The New England Patriots 20-33 loss to the Miami Dolphins last Sunday, was a tale of two halves. In the first half, the Patriots bounced back from a blocked punt on their first drive of the game to head into halftime with a score of 20-10. The second half, Miami dominated New England scoring 23 unanswered points.
A big part of the problem, was the constant assault quarterback Tom Brady was under. He was sacked four times with his tackles, Nate Solder and Sebastian Vollmer, giving up three of them. The other was credited to backup tight end Michael Hoomanawanui. Sacks aside, Brady was consistently knocked down or hurried through all four quarters of the game.
The offensive line was something of a question-mark entering Week 1.
Less then two weeks before the season opener, the Patriots unexpectedly traded Pro Bowl left guard Logan Mankins with no proven player behind him. It appeared second-year guard Josh Kline would fill the large shoes left behind by Mankins but was scratched prior to kickoff.
Things were only compounded when starting center Ryan Wendell went down with a leg injury, leaving him unavailable for the second half. That left the Patriots to inject fellow second-year unproven Jordan Devey to step in.
Versatility is an attribute the New England Patriots aim for when building a team, especially in the construction of the offensive line.
Right guard Dan Connolly, a first time captain, moved to play center following the Wendell injury. Marcus Cannon entered the league as a right tackle, then shifted to right guard, and then against Miami started at left guard. Rookie Cameron Fleming also appeared in the game but played most of his very few snaps as a third tight end in the Patriots jumbo-package.
As important as versatility is along an offensive line, so is continuity and that has been shaken for the Patriots all season.
Players commonly refer to the NFL as “Not For Long” instead of “National Football League”. With that being said, player or coach, it is astounding that former-Patriots offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia spent 44 seasons in the league, 30 of them with the Patriots.
Scarnecchia routinely built his offensive lines into some of the best in the league and would get the most out of his players. Following last season, the much respected, Scarnecchia announced his retirement. That opened an unknown can of worms for head coach Bill Belichick. Over his tenure in New England he has added new coaches to his staff and had to replace coordinators, but the offensive line was his one consistent.
Enter Dave DeGuglielmo. A native son of Massachusetts, he was born in Cambridge and played at Boston University, DeGuglielmo has developed his coaching style through the college ranks and with a few stops around the league with the New York Giants (04-08), Miami (09-11), and the New York Jets (2012).
DeGuglielmo, lost a big piece of what little continuity was there in New England when Mankins was traded. Connolly, is now the longest tenured player with seven seasons in New England under his belt. Vollmer has been with the team six, but missed most of two seasons due to injury.
For DeGuglielmo and the Patriots offense to succeed this season he will need to build some consistency sooner than later and hammer out the “fundamental and technical” issues mentioned in his post-game press conference.
