KontradictioN

Belichick agrees. While Parcells has always built his defenses starting with the LB's first, Belichick has always built his starting with the D-Line first. That's why it's troubling that it's now taken two seasons to find a viable replacement for Seymour. Instead, he threw a retread, a 7th round pick, a guy who is more built for DT, and a few guys who are decent against the pass but are sub-par (and that's putting it kindly) against the run into the position in an effort to shore it up. The result has been the same in the playoffs. Opposing offenses haven't even had to try to run at Wilfork. They've been able to run to the outside and create some nice gains to extend drives and keep the Pats struggling offense off the field.

On offense, Belichick follows the same principle. Build from the O-Line out. Again, it's been troubling to watch the interior O-Line that was abused so badly in Super Bowl XLII remain the same. I keep pounding this point into the ground, but the Pats really should not have gone with Dan Connolly to start ANYWHERE entering 2010. Last offseason, Stephen Neal made it known that he was at least contemplating retirement. Connolly's performance in 2009 wasn't exactly awe inspiring. They should have then looked for a viable starting caliber replacement at RG just in case the inevitable happened (Neal going down with an injury). This season, it has become disgustingly apparent that Koppen is really struggling to hold up against bigger DT's. With this in mind, I don't see any reason why the Pats shouldn't go into the offseason looking for new, fresh bodies at the RG and center positions. Of course, it should follow that the Pats need to re-sign Mankins and Light. Rebuild the interior O-Line and I really don't see these problems occurring next season without the opposing defense having to blitz the A and B gaps (which Brady would dissect).

The following is the most troubling stat of that article for me...

Of course, running the ball more from the get-go would certainly help this. But, to me, this is a huge indictment on the interior O-Line. If a team can apply consistent pressure up the middle while only sending four or fewer on that many snaps, we're doomed.

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CREDIT - Sicilian

The_Riddler

No question, that in all 3 of these losses, the OLine has been the root cause of the poor starts, getting behind and playing catchup.

With that said though, I think we need our QB to rise above that. Look at Big Ben, he'll get sacked alot, but he doesn't revert to the "Deer=Headlights" routine, he continues to play tough and play through it. This is what TB has to learn to do when he doesn't get his customary lengthy time to throw the football. Some of this might require him to tuck it and slide for 5-7 yards if that is what the defense is giving him, he has had a reluctancy to do this for some reason.

In the playoffs, as well all know, the intensity ramps up, and the opponent's DLine has ramped up and our OLine and QB haven't been able to focus and ramp up with it. I hope Brady looks back on these two PO losses, studies the tape and sees what he has to do to stay tough, stay focused when things get tough. Ditto for the OLine.......

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Hey Rex have you met our new Tightends? Say Hi to Aaron and Gronk !

PATRIOTSFANINPA

We do know one thing.....there are 3 players on that OL that have been in the 2007 SB,the 2009 Divisional game and the 2010 Divisional game...Koppen,Light and Mankins

While those 3 guys have been all pros at one time or another,they have been extremely unimpressive in playoff games.

To be considered one of the best OLs you better bring your A game in January...these 3 have not dominated thier positions in those playoff games.

KontradictioN

Light and Mankins held up fine last weekend. The problem children on the O-Line were Koppen and Connolly.

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The_Riddler

I agree, and Mankins of all people, the guy chirping about wanting to be paid as the highest OG in football has to look in the mirror and look at how he has played in the most important games. He hasn't performed like the All Pro he claims to be. I mean Sean Ellis had a monster game against this OLine and to be honest, that was all based on intensity not because Sean Ellis is an All World end, it's because he wanted it more, he wanted it more than the guy that was blocking him because the stakes were higher. Who's to blame for this? Dante S? I mean how does this OLine dominant during the regular season and them completely meltdown during crunch time ?

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Hey Rex have you met our new Tightends? Say Hi to Aaron and Gronk !

borg

When your front 4 can execute the defensive game plan to a T, good things will happen. The Jets front 4 pressured Brady AND contained the running game...allowing the back 7 to eliminate what the Pats do best...pass. The key was the early pressure on Brady...he was hearing footsteps all game. It helps for the defense to know that Brady will never scramble for yards.
All in all....a major indictment against the Oline. Losing the 4 vs 5 battles...ouch

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D-Money

They didnt lose the game because Brady got sacked 5 times.Some of those sacks where coverage sacks.Brady hung on to the ball a long time trying to find an open receiver.

Patspsycho

Mankins had a solid game last Sunday. Koppen and Connolly performed very poorly, they gave up sacks and negative run plays.

KontradictioN

Our primary RB ran the ball a grand total of 9 times for nearly 5 yards a pop. Why he wasn't running early and often is a failure of the coaching staff. The Jets couldn't contain him. Who the DID contain was our undersized third down back who, for some reason, became our primary runner (another failure of the coaching staff).

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IndianPat

Did this blogger get the idea for this article from Patsfans.com? I remember a discussion yesterday in a post titled " Brady sacked 13 times in the last 3 playoff games" where in the discussion about the O-line went along the same lines that this writer took.

I think an acknolwedgement of Patsfans contribution is needed if this were the case.