Patriots’ offensive line key to victory on Sunday

Last season in the AFC Championship game against the Denver Broncos the Patriots’ offensive line fell apart and a battered Tom Brady could not lead the New England Patriots past Von Miller and the rest of the Broncos’ ferocious front. With left tackle Nate Solder out with torn biceps early in the season and right tackle Marcus Cannon playing on a broken toe, the Patriots’ tackles were turnstiles against the strong Broncos’ pass rush.

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This season, the Patriots have revamped their offensive line bringing back retired coach Dante Scarnecchia to lead the unit. Scarnecchia has brought solid technique and a tough attitude to the offensive line.

In addition rookie Joe Thuney has stepped in at left guard and second-year center David Andrews has solidified the center position. At right guard second-year guard Shaq Mason has been solid, if not spectacular, in the running game.

Last week the New England offensive line faced their toughest test of the playoffs. The Houston Texans brought significant pressure with their dynamic duo of pass rushers–Jadeveon Clowney and Whitney Mercilus.

After struggling to get pressure on Tom Brady from the outside pass rush as Cannon and Solder held up well, the Texans were forced to take a play from the Patriots’ defensive game plan and lined up their exterior pass rushers over the center and guard and rush from the inside.

At times, this disrupted New England pressure stopping package and resulted in Brady having to throw passes away or get hit when under pressure. Houston’s defense was one of the few in the playoffs that had the ability to play tight man coverage dropping their athletic linebackers into the middle of the field in the passing lanes and generating pressure without having to blitz.

Any other team New England faces in the postseason–be it Pittsburgh, Atlanta or Green Bay–does not have the type of personnel on the defensive side of the field in order to follow this plan.

This blueprint for attacking the Patriots’ offensive line and covering up their receivers was first exploited by the New York Giants in the Super Bowl in 2007 and 2011 (Baltimore did a fair amount of this from 2007 to 2014 as well). Since then, many teams have attempted to follow this plan; however, without the proper personnel packages, strong cornerback play and strong pass-rushers, they are simply not able to replicate that type of performance and hold the potent Patriots’ offense in check.

The Steelers’ defense plays right into the strength of the Patriots’ offensive line. The Patriots’ strength up front is at the tackle position and the Steelers’ pass rush is predicated on creating outside pressure. The Steelers’ inside linebackers will blitz occasionally but will likely be spending a majority of the game accounting for tight end Martellus Bennett and trying to drop into the short zone to prevent quick passes to Danny Amendola and Julian Edelman.

The Steelers’ pass rush is almost overly dependent upon outside linebackers James Harrison and Bud Dupree getting to the quarterback. Harrison will face off with Nate Solder who is healthy and been one of the better left tackles again this season. Marcus Cannon–who many in the media had written off last season when he played through a painful broken toe injury and had no business being on the field–has been a revelation at right tackle.

Cannon has played at a pro bowl level and has finally put the entire package together of his surprising athletic ability, massive size and long arms. Under the tutelage of Dante Scarnecchia, he has blossomed into one of the best right tackles in the NFL.

He will face the speedy but undersized for a defensive end/outside linebacker Bud Dupree. The return to health of Dupree has invigorated the Steelers’ defense. It was Dupree’s hit on quarterback Matt Moore in the Wild Card game against the Miami Dolphins which set the tone for the Steelers’ defense that day.

The Patriots are fortunate that the one interior pass-rushing threat in Pittsburgh is on injured reserve. Cameron Heyward has been the top interior for the Pittsburgh Steelers and only Stephon Tuitt has any kind of pass rush ability on the interior defensive line now.

The Patriots are not just protecting the quarterback better with their offensive line, but they are also creating space in the running game to give the team a balanced attack. This balanced attack is what the Patriots needed in the playoffs but did not have last season.

Cannon and Solder are massive blockers who can create space on the edge. The interior offensive line deserves more credit for the space it has made for 1,000 yard-rusher LeGarrette Blount (and more recently, Dion Lewis). In obvious rushing situations, the interior offensive line has held up against superior talent this season. Facing Marcell Dareus and Ndamukong Suh has strengthened the blocking of Thuney, Andrews and Mason.

Another overlooked aspect of the New England win over Houston last week in the Divisional playoff game was the strong play by the interior blockers in the running game in the second half. The Patriots were losing the time of possession battle and the offense needed to slow the Houston pass rush to extend drives and give their own defense time to rest on the sidelines.

They did exactly that by getting LeGarrette Blount and Dion Lewis on track in the running game. The Patriots were able to extend drives once they began getting Houston in second and third down and short situations. Forcing Houston to respect the running game opened up space for Brady to find Julian Edelman and for the offense to sustain drives.

This again was severely lacking last season when injuries depleted the offensive line and the running back position. In the AFC Championship game last year, the Denver Broncos had no respect at all for the anemic rushing attack of the Patriots and were able to tee off on Tom Brady throughout the game.

If the Patriots’ offensive line is able to win their individual battles on passing plays and contain Harrison and Dupree on the outside, it should be a boon for the passing attack. Being able to make rushing lanes to spring Dion Lewis and LeGarrette Blount for a few big runs make the offense more difficult to stop.

For all the question marks raised by Houston last week the Patriots do have an answer for the pass rush of Pittsburgh. The offensive line needs to step up and take control of the game by putting the Patriots in third-down and manageable situations.

Doing that allows them to keep Brady upright and extend drives. That is what this offense was built to do by putting pressure on defenses by continually extending drives. If the offensive line does its job on Sunday, the Patriots will be playing in Super Bowl 51 in Houston in two weeks.

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