Brady sacked 13 times in last 3 playoff games

[tests]

damn 13 times?!!?

and colts/manning fans say brady has the best OL every year..

 

[Kontradiction]

Two thoughts come to mind on this:

1) I think it's sort of an open secret that the middle of our O-line is the weakest part of our offense, and it is probably something that DC's don't want to abuse too much, for risk of exploiting it to the point where something is actually done about it.

2) I think this sort of gameplan is easier to execute in the playoffs because of the degree of desperation involved- players are more willing to fight dirty, fight in the trenches, and get into a lot of one on one battles or go BOB, which is the key to bringing pressure up the middle, relentlessly.

Degree of desperation definitely has something to do with it. But an offensive weakness is always going to get exposed in the playoffs because you're eventually going to go up against a defense that CAN exploit it. For the Jets, it was Mike DeVito in Week 2. In the Divisional round, it was Shawn Ellis. If we go into next season with Dan Connolly starting at RG (I expect Neal to retire at some point this offseason) and Dan Koppen starting at center, the same thing will happen to us again a year from now.

 

[ATippett56]

If we go into next season with Dan Connolly starting at RG (I expect Neal to retire at some point this offseason) and Dan Koppen starting at center, the same thing will happen to us again a year from now.

Can we just boot Dan Connolly off the team?

 

[D-Money]

That wasnt the real reason they loss to the jets!Brady had time.He held on to the ball a long time on some of those sacks.No execution on offense at all!

 

[RobertWeathers]

Can we just boot Dan Connolly off the team?

Connolly is a suitable backup- nothing more.

 

[RobertWeathers]

That wasnt the real reason they loss to the jets!Brady had time.He held on to the ball a long time on some of those sacks.No execution on offense at all!

He missed some throws and some open reads no question. The NYJs defensive gameplan was outstanding.

 

[ATippett56]

Connolly is a suitable backup- nothing more.

The New England Patriots need a better backup.

 

[Kontradiction]

The New England Patriots need a better backup.

No they don't. Not right now anyway. Connolly is fine as a back-up and has a bit of experience in this offense. He's basically Pierre Woods on the offensive side of the ball. The New England Patriots need a much better starter than Dan Connolly. There's a couple of them that can be found early on in the draft.

 

[RobertWeathers]

The New England Patriots need a much better starter than Dan Connolly.

Bingo.

But the rule of thumb, you only find out how good your depth is when you actually need to use it.

It's fair to say Connolly is a marginal backup and can be used for short bursts.

But 13 starts at LG & RG in 2010? No.

 

[JackBauer]

How many teams have significantly better backup guards than Dan Connolly?

 

[Kontradiction]

How many teams have significantly better backup guards than Dan Connolly?

If not better, then just more experienced. Experience is a big deal on any team, but it's key on this team with how complicated our offense is.

 

[Fball]

damn 13 times?!!?

and colts/manning fans say brady has the best OL every year..

There are also coverage sacks.

I actually thought Brady's line was very good last Sunday, and the Pats OL is definitely one of the best. On quite a few plays, he had ample time to get the throw off; for whatever reason, he wasn't pulling the trigger.

Certainly, he was confused by some of the coverages. But he was also pretty rattled after that 1st INT and a few hits...

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Connolly reminds me of Russ Hochstein

Neither is anything close to resembling a hall of famer,but if an injury to a starter comes about,they can handle the duties o.k. for a few games.

 

[JoeSixPat]

Brady needs an OL to protect him and the OL hasn't done well in the biggest games.

I think Light is a growing liability against speed rushers as he ages - I'd kindof hoped that Vollmer would develop and take over at LT - I could see Light still contributing. But there's a lot more uncertainty about the OL in terms of who's signed etc than I'm comfortable with.

BB and Dante will address this - most likely in the draft. Quality OLs are often available right through the second round. It wouldn't surprise me to see a few of our top picks go to OL.

 

[Kontradiction]

Brady needs an OL to protect him and the OL hasn't done well in the biggest games.

I think Light is a growing liability against speed rushers as he ages - I'd kindof hoped that Vollmer would develop and take over at LT - I could see Light still contributing. But there's a lot more uncertainty about the OL in terms of who's signed etc than I'm comfortable with.

BB and Dante will address this - most likely in the draft. Quality OLs are often available right through the second round. It wouldn't surprise me to see a few of our top picks go to OL.

Light should be signed to a two year deal IMO. He's still the best tackle on this team. Let him play the next two years at LT and then let Vollmer take over. One thing I noticed out of Vollmer (when I watched him) a lot this year is a tendency to stand straight up when taking on defenders. That's a habit that he needs to break, and is one of the reasons why I don't think he's ready to move to LT just yet. Let Vollmer continue to cut his teeth at RT then move him left in two years. Hopefully, both Light and Mankins will be signed to continue to fortify the left side of the O-Line. Take care of center either in free agency or through the draft and draft for RG. Keep Vollmer at RT. Not sure where Kaczur would fit into this just yet but, really, that depends on his health. I can't see him supplanting Vollmer at this point but, if his health does hold up and the injury isn't as bad as it sounded, he could make drafting for RG a moot point.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

Light should be signed to a two year deal IMO. He's still the best tackle on this team. Let him play the next two years at LT and then let Vollmer take over. One thing I noticed out of Vollmer (when I watched him) a lot this year is a tendency to stand straight up when taking on defenders. That's a habit that he needs to break, and is one of the reasons why I don't think he's ready to move to LT just yet. Let Vollmer continue to cut his teeth at RT then move him left in two years. Hopefully, both Light and Mankins will be signed to continue to fortify the left side of the O-Line. Take care of center either in free agency or through the draft and draft for RG. Keep Vollmer at RT. Not sure where Kaczur would fit into this just yet but, really, that depends on his health. I can't see him supplanting Vollmer at this point but, if his health does hold up and the injury isn't as bad as it sounded, he could make drafting for RG a moot point.

light has been in this league for 10 years and is in his mid 30s. the pats need to upgrade at LT. h e can no longer keep up with the speed rushers without TE help. in fact i think the pats oline looked a lot better this year than in reality because of guys like Crumpler, gronkowski.

 

[RobertWeathers]

light has been in this league for 10 years and is in his mid 30s. the pats need to upgrade at LT. h e can no longer keep up with the speed rushers without TE help. in fact i think the pats oline looked a lot better this year than in reality because of guys like Crumpler, gronkowski.

Matt Light will be 33 in June. That is not mid-30s. You are trying to pawn him off as an over the hill, liability and that is simply is not the case. He has one perhaps two solid seasons remaining.

In the playoffs, a majority of pressure that is beating the line is coming from up the middle and on blitzes. Thats Koppen and RG du jour.

 

[convertedpatsfan]

Ok, you say the interior-oline has been subpar in the last 3 playoff games. And the stats bleed that out. But these games were not played consecutively. They were played with 32 and 16 games between them. And the scary thing, in those reg season games, especially the 16 from 07 and the 16 from '10,the O-Line tended to be really good. Look at ESPN naming Koppen the non-Rb non-QB MVP for his excellent blocking calls and play. That was like 3 weeks ago. And yes, ESPN doesn't know crap but it is still an indicator of their performance. And Connolly did very well during the season to the point where people questioned if Mankins is worth 8M a year. In 07, they had 3 Pro Bowlers, in '10, they have 2.


So the question I have is: how can an OLine play well for a season and then collapse in the post season three straight times.??

The ESPN award was actually a columnist on ESPN, TMQ. And it was pretty ridiculous since Koppen isn't even one of the top 3 OL on the Patriots, let alone the entire league.

The OL played awful, but Brady did too. And the Jets did a good job jamming the receivers at the line. I think the interior has been a problem for a while, but few teams can expose that issue. They need to be able to develop consistent pressure and have good corners to back that up.

When Brady is playing well, he can minimize those issues with his ability to get rid of the ball quickly in the short passing game. But when he's not at his best, those other issues become much more obvious. Brady really struggled, and that in turn exposed the other holes in the interior.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Matt Light will be 33 in June. That is not mid-30s. You are trying to pawn him off as an over the hill, liability and that is simply is not the case. He has one perhaps two solid seasons remaining.

In the playoffs, a majority of pressure that is beating the line is coming from up the middle and on blitzes. Thats Koppen and RG du jour.

While Matt Light is not done yet IMO,I feel that we need to keep the LT perhaps in rotation...I don't feel Matt can play every snap every down anymore.

Obtain a solid LT for the future and move him in slowly,especially on obvious passing downs...that will keep Light fresher and get a rookie some experience as well.

A blind man can see that these OL are running out of gas in some games

While I always think a OL is better if they always play as one unit..it may not always work on this team,especially with a QB that is more immobile than some QBs out there.

Brady is the best or close to the best QB in the league,but he is not Vick and can't make up for loss of protection when the pocket gets eaten up by DL pass rushers.

 

[RobertWeathers]

While Matt Light is not done yet IMO,I feel that we need to keep the LT perhaps in rotation...I don't feel Matt can play every snap every down anymore.

Obtain a solid LT for the future and move him in slowly,especially on obvious passing downs...that will keep Light fresher and get a rookie some experience as well.

Agree that they need to find a LT (Vollmer?) but at the same time, need to be careful about toying with cohesiveness with the O-line. There are teams that have done this - 49ers in the 80's would bring in linemen that specialized in run vs pass protection. With that said, they were so good it didn't matter as you were not going to stop them.

With that said, if they do decide to employ your approach the team needs a running back that can make teams respect the running game and cool the potential pass rush.