Here is what it comes down to.
When a guard makes the best play he can make he opens a hole for a running back for an 8 yard gain that continues a drive.
When a OLB/DE makes the best play he can make he sacks the QB for a 10 yard loss with a strip sack that changes field position or possession.
When a CB makes the best play he can make he makes a pick 6 or conversely gives up 6 on a 50 yard pass for a TD.
When a LT does his job he prevents the other team OLB/DE from making a sack with a strip sack that is a game changing play.
The point is that guard play usually does not involve a direct big game changing play, that games between equally matched teams usually comes down to.
You have watched the last 6 years of the Patriots being a couple of plays away from winning 2 or 3 more Superbowls, and I ask you, did guard play have anything to do with making those key 4-5 plays a game that made the difference ?
No. If anything the (game we shall not speak of) against the Giants where was Mankins against Tuck, Strahan and Osi (I am not sure that Mankins is all that great in pass protection) ?
But a reciever that can catch one more ball would have (Reche Caldwell a number one reciever ?), a pash rush from the Patriots Defense would have (this has been the achilles heal the last 6 years and the number one need of the team), just making a couple of simple plays really here and there would have.
What this team has lacked the last 5-6 years is play making and players with the intagiables to make them. They can play with anybody and are obviously one of the best teams in the league, but the problem the last 6 years is not making (or making) 3-5 plays a game and the other team does, and that is it.
I don't see how spending 10 Million a year on one of the positions where it is least likely to make a game changing play makes any sense.
