You can make as many injury excuses as you want but the bottom line is that the players we have in the OL have not shown any proof they are good.
What do you disagree with below.
Solder is above average but the nature of his injury is worrisome
Volmer is injury prone and it appears the plethora of injuries he has sustained has left him as average at best.
Stork was an avg center in 14 and below bag in 15.
Every G who played last season was below average and as a group probably the worst in the NFL.
Cannon stinks.
Waddle was cast off by the Lions and resigned with us for cheap meaning no one out there considers him starter caliber.
If the 1976 Tampa bay bucs had more injuries than any team ever you could try to use that as an excuse but the talent they had wasn't any good healthy or not.
We have to be carful blaming injuries when the majority of the injured players played like crap when they were healthy.
Understand what you're driving at but I look at it from a different perspective.
The Pats were 3 points away from getting to the SB last year. They were 1 game away from having HFA. So I use that as my base to evaluate the O line and team adjustments this offseason.
IF the O line had been healthy for the second half of the season would the Pats have made it to the SB? I say yes they would have.
IF Scar had been the O line coach last season would the Pats have made it to the SB? I say yes to that as well.
(I am only focusing on the Oline but you could also add that if any one of the key players (Edelman, Lewis, Amendola, Gronk etc..) had been healthy in the last part of the season that the Pats would have had HFA and a trip to the SB)
I look at the performance on a relevant basis. So any improvement Scar can bring and any improvement in the health category, which would have netted a SB appearance or victory last season, as an improvement.
It would be nice to have the #1 O line, Offense, D line, Defense, Special teams, etc...etc... but if the performance as a whole can net a SB appearance then the team was good enough.
So the question is do you think the Oline will be better than last year? I say yes it will be.
Will the health of the team overall be better than last year? How could it be worse? That had to have been the worst injury laden season I've seen.
I do hope to see them to continue to address the O line though although I do think they already have the pieces to field a decent line.
On paper this team is primed for another championship run. IMO.
