Props to O-line

[Halifax_Pats_Fan]

other than San Diego, has anyone had a sniff...? Just sayin...great job guys.

 

[NovaScotiaPatsFan]

Just one by the Bills today, Brady made a smart play and just ate it.

 

[marty]

The O line has been outstanding!!!! Brady should be pretty light in the pocket after these last few games!!!!

 

[Fencer]

Brady's been sacked a few times. He's never sacked a lot.

He's taken a few licks. That's what varies more. In other years he's taken a lot of hits.

Defensive adjustments may lead to him taking more hits as the year progresses. If they can't cover the receivers anyway, opponents may do more heavy blitzing.

 

[DaBruinz]

Brady's been sacked a few times. He's never sacked a lot.

He's taken a few licks. That's what varies more. In other years he's taken a lot of hits.

Defensive adjustments may lead to him taking more hits as the year progresses. If they can't cover the receivers anyway, opponents may do more heavy blitzing.

Brady's been sacked like 30 times a season on average. The way he's going this year, he won't be sacked more than 16 times.

 

[RayClay]

You don't think they gave back the only copy of the Bills tape, do you?

 

[5 Rings for Brady!!]

It's not the sacks which usually hurt the most. It is those plays when Brady has just completed a pass and has his arms and legs spread out. That is when he has been absolutely crushed over and over during the last few years. The type play that doesn't show up in fan stats, but puts Brady in the hot tub.

We have seen a lot fewer of those plays so far this year, and that makes me happy.

 

[JoeSixPat]

I love it when unsung squads like the OL get some kudos... but let me just point out a few things worth considering...

Last season I was like a broken record, taking a break from the Kool-Aid much to the disdain of many longtime posters around here, preaching why the lack of quality WRs and a deep threat specifically was hindering many aspects of the offense.

It hurt our running game, it hurt pass protection, it hurt Watson's ability to catch passes, it hurt Brady's time in the pocket and literally hurt him in terms of sacks and pressure - and in the end I'm convinced it prevented us from gaining another Lombardi

Effectively it allowed opposing defenses to stack the line of scrimmage bringing up safeties to blitz without worry about anyone beating them deep

Quite frankly I think the O Line last year, with all of that working against them, deserves a ton of credit that was never given.

And not to take any credit away from the O Line this season either but they're not doing it alone... Ryan O'Callahan seems like a regular addition as a blocking TE, along with Kyle Brady - which effectively gives the team 7 O Linemen on the field giving Tom Brady all the time in the world...

Given all the time in the world, Brady's picking defenses apart, finding any one of many many quality receivers

And because he's consistently finding mid range and deep threats, teams can't put the same pressure on him that they did last season...

So, while its in vogue to give "props" to the O Line each week, let's take a step back and realize what a HUGE domino effect having good or bad deep threat WRs can have on a team... and recognize that football is truly a team sport... without the deep threats we have at WR there'd be a helluva lot more pressure on the O Line and we might be giving them about as much credit as we gave them last year, while taking on a much tougher job.

 

[Patriots Nation NY]

I always watch Logan M. He's such a mean S.O.B .. I love it

 

[signbabybrady]

continuity where it counts...those guys have been working together well for 2 seasons + now.

Keep on keepin Brady safe Oline and while your at it keep up the good run blockin.

 

[5 Rings for Brady!!]

I love it when unsung squads like the OL get some kudos... but let me just point out a few things worth considering...

Last season I was like a broken record, taking a break from the Kool-Aid much to the disdain of many longtime posters around here, preaching why the lack of quality WRs and a deep threat specifically was hindering many aspects of the offense.

It hurt our running game, it hurt pass protection, it hurt Watson's ability to catch passes, it hurt Brady's time in the pocket and literally hurt him in terms of sacks and pressure - and in the end I'm convinced it prevented us from gaining another Lombardi

Effectively it allowed opposing defenses to stack the line of scrimmage bringing up safeties to blitz without worry about anyone beating them deep

Quite frankly I think the O Line last year, with all of that working against them, deserves a ton of credit that was never given.

And not to take any credit away from the O Line this season either but they're not doing it alone... Ryan O'Callahan seems like a regular addition as a blocking TE, along with Kyle Brady - which effectively gives the team 7 O Linemen on the field giving Tom Brady all the time in the world...

Given all the time in the world, Brady's picking defenses apart, finding any one of many many quality receivers

And because he's consistently finding mid range and deep threats, teams can't put the same pressure on him that they did last season...

So, while its in vogue to give "props" to the O Line each week, let's take a step back and realize what a HUGE domino effect having good or bad deep threat WRs can have on a team... and recognize that football is truly a team sport... without the deep threats we have at WR there'd be a helluva lot more pressure on the O Line and we might be giving them about as much credit as we gave them last year, while taking on a much tougher job.

I know EXACTLY what you are saying about the O-Line. Yeah, we are a seven man O-Line in many situations.

But I won't complain about it this year because for the first time we actually have some great skill players.

Props to everybody just as long as we win, and Brady doesn't get hit every time he throws the ball.

 

[JoeSixPat]

I know EXACTLY what you are saying about the O-Line. Yeah, we are a seven man O-Line in many situations.

But I won't complain about it this year because for the first time we actually have some great skill players.

Props to everybody just as long as we win, and Brady doesn't get hit every time he throws the ball.

No - I'm not complaining either... just pointing out that when you have 7 offensive linemen, you'd BETTER have good pass protection or else something is REALLY WRONG

So, yes, props to the O Line - but give the extra offenseive linemen in O'Callahan and K. Brady a little credit, as well as the WR deep threat that keeps safeties back in the secondary where they belong...

Take away 1 offensive lineman (our WRs last year didn't give us the luxury of keeping 2 TEs in to block) and add 2 safeties at the line of scrimmage, and maybe the O Line winds up having a year like they did last season... which again, I stress, with all they had working against them, they did a very very good job - perhaps better than this season relatively speaking.

 

[HEY BRO! WHAT UP?]

It also helps when you have the recievers to get wide open when the ball is snapped.

 

[chris_in_sunnyvale]

Another thing that's nice about this O-line is that it's full of Patriots veterans...

LT: Light (2001), spelled by Kaczur in 2004 while out.
LG: Mankins (2004)
C: Koppen (2003), spelled by Hochstein at times.
RG: Neal (full-time since 2004?), spelled by Hochstein at times.
RT: Kaczur (2004) & O'Callaghan (2005?)

(I'm sure someone can clean up the details)

The point is that these guys have been playing together for what will now be their 4th year (starters), playing for the same OL coach, same head coach and protecting the same QB. That continuity does wonders for the performance of the unit as a whole. Look at the Skins and Bears OLs from the 1980s and you see similar continuity and thus excellence.

I'd also like to point out that Light appears to have figured out how to be a top-notch pass-blocking LT. He's always been a good run blocker (usually not the strong suit of most premiere LTs), but we've complained in the past about how he can look bad at times in pass protection. That no longer appears to be the case.

Regards,
Chris