This past Sunday the Patriots captured their 12th AFC East title in the Brady/Belichick era, and this season has to be one of the most impressive turnarounds we’ve seen in recent memory. Let’s not forget that just 2 months ago this team was being written off after getting the living snot beaten out of them against the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night Football.
Since then the Patriots have rattled off 9 wins in 10 games, captured the AFC East crown, and are looking like a team who will have a bye going into the NFL Playoffs. But who deserves the credit for this recent turnaround? Tom Brady? Rob Gronkowski? Darrelle Revis? I’d have to say none of the above. While all three have played phenomenal football for this year there is one person, and one group that I would give the most credit for the Patriots turnaround.
Bryan Stork and the offensive line.
Stork may not be a household name around New England because he’s just another member of the offense line, but he deserves way more credit then he has gotten. When the season started Stork was on the sidelines dealing with a leg injury that limited his time in training camp, and as a result the Patriots had to shuffle their lineup trying to find the right fit to protect Tom Brady. These injuries forced the Patriots to shuffle their lineups once again and put more pressure on the other linemen.
The constant shuffling of the offensive linemen made it hard to gauge how much protection and how much time Brady had in the pocket. This lead to teams exploiting those weaknesses and forcing Brady to make quick decisions and sacks behind the line of scrimmage.
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Even though Stork is only a rookie, his impact since his return has been monumental. It has allowed the Patriots to move Connolly and Sebastian Vollmer back to their natural positions and with that the Patriots have started to get more consistent protection for Tom Brady.
Looking back to Sunday’s game against the Dolphins you can see how big of an impact the offensive line made that game, going up against arguably the best defensive line in the AFC East. I wrote in last week’s Patriots Breakfast Club, that containing Cameron Wake was one of the biggest tasks if the Patriots were to win and boy did the line for the Patriots step up.
Sebastian Vollmer in particular did a great job containing Cameron Wake and gave Tom Brady more then enough time in the pocket to get the ball to guys like Julian Edelman and Gronkowski. They line played so well that Brady was even able to scramble for 17 yards in a key play in the Dolphins red zone, a play that eventually lead to a touchdown that began the third quarter onslaught.
Safe to say the guys like Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, and Darrelle Revis are the backbone of this Patriot team, and if any one of those players go down the Patriots are in a world of trouble. But what has made Brady, and Gronk excel in recent weeks is the play of the offensive line and their protection of Brady. We saw early on in the season what a lack of protection looks like and how it can effect even the best quarterbacks. However as the season is winding down and the playoffs draw closer, it looks like the offensive line is getting on the same page and if they are able to keep protecting Tom Brady as well as they have in recent weeks there is no reason to think this team can’t get to Glendale, Arizona in February.
Make sure to stay tuned to the CC Podcast coming January 2015
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