Can the Line hold up?

[TheRainMaker]

Thats an uninformed comment

Based on last season, they can’t be trusted.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Based on last season, they can’t be trusted.

Sure they can at 4 of the 5 positions

Brown was average and in shape this year.
Strange was average and is bigger/stronger this year
Andrews was above average
Onwenu was above average
RT was below average

OL coach was Fat Matt and Yates
OC was Fat Matt
Qb coach was Jackoff Judge

Klemm is not a step back

If you want to say they need to be healthy thats a more level-headed response

 

[Grogan14]

How is the line going to hold up.
Injuries to the OL are inevitable and with an extra game even more so. Every year there have been at least 2 or 3 starters who go down for 5-6 games each.
The Patriots have no depth beyond the starters and even the starters are questionable re. their skill (Anderson, Brown, Reiff)

 

[Real fan 02]

Only one preseason game but at this point I don't see anyone viable/reliable emerging at RT.

Brown/Strange/Andrews/Onwenu is more than fine.

If Reiff continues to look out of place and no one else emerges (he and McDermott are nothing more than backups) they'll need to trade a player where they have a surplus at the position or a pick for someone who can start. The player needs to be a starter, serviceable, reliable and not get Mac killed every 6th drop back.

They MAY have more safeties and WRs than they need. Need a few more practices and games to be sure (and no one gets injured) before Week 1 comes along.

That's always the hard part about the NFL.. injuries are as part of the game. So I can see maybe a guy like Bledsoe.. as we have a surplus of DBs. The mystery is.. is ownenu going to be available come week 1?

 

[RobertWeathers]

That's always the hard part about the NFL.. injuries are as part of the game. So I can see maybe a guy like Bledsoe.. as we have a surplus of DBs. The mystery is.. is ownenu going to be available come week 1?

Yea thats the issue with injuries. There is nothing you can do to predict them. All you can do is minimize that risk with quality depth.

I agree the line is a serious concern right now. No only the injuries to the starters but the lack of proven, quality depth in this system.

 

[Wozzy]

Last night the majority of starters were first and second year players.

How do you people saying they suck already think rookies improve enough to play well one day?

Oh yeah, reps and practice… we have a month before game one. Mac Jones didn’t improve enough to take the job from Cam until the end of August in 2021. Players like Onwenu and other rookies didn’t improve enough to prove themselves until after joint practices and by the end of preseason.

There may be a time to worry or be concerned, this isn’t that time.

 

[mgteich]

Last night the majority of starters were first and second year players.

How do you people saying they suck already think rookies improve enough to play well one day?

Oh yeah, reps and practice… we have a month before game one. Mac Jones didn’t improve enough to take the job from Cam until the end of August in 2021. Players like Onwenu and other rookies didn’t improve enough to prove themselves until after joint practices and by the end of preseason.

There may be a time to worry or be concerned, this isn’t that time.

???
If you think that the OL that played last night will be ready to be a solid OL for Game One, I have some Everglades investment recommendations for you.

 

[Wozzy]

???
If you think that the OL that played last night will be ready to be a solid OL for Game One, I have some Everglades investment recommendations for you.

They don't have to be ready, they have to be ready to backup the starters and have proven enough to take those backup jobs. Best case scenario here is what week one looks like:

LT – Trent Brown, Calvin Anderson (I),
LG – Cole Strange,
C – David Andrews, Kody Russey, Jake Andrews,
RG – Michael Onwenu, Antonio Mafi
RT – Sidy Sow, Riley Reiff, Connor McDermot (PS),

This ^ is one of the better offensive lines in the NFL if they stay healthy and all the young guys develop into quality players. The young guys are getting max snaps now because that is what it will take to have them ready by week one.

Even if you want to swap out Sow with Onwenu and slide Mafi in at right guard. Not only are they athletically superior, but that is one of the biggest offensive lines in the NFL in terms of sheer mass.

Assuming health I don't see the reason for all the consternation... they need to get and stay healthy. That describes the offensive lines for all 32 teams in the NFL.

 

[State]

A myriad of reasons for this. The complete confidence in Dante meant for decades, really, he ran the show. His first retirement brought in someone not up to the challenge.

Dante’s second—and final—retirement had a promising young duo: Popovich and Bricillo. It was my understanding they worked well together, though Popovich was the more senior in knowledge.

When the coronavirus caused lockdown and fear, Popovich made the unusual decision not to receive the experimental jab, which is not a vaccine. That only highlights his strength of character, conviction, intelligence, and prudence.

Not good for his professional career, though, which had only recently begun to solidify. He was forced out.

Bricillo ran the show and, after a bit of a rough initial go, performed admirably. He went to Oakland, er, Los Vegas with the former OC.

That’s when Belichick’s inattention to the OL became apparent.

Karras was gone as a FA pickup by the Bengals. He was versatile as a high level center/guard backup and good starter at both. We should have brought someone in. As Captain Stone first pointed out, relying on Thanksdad, which Belichick unquestionably did, turned out to be an error.

My choice was the guy they brought in for a visit, Ryan Bates from the Bills. But we did not even offer. Chicago did, but the Bills matched.

That season we witnessed James Ferentz being put on skates by the Jets Quinnen Williams.

Then, even a more grievous mistake, was the apparently not well thought out decision to give Patricia the duties of OL coach even after he was named OC. He was backed up by a former marginal player with next to no coaching experience who was on the team solely for the minority fellowship positions each franchise must set aside.

So last year was a disaster. It started with the desire to try to fit a square peg in a round hole by installing a wide zone approach that necessarily puts a premium on smaller, more athletic guys. Ahem, Trent Brown and Mike Onwenu, anyone? Those are power gap players par excellence.

Then the curious decision to swap tackles caused the lifelong LT Isaiah Wynn to lose interest and become disgruntled. If you don’t agree with me, realize he was a vetted Dante player.

I am interested to see his progress now that he is with the Dolphins. He could very well be their LT if Armistead goes down as he has every year.

I could make other complaints. The year they drafted Bust Harry, I was pushing for Dalton Risner, who had five position versatility. And this year they needed to draft a developmental LT, even if it was a late rounder Jake Witt instead of sixth-rounder Ameer Speed.

Or, better yet, not trade up with the Jets for Chad Ryland. We had 120 and 184, which we traded for 112. If we had stayed put perhaps we could have had both the Maryland kicker and a potential NFL starting LT in Carter Warren, who would have been someone our newly high paid OL coach, Adrian Klemm, could have worked with.

There’s a lack of depth on this team with the offensive line. Things will get better, but the problems go back further than Patricia.

Just ask the Phins about OL starters going down with injury. They were devastated last year. Uche feasted on a third-stringer in Miami.

 

[Toofy]

They don't have to be ready, they have to be ready to backup the starters and have proven enough to take those backup jobs. Best case scenario here is what week one looks like:

LT – Trent Brown, Calvin Anderson (I),
LG – Cole Strange,
C – David Andrews, Kody Russey, Jake Andrews,
RG – Michael Onwenu, Antonio Mafi
RT – Sidy Sow, Riley Reiff, Connor McDermot (PS),

This ^ is one of the better offensive lines in the NFL if they stay healthy and all the young guys develop into quality players. The young guys are getting max snaps now because that is what it will take to have them ready by week one.

Even if you want to swap out Sow with Onwenu and slide Mafi in at right guard. Not only are they athletically superior, but that is one of the biggest offensive lines in the NFL in terms of sheer mass.

Assuming health I don't see the reason for all the consternation... they need to get and stay healthy. That describes the offensive lines for all 32 teams in the NFL.

Sidy Sow i thought played rank bad and is still raw. why would you have him over Reiff a decent veteran .

 

[upstater1]

There’s a lack of depth on this team with the offensive line. Things will get better, but the problems go back further than Patricia.

Just ask the Phins about OL starters going down with injury. They were devastated last year. Uche feasted on a third-stringer in Miami.

They've brought in 13 new OL in 2 yrs.

Most of them are young, and some will prove to be diamonds.

I'd venture to say that we're actually much deeper than most of the NFL. The problem is that we haven't found our RT (out of all the new guys) and our LT comes with a lot of question marks.

Last year, we drafted 3 OL and this year we took 3 more. We added 4 UDFAs & 3 FAs. Some of these kids have to pan out in the next 2 yrs. We really need Mafi, Sow, Andrews to amount to something.

 

[Wozzy]

Sidy Sow i thought played rank bad and is still raw. why would you have him over Reiff a decent veteran .

I said best case scenario. If Reiff can’t do the job kick Onwenu out to RT and let Mafi or Russey start at RG.

There’s a lot of time from now to week one for the young guys to improve.

Two weeks ago Sow was on the last line, last night he started. I wouldn’t write anyone off yet.

 

[patsfan13]

The OL is a weakness now, if the starters become available it will be OK. Going forward a lot will hinge on how good a OL Coach Klemm is, I hope he is 80% of Dante, if so he will develop the young OLmen and it will be a strength next year. WE need the Line to be good enough to allow a decent run game so Play Action passing game to be effective.

 

[Huckleberry1]

I still hate that we didn’t take an OT high up in the draft. A bad OL is enough to sink a team and probably more important than any positional group aside from QB.

The talent was not there where they were picking to use their first on an OT, and reaching for one is how you build a bad team. The Gonzalez pick was clearly the best choice given who was on the board, and where they were picking. I would have taken him over any tackle in this draft. And it looks like the Keion White pick is also going to turn out great. We will have to wait and see how they all pan out, but this has the makings of one of the best drafts they have had in the Belichick era.

 

[Huckleberry1]

The OL is a weakness now, if the starters become available it will be OK. Going forward a lot will hinge on how good a OL Coach Klemm is, I hope he is 80% of Dante, if so he will develop the young OLmen and it will be a strength next year. WE need the Line to be good enough to allow a decent run game so Play Action passing game to be effective.

I agree with this completely. One of Scar’s greatest strengths was that he taught fundamentals and disciplined play at a level where even OL who weren’t as talented didn’t play poorly. If Klemm can do the same then the OL will be good enough as a group to allow the offense to do their job.

 

[Huckleberry1]

There are two many questions with this line.

Brown was awful last season and jumping pre snap on almost every play. The refs did the Pats a solid letting most of it go.

David Andrews is on the back 9. He gets pushed back in the pocket way too much.

Strange has to play better to earn the draft position he was reached for in 2022.

Who plays RT?

They will be tested very early this season.

I still think about converting Strange to LT. He was drafted because of his athleticism, which was off the charts in the testing, and he has the size and length needed at the position. If they can get one of the rookies to take over at LG then it may be their best option for them if Brown is no longer up to it. And other than converting to tackle Strange is going to have to be one of the best guards in football for years to come to live up to his first round pick.

 

[50-yard-line]

I like their draft too. Just don't think GM BB did enough to upgrade the line off season.

I agree, but didn't think the draft would help much - at least not for this year.

Orlando Brown was out there. Dalton Risner is STILL out there.
The Pats don't like to pay for OL - they lost Thuney in a contract that no longer seems unreasonable. I think it's the Dante effect. I hope they shake it and begin to realize that the pocket matters a lot when you're playing pocket QBs.

PAY Onwenu, d%#*!@t.

 

[50-yard-line]

I still think about converting Strange to LT. He was drafted because of his athleticism, which was off the charts in the testing, and he has the size and length needed at the position. If they can get one of the rookies to take over at LG then it may be their best option for them if Brown is no longer up to it. And other than converting to tackle Strange is going to have to be one of the best guards in football for years to come to live up to his first round pick.

If Strange can do it. I think he can, but that's a layman's POV. His biggest weakness, to me, was holding up against the beefy interior guys, and as I 'm watching him and his quick lateral step, I keep thinking "this guy's a tackle, not a guard." But again, that's a LAYMAN'S POV. Can't stress that enough.

If he could be a good LT, sign Risner and move Trent to RT.
Have to think Strange-Risner-Andrews-Onwenu-Brown would be a pretty great OL (IF, big IF, Strange could really do that). Then you've got Reiff and Steuber/Anderson as veteran backups at OT, Sow and Steuber developing. Mafi, Andrews and Russey inside developing.

 

[Huckleberry1]

If Strange can do it. I think he can, but that's a layman's POV. His biggest weakness, to me, was holding up against the beefy interior guys, and as I 'm watching him and his quick lateral step, I keep thinking "this guy's a tackle, not a guard." But again, that's a LAYMAN'S POV. Can't stress that enough.

If he could be a good LT, sign Risner and move Trent to RT.
Have to think Strange-Risner-Andrews-Onwenu-Brown would be a pretty great OL (IF, big IF, Strange could really do that). Then you've got Reiff and Steuber/Anderson as veteran backups at OT, Sow and Steuber developing. Mafi, Andrews and Russey inside developing.

I pretty much agree, although one of the rookies might be able to take the OG position, but they have more than enough $ to sign a vet if they need to. Like you I’m just a layman talking football, but I think Strange could make that move, and itt would certainly justify his draft cost, although I think guards are now at a much higher premium that they used to be, as nothing blows up an offense faster than pressure up the middle. I’m hopeful Klemm can become their next great OL coach, as losing Scar has really hurt them the past couple of seasons.

 

[Kdo5]

The talent was not there where they were picking to use their first on an OT, and reaching for one is how you build a bad team. The Gonzalez pick was clearly the best choice given who was on the board, and where they were picking. I would have taken him over any tackle in this draft. And it looks like the Keion White pick is also going to turn out great. We will have to wait and see how they all pan out, but this has the makings of one of the best drafts they have had in the Belichick era.

They couldn’t have taken a shot after Gonzalez and White? There are seven rounds, they could have thrown a few darts at least to see if we could get a capable OT out of it.

They drafted three interior lineman after selecting Cole Strange with their first pick last season.