At this point who would you rather have back from IR fully healthy?

Deus Irae said:

Year to year is irrelevant.

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we disagree on that, but fine.

A simpler measuring stick

sack % in solders 3 games: 4.1%
sack % in 12 games since:

Deus Irae said:

Year to year is irrelevant. It's not really helpful to your argument, either. Solder was terrible last year, until Stork came in and the line got shuffled. Solder was much less than stellar this year, too.

In the meantime, Brady had Edelman, Amendola and Lewis to help him get rid of the ball quickly, which made the OL look much better than it's been, and allowed the team to still dominate its opponents. And the team had Lewis to waterbug through a line that was struggling to open up holes, and even struggling to hold the line at all, far too often.

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you simply cant say its irrelevant when we had the 2nd best sack% last year and the 20th this year. Obviously edelman and Lewis and Amendola make their job easier, but brady is still getting rid of the ball quicker this year than in previous seasons.

Also, the team is running a full 1.5yards less behind their left tackle this year compared to last, while improving their interior run blocking. That isnt irrelevant

Lewis but it is closer than people think.

I would pick Solder without hesitation.

Lewis was an incredible weapon that was really fun to watch, but Nate Solder would solidify our rocky offensive line by allowing Vollmer to move back over to RT which he is an All-Pro at and allow Brady more time and confidence in the passing game.

Brady has been getting murdered in the pocket, which may not show up necessarily in the Sack statline, but the pressures and hits hes taking are insane and when I watch him, I don't think he has confidence in the blocking and causes his panic button to go off slightly faster than it normally would and he switches into saving his own life mode.

Our offensive line is a HUGE problem right now, if everyone was still healthy and they were performing well I would say Lewis, but given the current state of things I would go Solder for sure

TomPatriot said:

Solder. He makes the Pats better at LT and RT.

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Yea to me this is huge improving 2 very important positions along the offensive line which is currently in shambles with all the injuries. In my humble opinion its the only logical choice if you could wave a magic wand and have one of your IR guys back 100% healthy right now to most improve your team and chances of winning

Solder.

1 extra second for Tom to throw is worth way more than Lewis being on the field.

Foxyboro said:

I know he's not an option and wouldn't be first choice, but an underrated loss IMO has been james develin. I think he helped our running game a lot last season

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I thought we might see Iosefa in the Devlin role but guess not

as much as I want Lewis back too, it has to be Solder. The O-line really needs help

Solder - my reason is that I am happy with the improvement White has made. Further, White still seems to still be improving. Edleman coming back is only going to help White.

I think a healthy Solder improves the Pats line alot. I have read the comments on Solder's play in 2014. He had to be dealing with something in the first half of the year where he clearly struggled. But, Solder's play at the end of last year was excellent. If the Pats had that now, I would feel very confident about there chances against anyone. Even without Solder, they will be in the mix.

Really surprised this is as close as it is. We've seen this version of the Pats without Solder and with Lewis, and without Solder and Lewis. One continued to pile up the points, the other has struggled mightily.

Adding Lewis essentially addresses the Oline issue. And again, this isn't speculation, we've seen it. With a healthy Lewis and Edelman, this offense was as close to unstoppable as I've ever seen.

fnordcircle said:

Solder because I watch football and not just highlights and realize that if Brady doesn't have time to throw or the OL isn't opening up holes then even Dion Lewis isn't gonna get us anywhere.

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I hear you on Solder, but also consider that the leaks in the offensive line that traditionally hurt Brady are those up the middle and Solder doesnt help there. The Michael Bennetts and Justin Tucks of the world have been terrorizing this offense for almost a decade. I would vote Lewis over Solder bc unless the LT completely whiffs, outside pressure often doesnt have the time to get to Brady.

Say what you will about our O-line and the impact of losing Solder - the truth is that we have had a lot of stability at the O-line position relative to other key positions (WR, RB, LB). We have been completely unable to establish a running game since he went down, and it was his dynamic skill-set that masked our O-line deficiencies from the beginning. Bring back Lewis and this offense along with the O-line is transformed.