thanks

 

[nazz45]

 
In Part 1, the Marcus Cannon experiment at guard, mercifully, came to an end. Having been battered by the Miami Dolphins in a Week 1 loss and survived in a shaky home win over the Oakland Raiders in Week 3, the Patriots offensive line underwent another personnel shuffle in Week 4 but pass protection results were mostly the same in a blowout loss to the Kansas City Chiefs: Continue here for Part 2.

 

 
The marquee matchup against the Denver Broncos in Week 9 would prove to be a stiffer test for the New England offensive line. And while it wasn’t perfect (only one sack but 8 QB hits on 54 dropbacks), the line created enough room for Tom Brady to work with while the quarterback demonstrated some nifty pocket mobility: Continue here for Part 3.

 
Wrapping up this three part series on the pass protection, the above two parts take a snapshot look at how the Patriots continued their early season attempt to find the right combination in front of Tom Brady and the eventual molding of an offensive line unit that, when healthy, has steadily improved at protecting the quarterback.