PHOTO BY ASSOCIATED PRESS
Without a suitable offensive line, Jimmy Garoppolo will be an ordinary quarterback and the Patriots will be an ordinary team.
BY STEVE KRAUSE
So, as the Patriots get ready to reconvene next week for some serious football, what does everybody think is the No. 1 concern going into the season?
My guess is that most people will say “they have to weather the storm for one month, then Tom Brady will be back, and all will be right with the world.”
That would be the case if the Patriots can field a competitive offensive line, which is something they could not do last year.
Things were so bad last year the Patriots had to pry Dante Scarnecchia out of retirement to get him to rebuild the line. I can just hear Bill Belichick now, channeling his inner Don Vito Corleone: Dante, I want you to use all your powers … and all your skills … look how they’ve massacred my offensive line.”
Simply put, the line was brutal last year. Even when the Patriots were going well, it was only because Brady was quick enough, and so was receiver Julian Edelman, that they could get a pass completed before the protection broke down. When Edelman broke his foot, that luxury ended, and that’s when the Patriots ran into trouble.
Now it’s true that Nate Solder was out for two-thirds of the season with a torn bicep, and that he was the guts of that line. The Patriots had a number of significant injuries last year, but that was by far the biggest one.
The old adage still hold true despite the love affair everyone seems to have with the forward pass: to win in football, it comes down to blocking and tackling.
If the Patriots cannot get their offensive line straightened out, it won’t matter if the quarterback is Jimmy Garoppolo or Jimmy Carter. Even with a healthy Brady, and with a half-healthy Edelman back in the lineup, that line couldn’t contain the Denver Broncos in the AFC championship game.
Well, you say, that defense was peaking, and Von Miller was emerging as the best linebacker in the game. True. Still, it was a very poor showing.
So obviously, my No. 1 concern is the offensive line. Concern No. 2 is running back. Call me old-fashioned, but you have to be able to run the football. I don’t necessarily subscribe to the theory that cold weather and passing don’t mix, because Brady has proven that false. He can throw the ball in all kinds of weather. Maybe that’s because he can squeeze the ball because it’s been sufficiently deflated to his liking (as Foghorn Leghorn would say, “that’s a joke, son”), but he seems to be able to get it done.
But it is absolutely essential to be able to run the ball in the fourth quarter of a competitive game. And this can be a problem for them sometimes. I’ve been to plenty of games where they’re protecting a lead and go three-and-out just at the time of the game when you want to keep the ball for a little while.
Of course, by the end of last year their running backs could have been named Moe, Larry and Curley and it wouldn’t have mattered. They relied on LeGarrette Blount through most of the season, but he got hurt with a month to go. And apparently, he wasn’t all that diligent in his rehab, and there are whispers his roster spot isn’t guaranteed.
The second most significant injury the Patriots suffered last year, next to Solder’s, was Dion Lewis, a nifty, shifty third-down back who was electrifying while he was in there. Like Solder, Lewis made the difference between an above-average backfield and a mediocre one. Perhaps he wasn’t the best power runner around, but he could get open, catch passes, and provide lots of YAC (yards after catch). Unlike Blount, Lewis seems to have recognized his obligation to rehab and is ready to go.
It’s interesting that the Patriots’ biggest problems are on the offensive side of the ball. That hasn’t been the case for most of the Brady era, where the defense always seemed to let them down. Never forget that in both those Super Bowl losses to the Giants, Brady and Co. left the field with a lead. Like Denver’s last year, the Giants relied on a stingy defense, yet the Patriots managed to solve it just enough to beat it over the course of a whole game.
However, poor pass defense killed them, whether it was due to not putting enough pressure on the passer or a leaky secondary.
Two years ago, the Patriots tightened up that defense considerably. It’s why they were able to win the Super Bowl in 2014. But it wasn’t enough to beat Denver last year, because the offensive line couldn’t protect Brady.
If there’s a third area in which they need improvement, it’s receiving. I’d still like to see at least one guy who can go deep and worry teams. Right now, the Patriots do not have that player.
What people seem to forget is that quarterbacks such as Brady come along once in a lifetime. Without him, the Patriots are just another team, without a fear factor, unless some of their defensive stars hit hard and often. It could be a long month with Garoppolo back there. And an even longer one if Brady returns rusty and showing definite signs of age.
Be ready for it, because it just may happen.