20 Sacks 2013 vs 13 sacks 2014

Ok, I just heard on WEEI that through seven games last year, Brady was sacked 20 times. Through seven games this year, he has been sacked 13 times. For all the talk about how bad the o-line has been, Brady isn't getting sacked nearly as much as he was last year. Don't have the hit totals, but I would assume they aren't worse than last year.

The offensive line in the first few games this season was the worst thing ever in professional sports.

PATS16N0 said:

The offensive line in the first few games this season was the worst thing ever in professional sports.

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Though stastically still better than last year's line through the first few games.

I wouldn't read too much into that. The sacks would have been a whole lot higher had Brady not been playing 1 - 2 - pass with Edelman for the first month.

The OL was awful. Despite all the uproar about Googs and Mankins, it always appear to be more of a scheme issue to me. Or maybe just communication. Either way, I wasn't surprised in the least when they turned into a solid unit again overnight.

PATS16N0 said:

The offensive line in the first few games this season was the worst thing ever in professional sports.

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You should read Bedard's column. Our line has struggled because (among other things) we picked up guys from the local bus stop to start on the interior line. Meanwhile the Saints' starting guards have the second and third-highest cap hits on the team and they can't block this year to save their lives.

Brady has a lot to do with it. He's moving around better in the pocket than I've seen him do in quite a few years. He's not feeling the ghosts right now and just playing completely instinctual, he's on fire.

The OL is still trash. 12 is saving it.

His past 3 weeks have been incredible watching him avoid sacks, he may not have looked like Romo throwing Watt off of his shoulders, but he wouldn't have even let Watt near him with how well he's moving.

He's rolling out and side stepping completely out of the pocket on almost every snap it seems, the only thing the OL is doing good is recovering after the DL's move Brady off of his spot to give him added time. But Brady is the reason they're able to recover at all.

It's gotten a lot better since the Chiefs game. Denver will be a huge test with a rejuvinated D-ware.

I don't think that stat means anything, unfortunately, when considered in context.

On an individual basis, this season's line has played worse. Brady & McD have had to work far harder to cover-up for lack of talent on the line than they did last year. For Brady, it's meant getting rid of the ball while on the verge of getting killed, getting the ball out as quick as possible, etc. For McD, it's meant leaving in more protection, running quick passing plays, and moving the pocket when we do want to go deep.

We can't cover up lack of talent forever. We need Stork & Connolly back, and we need Solder to play well consistently.

Getting Connolly and Stork back will be huge.

Line looked good with Solder Conn Stork Wend Voll

strngplyr said:

Brady has a lot to do with it. He's moving around better in the pocket than I've seen him do in quite a few years. He's not feeling the ghosts right now and just playing completely instinctual, he's on fire.

The OL is still trash. 12 is saving it.

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I couldn't disagree more. Tom is playing well, but the OL has been good ever since the Cincy game. In fact, they were downright dominant against the Bengals and have been good even though they were missing two of those starters against very good fronts.

The OLine has drastically improved during the Season. It was abysmal in the first 3 or 4 games, but has been solid afterwards

Oswlek said:

I couldn't disagree more. Tom is playing well, but the OL has been good ever since the Cincy game. In fact, they were downright dominant against the Bengals and have been good even though they were missing two of those starters against very good fronts.

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Dominant? I'm not sure I'd use that word. Maybe in the running game, but even Ridley's big 40 yarder, he made that happen, he made a cut outside because the OL whiffed a block, if I recall correctly.

Saying "Tom is playing well" is an insult to what you're watching right now from our QB position. A lot of it coincides with him seeming to be healthier after Ankle and Calf injuries, as the way he is moving now is very different from how he was moving to start the season.

deters said:

Getting Connolly and Stork back will be huge.

Line looked good with Solder Conn Stork Wend Voll

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Fleming also looked good as a 6th lineman.

deters said:

Getting Connolly and Stork back will be huge.

Line looked good with Solder Conn Stork Wend Voll

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This will definitely help the running game, Wendell at G in the Bengals game was probably the best any one OL has played this season, I'm interested to see him get more reps there. I hope Stork being held out against the Jets was just precautionary and not due to lingering concussion issues, Connolly I full expected to miss with only 4 days.

Oswlek said:

I couldn't disagree more. Tom is playing well, but the OL has been good ever since the Cincy game. In fact, they were downright dominant against the Bengals and have been good even though they were missing two of those starters against very good fronts.

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I have to disagree with this. The last two weeks the line play has been poor, not as bad as the first few weeks, but close. Lots of guys getting beat. But a combination of Brady being on fire and Gronk being back has covered it up.

Cincy game is a different story, because we had 5 decent OL out there. But without Connolly & Stork, we still have too many weak links.

strngplyr said:

Dominant? I'm not sure I'd use that word. Maybe in the running game, but even Ridley's big 40 yarder, he made that happen, he made a cut outside because the OL whiffed a block, if I recall correctly.

Saying "Tom is playing well" is an insult to what you're watching right now from our QB position. A lot of it coincides with him seeming to be healthier after Ankle and Calf injuries, as the way he is moving now is very different from how he was moving to start the season.

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Yes, they were dominant against Cincy. You can quibble with how much that means considering how poorly Cincy has played the last three weeks, but expecting more from an OL than that is unreasonable.

Considering the injuries, not a soul would have a bad word to say about the OL against Buffalo and NY had it not been for the first month. It's all about perception, not performance.

If memory serves, we gave up 10 sacks in the first 4 games, 3 in the last three.

I remember that people said we were on pace for 40 sacks after KC, because it was going to be "the most sacks of Brady since 2001" when we gave up 41.

Obviously things have improved dramatically, but that doesn't mean it wasn't pretty ugly for quite awhile.

Oswlek said:

Yes, they were dominant against Cincy. You can quibble with how much that means considering how poorly Cincy has played the last three weeks, but expecting more from an OL than that is unreasonable.

Considering the injuries, not a soul would have a bad word to say about the OL against Buffalo and NY had it not been for the first month. It's all about perception, not performance.

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I have bad things to say about them because they are playing poorly, go back and watch all of the missed blocks, Brady has had few clean pockets to sit in.

They are certainly doing the best they can, and injuries definitely are not helping, they CAN be good, Connolly, Stork, and Wendell inside is not the worst we can put together, but they won't be sending anyone to the pro bowl.

Their best defense is good interior push in the running game to slow the pass rush. That line showed they can help run the ball. Without the run game, such as in Buffalo and vs NY, they struggled to pass protect, Brady moved around to buy time.

strngplyr said:

I have bad things to say about them because they are playing poorly, go back and watch all of the missed blocks, Brady has had few clean pockets to sit in.

They are certainly doing the best they can, and injuries definitely are not helping, they CAN be good, Connolly, Stork, and Wendell inside is not the worst we can put together, but they won't be sending anyone to the pro bowl.

Their best defense is good interior push in the running game to slow the pass rush. That line showed they can help run the ball. Without the run game, such as in Buffalo and vs NY, they struggled to pass protect, Brady moved around to buy time.

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Brady had plenty of clean pockets that I could see. And guys get beat all the time, even on good lines.

They "struggled" to pass protect because both Buffalo and NY have very good defensive lines. NY had made mince meat of Denver's OL just four days prior.

You are fitting the evidence to your narrative. Quarterbacks don't get an unmolested five seconds on every drop back in the NFL.

Oswlek said:

the OL has been good ever since the Cincy game. In fact, they were downright dominant against the Bengals

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Every offense plays well vs Cincy...at least in the last 3 games. The vaunted Cincy D has given up 107 points during that time.
We can tell each other that BB created the blueprint to crush Cincy's D...........and that might very well be true.