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Agreed, and tom Brady being the best QB alive when facing 5 or more pass rushers alwayshelps. 

In response to TrueChamp's comment:

I think I read that Brady threw 20 tds and no picks against the blitz this year. In conclusion Wade is an idiot. LOL.

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In response to RockScully's comment:

Don't get me wrong the pass pro was great and Brady should take all his blockers out for dinner, but Houston's gameplan on D was terrible. They basically tried the same thing again. Fool me once...

The Patriots made them suck!  TWICE!!

I also thought Vereen did an excellent job on blitz pickup. He and Brady seemed to be on the same page in the receiving game as well which bodes well for the future.

In response to pcmIV's comment:

I was surprised. I think Tommy had over 430 yards and 4 , zero sacks and zero ints against Houstons blitz this year...

Mankins played Great.

Ol' JJ went quiet that's for sure.  In the first game he was a one man wrecking crew.  Good job by the OL.  Now on to Ngata...ouch and Suggs.  

Houston has one great defensive lineman, J.J. Watt, and he was double teamed on every possible play.  Nobody else has been playing super and it showed.

In response to RockScully's comment:

You know what, you are exactly right. I'm watching the 1st qtrvright now and Brady took the only sack and a vicious hit on the Gronkowski injury throw and another deep passing play. Then we brought Ridley in on the 3rd drive after being forced to punt. rid smashes em for 12 yards on his 1st carry and Houston falls apart from that point forward. Good thing Vareen and Ridley ended up with  half our yards and 4 of our tds with the run and short passing game. mcD made great adjustments. As Brady said today Josh makes adjustments better then any coach he's been around.

Simple, Brady read everything. Houston didn't even do a good enough hiding the Mike. Brady found him and read the coverage with little to no effort at all. That neutralizes a blitzing defense like the Texans because then Brady can find the hot read and pass it to him before the Texans get to him. 

Brady was lethal, and when Houston went with zones, they left too many holes in coverage. 

Some of us pointed out at the start of the season that the O line, while not a perfect unit, was a strength and had some depth. Many others were crying about Solder, or Vollmer's back or no center, or (and perhaps the most absurd of all) crying about Mankins.

While I think the O line is still a strength and I want them to resign Vollmer and I still have hopes for Cannon, I would still like an upgrade in the interior (C or guard).

At the moment I put this need behind the need to further upgrade the D line with one stud (DT and/or DE). If they do not resign Vollmer then O line becomes more critical. Same for WR if they do not resign Welker (and WR remains a need to upgrade anyway as well).

 

Good thread. Hey Rockscully remember before the season started all the angst everybody had over our OL?! Folks saying we need Brian Waters back! We are screwed if he dont come back! HAHA Scar works his magic again!

Bleacher report;

Logan Mankins: A+

Logan  Mankins truthfully didn’t have a season worthy of second-team All-Pro  recognition, but the left guard certainly played like an All-Pro on  Sunday. Mankins battled injuries for most of the season, but it was  clear that he is fully healthy on the postseason on Sunday, as he had a  dominant performance.

Whether  it was driving back a defender straight ahead or using his feet to pick  up defenders as a pull blocker, Mankins was outstanding leading the  power running game on Sunday. He also did a very effective job as a pass  protector, giving up very little pressure even against a very active  and athletic Texans defensive front seven.

Nate Solder: A-

The  Patriots ran the ball up the left side often on Sunday, and that wasn’t  just because of Mankins. Left tackle Nate Solder also had a very good  day leading the power running game, both on the left side of the line  and picking up blocks in the open field.

Solder  also had a very solid day in pass protection, only giving up  significant pressure on a few occasions and allowing no sacks.  Considering he was matched up against J.J. Watt at times, a few misses  can be excused on an otherwise very good day for Solder.

Ryan Wendell: C

Center  Ryan Wendell struggled the most in pass protection among the Patriots’  five offensive linemen on Sunday. He was one of two Patriots beaten by  Watt on the Texans’ only sack, and allowed pressure up the middle to  come in and hit Brady on multiple other occasions as well.

Wendell  had a solid day leading the power run game up the middle, but he was  the weak link of the Patriots’ offensive line in this contest.

Dan Connolly: B

Right  guard Dan Connolly had his share of struggles in pass protection on  Sunday as well, giving up pressure against Tom Brady on occasions to  both defensive ends J.J. Watt and Antonio Smith.

He  had a strong showing, however, as a lead run blocker. The Patriots ran  up the right guard hole often, and that was a result of Connolly doing a  very solid job opening holes and holding off inside penetration.

Sebastian Vollmer: B+

Right  tackle Sebastian Vollmer was beaten on multiple occasions in pass  protection by Watt, including when he was the initial blocker beat on  Watt’s 9-yard sack, the Texans’ only sack of the day. The fact that the  Patriots only gave up one sack, however, is a credit to Vollmer, who did  a good job in pass protection for the most part even with a list of  matchups that included Watt, Antonio Smith and Brooks Reed.

Vollmer  had a very solid day as a run blocker as well, and more than held his  own against a tough matchup for an overall very strong day for the  Patriots’ offensive line.

Offensive line play is a major determinant of how well the Patriots do.  They did have a nice game on Sunday.  Nice to see the uptick after a few poor games late in the season.  

 

I believe it is all about the speed at which the Pats play. It just seems when they move quickly the D just is slow to react. This allows the O line to do a much better job. When they slow down the O line just does not do as well. It also has to do with how fast TB gets rid of the ball on plays. Like slants in the middle to Welker. The D has no time to do anything.

 

 

It is like the Pats D the DBs look so much better when the D line and LBs gets pressure on the QB.

They go hand in hand and if the lead faulters the second line has more problems.

Brady and the O-line are in sync.  It takes them working together plus receivers getting open enough (Brady made some really incredible throws Sunday) to keep Brady clean.  I like this O-line - a lot.

Brady's one of the quickest QB's in the game. When you combine that with excellent pass blocking that buys an extra half second it's deadly. It might no seem like much but the extra second between the line and Brady's quick pass makes a huge difference that most teams can't replicate. 

I'm just wondering why people keep thinking we need to drastically improve the OL next year. I'm pretty content with Solder, Vollmer (hopefully resigned), Mankins, Wendell and either letting Connolly stay at RG and draft a mid round guy to eventually replace him or try to get a starting caliber RG to replace Connolly. Either way I don't think you need to spend large on this OL and certainly not draft one in the 1st

In response to PatsEng's comment:

I think a lot depends on Vollmer's ongoing health and their ability to sign him.  When healthy, I really like the two tackles, but Vollmer's health has been a question mark. I'm not sold on Cannon as a back up yet, so depth at tackle is something to consider as well. 

I think the interior line could get stronger.  Mankins when healthy is one of the best in the game, but the other two are just average (not bad, but still not exceptional).  Is it the highest priority in the draft or free agency? No.  There are other positions I'd like to see addressed first.  But I still think it's a significant enough need that if they decide to take a great interior lineman in the first or second round I don't think I'd be disappointed.

 

In response to pcmIV's comment:

Yeah, blitzing Brady is usually a mistake.  The problems come for the Pats when teams like the Giants can get good pressure with just four rushers.  Most teams can't do that, fortunately. Still, the ability of certain teams to get good pressure with four rushers does argue for continuing to try to increase the athleticism of the interior linemen. 

 

In response to prolate0spheroid's comment:

Well you also have to look at where the ball can bethrown? If a D only rushes 4 then 7 guys are covering our 4 passing options. If the timing routes are taken away in the short part of the field then Tommy has to hold the ball a second longer. The best way to beat a rush 4 drop 7 defense is run right at them. McD knows this.

In response to TrueChamp's comment:

Sometimes.  But the Giants' linemen's ability to penetrate also makes them effective against the run.  In the Super Bowl, they contacted our RBs in the backfield multiple times for losses or very short gains. Also, the Giants LBs were very disciplined reading run and pass.  And because we don't stretch the field deep, they don't have to drop deep as much. 

Also, I think running against a rush works better when the rush comes from the edge . . . when they are rushing up the middle well, you can't necessarily run right at them, you have to run outside.  Unfortunately, last year the Pats were bad running outside.  They used toss sweeps and reverses a bit in the Super Bowl to give them more of an outside running ability, but even on those they were struggling not to get blown up by the Giants' front.  The Pats' second offensive play of the game was a run to the outside, where Light whiffed on his block, leading Benny to get a one yard loss.  It was just one of several examples.  A few of those outside runs worked (Benny's 18 yarder) but a lot failed.  

 

Vollmer and Solder have to be the best bookend tackle combo in the NFL, every single lineman on our team has the athleticism to pull in the run game.  There was one particular play that called for Solder to pull across the interior of the line that was an amazingly athletic play for a 6'8" guy to make... we never had this kind of protection during the Super Bowl runs, it allows our tightends the luxury to get downfield in the passing game.