BREAKING: Stork traded after all

[RobertWeathers]

Ding..Ding..Ding! We have a winner!

Who are some of the Centers that Brady (who, when it comes to football smarts, might be the smartest NFL player in history) has played behind?

Well, there was Dan Koppen for many years. Talking about Koppen, BB said: “ Seeing the front seven, even sometimes the secondary rotation on a particular play...he does that very well and is on the same page with our quarterback...He's really good at that, probably as good as anybody I've ever coached." Clearly Koppen was an extremely intelligent player to recognize the defense in that way, and he was always on the same page as Brady.

Then there was Connolly and Wendell. Neither were great centers (especially Wendell), but everything I've read indicates that both were overachieving ultimate professionals who probably didn't have the talent for the NFL but managed to hang on by being smart, professional, and tough. About Connolly (at his retirement), BB said: "Dan Connolly exemplified everything our program requires of players. He was tough and dependable, smart and team oriented and his work ethic ensured he improved on an annual basis to reach his potential." Wendell had a 3.2 average in history(!) at Fresno State, and was one of the players featured in an article about how smart the Patriots were a couple of years ago.

So, after having smart centers like Koppen, Connolly, and Wendell, we get reports that "Brady had gotten into it with Stork for not knowing the line checks. Andrews is more cerebral, knows plays in & out." Is anyone really surprised that Andrews has won the job and Stork is gone?

Yep- I think having an intelligent center who studies the game takes some of the responsibility off of Brady's shoulders.

Seems like Stork had plateaued in this area.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Yes, me.

If BS was beaten for the job at Center by Andrews because Andrews had a better grasp of the calls, why didn't they keep Stork to play elsewhere on the line (they trusted him enough to be their emergency LT last year)? Stork was a talented player and it's not as though they don't have needs at other positions.

I'm convinced it was the concussions. I'd guess that BB told Stork to retire. Perhaps he still will.

Maybe but I think because Stork at RT/LT is a desperate move and at G but with all the players they have at that position, they clearly felt that he was pretty low on the depth chart there and he became expendable.

At the end of the day, Andrews beat him out and that was the main reason.

 

[zydecochris]

Yes, me.

If BS was beaten for the job at Center by Andrews because Andrews had a better grasp of the calls, why didn't they keep Stork to play elsewhere on the line (they trusted him enough to be their emergency LT last year)? Stork was a talented player and it's not as though they don't have needs at other positions.

I'm convinced it was the concussions. I'd guess that BB told Stork to retire. Perhaps he still will.

Although I said that "is anyone surprised that Andrews won the job and Stork is gone", you are correct that those are two separate things. I was speaking only to why Andrews won the job, he evidently is cerebral (like Brady) and knows the calls in and out, and it isn't surprising that Brady prefers smart centers like that. Plus, according to other posters I think Andrews has also come in a little bigger and stronger this year.

However, as you point out, that doesn't explain why Stork was cut so fast ahead of guys like Fleming who Stork arguably outplayed last year even at RT. It could very well be that the concussions were a factor in him getting cut so fast, if nothing else because they have kept him off the field so much.

 

[zydecochris]

Yep- I think having an intelligent center who studies the game takes some of the responsibility off of Brady's shoulders.

Good point. Brady has shouldered an unbelievable amount of responsibility for the offense the last couple of years (unlike other aging quarterbacks in the past). Anything that can take a little burden off of Brady's shoulders has to be a good thing.

 

[Canuck]

Stork didn't give away the snap count. The silent snap count is x beats after the C lifts his head. Stork isn't the one who made x the same thing on every play.
Thats like saying play calling is the QBs fault because he speaks the play in the huddle

FYI I believe in the last thus was a Dante thing which is why degugliwhatever got blamed but it really was in McDaniels and ultimately BB

This is what Matt Light said about the silent snap count “[Denver] is a horrible place to go play, especially in that circumstance,” he said. “You’ve got the best defense in the league. You’re in their place. And you don’t practice a snap count? It blows my mind that, really, the game was lost because of a snap count. I don’t think that they practiced their snap count at all, really, to any degree. We went into a game being able to snap silent count five different ways. Not two. Five. And in that game, I watched them on the snap count and I was blown away. You’re handcuffing your tackles, and that’s what happens when you don’t effectively run a silent snap count. And it was terrible to watch.”

 

[Ring 6]

This is what Matt Light said about the silent snap count “[Denver] is a horrible place to go play, especially in that circumstance,” he said. “You’ve got the best defense in the league. You’re in their place. And you don’t practice a snap count? It blows my mind that, really, the game was lost because of a snap count. I don’t think that they practiced their snap count at all, really, to any degree. We went into a game being able to snap silent count five different ways. Not two. Five. And in that game, I watched them on the snap count and I was blown away. You’re handcuffing your tackles, and that’s what happens when you don’t effectively run a silent snap count. And it was terrible to watch.”

Yes that is what I've been explaining.

 

[1960Pats]

I find it hard to say that trading draft picks to get Wes Welker and Randy Moss constitutes a draft that is anything but excellent.

If that's the case then 2007 is replaced by 2008 as the worst draft of the BB era.

 

[AtomicDawg]

Thanks for being a piece of #4, Bryan.