Cassel causing O-line improvement

[MrBigglesWorth]

what has really changed since the first quarter of the season and now on the O-line? not much, except for Neal and right tackle.

I think the biggest difference has come from Cassel directing the protection scheme. he literally looks like brady pointing at defensive players.

sure the o-line has improved but i think it's been mainly from cassel understanding the protection scheme and directing it.

we always use to say brady made the o-line good by his mobility, but now i'm beginning to think all the work was done pre-snap directing the protection.

the O-line has been just as impressive as Cassel and they need props

 

[ALP]

Lol, its funny, and terrible to say, but for the most part, if u changed the 6 to a 2, you wouldnt notice the difference....

for the most part

 

[khayos]

Yeah what's changed except for 40% of the line?

 

[CheerforTom]

One of Brady's most underrated skills was his ability to read the blitz and make adjustments. It really does seem like Cassel is picking that up, there were quite a few snaps where he was able to make reads and visibly direct the line. He really must be getting a lot of tutoring from Brady.

 

[tobias funke]

Don't forget the passes he threw with a defender 6" from his blind side.

Or when he ducked under a pass rusher, also coming from the blind side.

It's not just the protection calls.

 

[BennyBledsoe]

Don't forget the passes he threw with a defender 6" from his blind side.

Or when he ducked under a pass rusher, also coming from the blind side.

It's not just the protection calls.

I like the way he plays but Matt Light...well, there should be some thought of finding a better pass blocker for the left side.

If the opposition has a fast guy, you can pretty much chalk up a sack or two and more than a few pressures coming from the blindside.

I'm not trying to rile up anybody but that's just what I've noticed year in and year out.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

what has really changed since the first quarter of the season and now on the O-line? not much, except for Neal and right tackle.

I think the biggest difference has come from Cassel directing the protection scheme. he literally looks like brady pointing at defensive players.

sure the o-line has improved but i think it's been mainly from cassel understanding the protection scheme and directing it.

we always use to say brady made the o-line good by his mobility, but now i'm beginning to think all the work was done pre-snap directing the protection.

the O-line has been just as impressive as Cassel and they need props

You've confused me: at the beginning of the season the starting O-line was Light, Mankins, Koppen, Yates, Kaczur. Neal has now replaced Yates, and hopefully given former critics of Neal something constructive to think about, but that is the only change along the line (unless you are mistaking the ankle injury Kaczur had in game 5 (SD) and LeVoir's two subsequent starts as having occured in the first quarter of the season).

With that correction, I agree that Cassel's ability to read the defense and align the blockers has steadily improved with each game. Another aspect is he and the O-line and the RB/TE blockers have learned to "read" each other better allowing Cassel to move in the pocket with a greater degree of confidence as to where his protector's will be channeling the defenders away from him.

 

[WhiZa]

It has more to do with Cassel's ability to read the D better every game, and also his willingness to not give up on the play so fast. Last game (early on) he tucked the ball down and looked like he was headed for another sack, but then he came back up and threw to Welker for the first down. It's plays like that, that help forget about OL.

 

[PatsFan2]

what has really changed since the first quarter of the season and now on the O-line? not much, except for Neal and right tackle.

I think the biggest difference has come from Cassel directing the protection scheme. he literally looks like brady pointing at defensive players.

sure the o-line has improved but i think it's been mainly from cassel understanding the protection scheme and directing it.

we always use to say brady made the o-line good by his mobility, but now i'm beginning to think all the work was done pre-snap directing the protection.

the O-line has been just as impressive as Cassel and they need props

No!

Stephen Neal he has made that Right side play a heck of alot better than it would If Billy Yates was in there. Yates got mauled on every play like it wasn't enough with Nick Kaczur being blown by on just about every whim. Now the weakest link is Kaczur it's easier to try to combat one weak link instead of two. Again i think Stephen Neal makes this OL playes better has a whole...he's as good as Mankins at Guard if not slightly better.

 

[tanked_as_usual]

since the beginning of the year the following players have returned:
neal,kaczur,watson,faulk

 

[Leave No Doubt]

Stephen Neal he has made that Right side play a heck of alot better than it would If Billy Yates was in there. Yates got mauled on every play like it wasn't enough with Nick Kaczur being blown by on just about every whim. Now the weakest link is Kaczur it's easier to try to combat one weak link instead of two. Again i think Stephen Neal makes this OL playes better has a whole...he's as good as Mankins at Guard if not slightly better.

:agree: Neal's made a ton of difference on that line. Yates was struggling for whatever reason and jmho but welcome back Steve Neal

The whole offense has been a symbiotic evolution between Cassel and his (now) OL I'd imagine. If Matt had NOT improved and developed the way he has, would the OL still be struggling or if the OL was still struggling, would Matt have made such strides. Can you have one without the other? Probably not:confused2:

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

since the beginning of the year the following players have returned:
neal,kaczur,watson,faulk

The key words are "first quarter" when discussing the O-line.

Faulk missed one game where fans may speculate he'd have finished the block Morris threw to knock Pollard down, but we can never know. Mattyice looked quite good in that game.

Watson always stinks at blocking to start the season, it's like he needs to be fully retuned each season, his absence didn't impact things as much as we'd like to believe given how he's just starting to get into a rythm with Mattyice as a receiver.

The individual who has made the greatest strides is Matt Cassel - all the others have been starters who have played fairly well in the past and just needed to get in sync with each other and Mattyice to raise their level of play back to "normal."

 

[PromisedLand]

what has really changed since the first quarter of the season and now on the O-line? not much, except for Neal and right tackle.

I think the biggest difference has come from Cassel directing the protection scheme. he literally looks like brady pointing at defensive players.

sure the o-line has improved but i think it's been mainly from cassel understanding the protection scheme and directing it.

we always use to say brady made the o-line good by his mobility, but now i'm beginning to think all the work was done pre-snap directing the protection.

the O-line has been just as impressive as Cassel and they need props

Disagree - the biggest difference is Neal coming back. After all, it was Brady himself standing back there and directing protection in the first minutes of game one, and that is when he got hurt. And I recall that the pass protection sucked during preseason as well.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Disagree - the biggest difference is Neal coming back. After all, it was Brady himself standing back there and directing protection in the first minutes of game one, and that is when he got hurt. And I recall that the pass protection sucked during preseason as well.

Not to mention it had started to struggle a little down the stretch in 2007 and positively blew chunks in February once Neal left the field if I'm forced to recall...

Belichick always tells us that teambuilding is an annual process but fans expectations tend to ignore Bill's attempts to explain this game to us...

He is getting better, and so are they. Like Bill also says, after umpteen practices and games, they all should be.

 

[NEPatriot]

Let see if he can lead us to a SB.

 

[MrBigglesWorth]

my point is cassels sack numbers were totally outrageous. i think around the denver game he has 20 something. the indy game he wasn't touched. and since then the line has been awesome. ironically neal came back for the denver game.

sure there is a correlation but just adding one player doesn't mean an immediate turn around. it has much to do with cassel especially since they have gone primarily shotgun.

if we can attribute this much with one O-linemen then we should be afraid if Light can't play.

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

Let see if he can lead us to a SB.

FWIW in Brady's first year, he was sacked 9.0 % of his dropbacks while Cassel has been sacked 8.7% of the time.. I suspect in both cases if you did a game by game progression, you'd see a drop as the awareness improved. I'm not comparing Cassel to Brady, just comparing the learning curve which makes the O line look better.