Stork delivers

[Galeb]

Going off memory here and I was not able to participate in the game thread or post game thread today so my apologies if this has already been discussed, but in the game thread before I left, I posted that I was hoping that we would see Stork once we were up two scores or thereabout, and that did happen.

I have to say I really like what I saw from him- I think he went in on the last three or four drives, and watched him closely, he never gave up ground once, and IIRC on two instances was able to drive his man backwards. Twice, he had help in blocking and on those instances, his man was easily defeated.

I believe that on the next to last drive we called a few inside runs up the middle to test him out, and he looked very promising, showed an ability to get out to the 2nd level.

I'm aware that the Vikings DL isn't all-world, but they aren't slouches either and I'm hoping we see more of Stork and will not be surprised to see him start before we are even halfway through the season.

Good thread title. How long have you been waiting to use that line?

 

[mayoclinic]

So if Stork becomes a starter, Connelly can move to Guard and Devey never sees the field… right? right? please say yes

I'd personally give Devey some time before pulling the plug on him. He has the size and physicality, and RG doesn't demand a ton of athleticism. I'd love to see him stick there, and see Stork become a starter, making Connolly a 3-position backup/starter. Fleming's versatility and ability to play in "jumbo" packages would give the Pats a really nice 7 man group with a ton of flexibility.

 

[Jackson 2]

Good thread title. How long have you been waiting to use that line?

Roughly 9 months...

 

[DaBruinz]

d%#*!@t you beat me to the punch.

Hey now.. there's been enough violence in the NFL already.. we don't need it here too..

 

[mayoclinic]

This thread is pregnant with possibilities.

 

[DaBruinz]

This thread is pregnant with possibilities.

It's definitely some fertile ground..

 

[Joker]

Glad to see a little humor has returned to the board. See what a solid road win does?

 

[mayoclinic]

Glad to see a little humor has returned to the board. See what a solid road win does?

Not to mention that we've already seen the irony of one poster telling a guy named "joker" to "lighten up".

 

[RIpats88]

hopefully by mid-season he is starting because ideally that would make the whole line better. Stork got some good push out there.

 

[Deus Irae]

I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for a more wide open offense. I believe that the all-pass, all-the-time Air Belichick game plans have been put on the shelf for foreseeable future. The Pats will be going old-school. Protect the football on offense. Let ballhawking defense and special teams win the games. If they are successful running the ball and playing dink n' dunk for a couple months, they may be able to throw the ball later in the season if they can make defenses respect the run. Good pass rushing teams have been teeing off on Brady for quite a while now and they have to do something to keep him from getting killed.

This team doesn't have the personnel to be a run/run team.

 

[Ivan]

I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for a more wide open offense. I believe that the all-pass, all-the-time Air Belichick game plans have been put on the shelf for foreseeable future. The Pats will be going old-school. Protect the football on offense. Let ballhawking defense and special teams win the games. If they are successful running the ball and playing dink n' dunk for a couple months, they may be able to throw the ball later in the season if they can make defenses respect the run. Good pass rushing teams have been teeing off on Brady for quite a while now and they have to do something to keep him from getting killed.

I don't know if they will ever go back to the wide open all the time offense we saw a couple of years ago but right now i really think it's about fundamentals and being able to walk before you run. Belichick was focused on fundamentals after the loss in Miami and said so last Monday on Dale and Holley, and that was reflected in the way they ran their offense in Minnesota. I think they are still searching for their starting five on the OL but Mayo is on to something with the 6 OL jumbo packages and it looks like Fleming is going to be the guy who plays outside the tackles as the JUMBO "TE". If Stork can win the starting center job then it will come down to whether or not Connolly can beat out Devey for the RG job, but given the apparent shift to a bigger OL he would be at a disadvantage in terms of size. Ultimately the OL, like most of this team, is a work in progress and what will really matter is how far they develop and how good they are after Thanksgiving. I love the change to amuch bigger OL because i think that gives them the best chance to match up in the play-offs. The more they progress the more we see of their offensive packages, and eventually I believe we will see more of the spread offense and no huddle drives.

 

[Ivan]

This team doesn't have the personnel to be a run/run team.

They do if they go to the supersized OL they seem to be heading towards.

 

[mayoclinic]

I don't know if they will ever go back to the wide open all the time offense we saw a couple of years ago but right now i really think it's about fundamentals and being able to walk before you run. Belichick was focused on fundamentals after the loss in Miami and said so last Monday on Dale and Holley, and that was reflected in the way they ran their offense in Minnesota. I think they are still searching for their starting five on the OL but Mayo is on to something with the 6 OL jumbo packages and it looks like Fleming is going to be the guy who plays outside the tackles as the JUMBO "TE". If Stork can win the starting center job then it will come down to whether or not Connolly can beat out Devey for the RG job, but given the apparent shift to a bigger OL he would be at a disadvantage in terms of size. Ultimately the OL, like most of this team, is a work in progress and what will really matter is how far they develop and how good they are after Thanksgiving. I love the change to amuch bigger OL because i think that gives them the best chance to match up in the play-offs. The more they progress the more we see of their offensive packages, and eventually I believe we will see more of the spread offense and no huddle drives.

I am hoping that we have made some progress from week 1 to week 2:

- The overall quality of line play seemed improved, with fewer mistakes and technical errors.
- 3/5 of the line seems set (at least in terms of how the coaches see it) with Solder at LT, Cannon at LG (something I predicted and many scoffed at based on his lack of experience at the position) and Vollmer at RT.
- Fleming seems to fit clearly at the moment as a backup tackle and 6th OL in jumbo packages/blocking TE.
- Connolly, Stork and Devey seem to be the next 3 guys fighting for time at the OC and RG positions. Connolly can obviously play both positions.
- That leaves Wendell and Kline at the bottom of the depth chart, though Wendell's status is less clear because of injury.

I'm OK with that progress for now. As long as one of Stork or Devey steps up, we'll be ok. If both of them do, with Connolly for depth at 3 interior positions, we'll actually have a pretty good line.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Going off memory here and I was not able to participate in the game thread or post game thread today so my apologies if this has already been discussed, but in the game thread before I left, I posted that I was hoping that we would see Stork once we were up two scores or thereabout, and that did happen.

I have to say I really like what I saw from him- I think he went in on the last three or four drives, and watched him closely, he never gave up ground once, and IIRC on two instances was able to drive his man backwards. Twice, he had help in blocking and on those instances, his man was easily defeated.

I believe that on the next to last drive we called a few inside runs up the middle to test him out, and he looked very promising, showed an ability to get out to the 2nd level.

I'm aware that the Vikings DL isn't all-world, but they aren't slouches either and I'm hoping we see more of Stork and will not be surprised to see him start before we are even halfway through the season.

I actually think you're underselling the Vikings line. They're good. Not elite, but well above average. I too was encouraged by Stork yesterday, in the little time that he played. I get why they're going with Connolly at C--there's already more inexperience and unfamiliarity on this line than you'd like, even without throwing a rookie who missed the majority of TC into the mix--but the more that I see Stork play the more that I believe we're watching the long-term solution at C.

Also, I'm not so sure that Connolly will consistently be better at RG than Devey was yesterday. As much as I like Connolly at C, I'm not a huge fan of him playing guard. Although, since we've traditionally only seen him at RG with Wendell at C, maybe he's actually a good G with competent center play beside him. If nothing else, though, Connolly's a three-position backup. Devey's still the wildcard on this line, and I'll need to see sustained competence from him across multiple games against some good players before I can stop being worried, but at least Stork has shown enough that, if Devey implodes and Connolly has to move to RG, I wouldn't be terrified of what might come next.

And at a bare minimum, I really hope that Stork showing up well will mean that Wendell doesn't make it back onto the field.

 

[Bombdog]

I went back and watched the game again, I specifically watched when Stork was in the game in the fourth quarter. I saw one play where he completely pancaked a Viking D lineman. He appeared each time to force the lineman across from him backwards. No pun intended he appeared to deliver when he played.

 

[PP2]

From Reiss:

1. Rookie center Bryan Stork entered the game with 9:24 remaining and played 12 snaps (including penalties). Of the 12 he was run-blocking on every play but one. On his first two plays, the 6-foot-4, 310-pound Stork showed good strength against rookie defensive tackle Shamar Stephen (6-5, 310). On Stevan Ridley's 16-yard run (5:57 remaining), Stork fired off the ball and created some push in the middle as the defender he was blocking winds up on the ground. His two shotgun snaps were solid. Those were valuable reps for Stork, who looks like he’s ready to compete for more playing time.

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/new-...768281/patriots-4th-quarter-review-stork-time

 

[Kontradiction]

From Reiss:



http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/new-...768281/patriots-4th-quarter-review-stork-time

Like I kept saying in the offseason, Stork will be the starting center by the end of the season if his health holds up. He's the best option of the bunch. If you watched him when he was run blocking, he has the sort of nasty disposition that you look for in an interior OL.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

1. Rookie center Bryan Stork entered the game with 9:24 remaining and played 12 snaps (including penalties). Of the 12 he was run-blocking on every play but one. On his first two plays, the 6-foot-4, 310-pound Stork showed good strength against rookie defensive tackle Shamar Stephen (6-5, 310). On Stevan Ridley's 16-yard run (5:57 remaining), Stork fired off the ball and created some push in the middle as the defender he was blocking winds up on the ground. His two shotgun snaps were solid. Those were valuable reps for Stork, who looks like he’s ready to compete for more playing time.

And thus a future star is born. . . .

 

[VJCPatriot]

I agree with all that... but the best thing about this thread is the title! LOL

Going off memory here and I was not able to participate in the game thread or post game thread today so my apologies if this has already been discussed, but in the game thread before I left, I posted that I was hoping that we would see Stork once we were up two scores or thereabout, and that did happen.

I have to say I really like what I saw from him- I think he went in on the last three or four drives, and watched him closely, he never gave up ground once, and IIRC on two instances was able to drive his man backwards. Twice, he had help in blocking and on those instances, his man was easily defeated.

I believe that on the next to last drive we called a few inside runs up the middle to test him out, and he looked very promising, showed an ability to get out to the 2nd level.

I'm aware that the Vikings DL isn't all-world, but they aren't slouches either and I'm hoping we see more of Stork and will not be surprised to see him start before we are even halfway through the season.

 

[mgteich]

And thus a future star is born. . . .

Absolutely! One pass block is enough for us to proclaim Stork as a starter and better center than Connolly.