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Patriots changes by position: Offensive Line

Membership in "The Pig Pile" must require facial hair and biceps the size of a redwood.  Don't let me forget tipping the scales at over 300 pounds.  Yup, really big boys.  Torn apart by a dominant Giants defense, they have been held accountable to some degree for the Super Bowl XLII loss.  Not unwarranted, Brady was sacked five times.  However, there's no place like the "Pig Pile" for tearing up a player and spitting him out, so I give them some leeway over what has been an incredibly long run without a break.  Sure, there's five months between the end of the season and training camp, but after four or five years, injuries will take there toll, especially at a position of constant contact.

In 2008, Matt Cassel was sacked 47 times to Tom Brady's 21 in 2007.  That, in my mind, was less an OL breakdown and more an inexperienced QB who needed time to develop a pocket sense.  With a long stretch to rest and heal, our starters come back intact.  This is a good thing.  Matt Light, Logan Mankins, Dan Koppen, Stephen Neal, and Nick Kaczur comprise one of the best offensive lines in football.  And with Brady under center, you can bet he'll be upright and launching.  From a backup standpoint, Mark LeVoir, Dan Connolly, Russ Hochstein, Billy Yates, and Ryan O'Callaghan are all multi-year Patriots and have a great deal of experience in the system.  Again, this is a very good thing.  The only spot where we don't have a third option on the depth chart is left tackle, but it wouldn't be a stretch to move some of the other guys around to cover.

I'm very stoked about this year's offensive line.  JohnHannahRules, PhD Pig Pile may have more to say and training camp will give us a plethora of information but for now, I see a lot of upside to the front five.

Poll
Is the offensive line ready to rock?
Yes
421 votes
No
45 votes
Too early to tell
140 votes

606 votes | Poll has closed

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