Of course, Easterbrook emphasizes o-line play first and foremost in that column:
The starting point is offensive line play. The Patriots throw a lot, yet have allowed just 20 sacks, fourth-best in the league. In an NFL in which firing assistant coaches is a New Year's Day tradition, Dante Scarnecchia has been the Pats' offensive line coach since Bill Belichick arrived.
Watch Patriots line film, and what you won't see is an offensive lineman standing around doing nothing. On almost any NFL snap, even on good teams, there's at least one offensive lineman who brushed his man then just stood there looking at the play. When an offensive lineman stands watching the play, that team's offense is functioning 10-on-11. New England offensive linemen never stand around doing nothing. New England always plays 11-on-11.
From many years of staring at the New England offense, your columnist is convinced this is its most fundamental advantage. Everybody runs slants, curls and hitches like the Patriots do; many teams have sophisticated, accurate quarterbacks like Tom Brady; alone in the NFL, the New England Patriots have offensive linemen who never stand around doing nothing. This is an edge any team could seek. Only the Patriots have attained it.
I think Jenkins and Aroma are only on their second or third teams. With the Vikings, how good could these guys be?
Not that good. Aromashodu has
never been that good. He doesn't have Lloyd's pedigree or a 1400 yard season on his resumé. He's a role-player at best, on any NFL team.
Jenkins is skilled but he's lost a step from his prime, gets out of his breaks slowly and struggles to separate from defenders on most routes. He's good at settling into a zone or catching a quick slant but he's not really a starting-caliber WR anymore either.
With the Patriots, you have a team with castoffs as wide receivers about to set multiple offensive records.
They also have one of the most productive wide receivers in the game over the last half a decade and two formidable TEs, one of whom is an elite player at his position. By the way, one of the castoffs you mentioned, Donte Stallworth, has
one catch this season. It was a whopper, a 63 yard TD, but it's not as if he's played a big role for the patriots. he wasn't even on the team a few weeks ago and he's on IR now.
I agree with your basic point: a great QB could make WRs like Aromashodu and Jenkins look better but that's like saying a Hall of Fame caliber receiver or two would help Ponder look better. I'm pretty sure Ponder would look like a better QB if he was throwing to Moss and CC in their primes.
Jim