our Oline play has declined after connolly suffered a concussion like a month or so ago...hes played most of the games since, but even while playing hurt/suffering the Oline has not been as good of a unit as it was after the first month of the season and before the last month of the season...
the only factor that corresponds with that decline is Dan getting hurt, and if you watched all the games you can easily tell that it affected the unit immensely
People are not giving this guy enough credit. Maybe, just maybe... the credit is deserved.
A couple of weeks ago, I watched, "The Great Wall" from the NFL Network series, "A Football Life". Basically it was a story about 5-7 players who as a unit formed one of the greatest offensive lines in NFL history. Some players like Erik Williams, Larry Allen, Nate Newton we're gifted athletes. Other players such as Mark Stepnoski, Kevin Gogan, John Gesek, Mark Tueni were low round pick castoffs that as a unit functioned at an extremely high level. Why? Physical skill for sure, but they functioned well as a unit.
Let's look at his body of work over the last 4 years.
2010- Plays LG while Mankins sits and moves to RG. Does very well.
2011- Koppen goes down and Connolly slides in at C. Does very well.
2012 & 2013- Plays RG and does very well.
2014- When healthy at LG, for 9 games starting with Cinci and ending with MIA, they team went 9-1, scored 36 a game and allowed 7 sacks.
There are also a number of stats that suggest that over the last four years, Connolly is pretty good on the run & pass protection.
http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/ol2011
In the end, I think Connolly is one of those guys that makes units better with his communication, intelligence and knowledge of the system and his opponents. That, in itself is a very, very valuable commodity league-wide
My overall point is that Connolly has been part of pretty successful lines and when he plays, Brady stays on his feet,the team puts up points and they win. This year has been no exception.
