Bostonian1962

O.K., sharpen up your keyboards, because I've got a question to ask all of you.

I am doing my due diligence and reading as much preseason Pats stuff as I can. I have seen in several places concern about the Pats OLine protecting Brady. The verbiage usually goes something like "Brady has been hit alot the last couple of years, and with an expected increase in passes thrown this year, that could be an issue". Words to that effect.

This seems to be a fantastic OLine on paper. In fact, they have litterally 3 right tackles that could start on most teams in this league.

So, I guess it does seem Brady gets pounded alot, despite his lightning quick release.

My questions are: What is your assessement of the OLINE? Are we, as Pats fans, overrating how good they are? How do you account for the talent that appears to be there vs. the seemingly large number of hits Brady takes?

DaBruinz

Brady did take a lot of hits over the last couple of years. However, one thing of note is that many of them were LATE and went uncalled. Where as with someone like Peyton, if you looked at him cross-eyed after he threw the ball, the refs were flagging the defense. Another thing noted is that the Colts O-line seems to hold more than any other team in the league and get away with it.

The Pats gave up 26 sacks on Brady and 3 on Cassel. A little more than 1.75 sacks per game. Here is the break-down:
Light - 7.5 sacks allowed in 16 games
Mankins - 1.5 sacks allowed in 16 games
Koppen - 2 sacks allowed in 16 games
Neal - 1.5 sacks allowed in 13 games
O'Callaghan - 4.5 sacks in 11 games
Kaczur - 3 sacks in 11 games

Reservese:
Britt - 0 sacks in 9 games (1 game started)
Hochstein - 0 sacks in 13 games (0 starts)
Yates - 0 sacks in 4 games (3 starts)
Mruczkowski - 0 sacks in 1 game

The other sacks could be attributed to the TEs or to coverage.

So, I wouldn't say that we are over-rating the Pats O-line. There are questions galore about the RT situation. And, it should be noted that, in 2002 when the Pats threw 601 times, Brady was only sacked 31 times. Which is almost identical pace that the O-line was on last year.

PatsFan37

Certainly, more passes means more sacks and QB hits. Last year, I felt like (sorry, no stats to back this up) that the receivers weren't getting open quickly, forcing Brady to hold onto the ball longer. A lightning quick release doesn't help if no one's open.

I would expect this year to be different. Welker getting open quickly underneath would make as much of a difference as Kaczur or O'C being on his game.

stinkypete

Brady hasn't been hit any more than any other QB not named Manning (Peyton) or possibly Rivers. Look at the beatings that Roethlisburger, Manning (Eli), Palmer, Hasselbeck and McNabb took last year.

We've got to chill, the tackles are protecting Brady just fine. They just happen to be the unlucky SOB's who have to play Jason Taylor twice a year and Dwight Freeney once a year.

This is similar to the knocks that the defensive backs sometimes take for giving up 30 to the Colts. The scheduling provides that elite teams face elite competition. When you face elite competition, you sometimes get beat.

Box_O_Rocks

To add to the notes above: Brady is very difficult to fool with coverage schemes, you have to get to him to disrupt him;

Billy Yates is the only O-lineman coming off a rehab - last season - Matt Light was coming off two back-to-back seasons where he missed part of the off-season program due to rehabbing an injury - Kaczur wasn't ready to practice until near mid-season - Koppen was coming off a rehab;

Albert Breer had an article from the 21st where he reported the Pats started their conversion to more zone blocking "last" season - if that was the case then it's no wonder the running game struggled - and the running game helps keep defenses off balance so they can't tee-off on Tommy.

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dryheat44

If you have three starting RT, then in reality you have none. If Kaczur, Britt and O'C could start on most teams in the league, we would have traded at least one of them. The line is good, not great, in the passing game. They seem to be drafted for their agility and ability to get to the second level in the run game. Brady takes a lot of hits, but I don't think he takes significantly more than any other QB in the league.

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dryheat44

I think this is a very salient point.

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reflexblue

I'll go along with the notion that the line is good not great.And with much better recievers that should be able to get open Brady's hit count should go down

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Dragda

The OL is inconsistent. They are below average at run-blocking. Sometimes they block great though.

They can pass protect in intervals with great precision and with good results.

I don't think they are anything special. They aren't bad, but they are too inconsistent to be considered dominant.

And who says we are going to pass more? We'll do whatever produces. If it means running 200yds every game, we'll do it.

DaBruinz

Man, some of you guys need a reality check regarding last season.

1) Matt Light was returning from his broken leg.
2) Dan Koppen was returning from his shoulder injury.
3) Nick Kaczur was returning from his shoulder injury.
4) O'Callaghan beat Wesley Britt in camp for the starting RT position and played very well until he was injured.
5) Stephen Neal missed 3 games to injury.

When you have 2 of your starters coming back from major injuries the way Koppen and Light were, you will have some inconsistent games. Just like you will have an inconsistent game out of a rookie.

The run blocking was actually very good until Neal and O'Callaghen got injured. In fact, when you look at the Pats 4 RBs, ALL 4 averaged over 4 yards per carry. That's pretty amazing, all things considered.

The pass blocking took time to get re-acclimated, but both tackle positions allowed 7.5 sacks each.

I think we could actually see Brady's sack numbers go down because of the different weapons that he'll have this year.