Patriots re-hired Dante Scarnecchia as OL coach

speedracer

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It's conceivable he was just not pleased with the preparation and execution Sunday and he is sending a message to the other position coaches and players. We may be over thinking this. Of course we will never know, but doing it one day after the game means something.
That something might very well be "this maximizes the amount of time we have to find a replacement".
 

dcmissle

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But couldn't the thing it means be that it's the end of the season and now it's time to deal with the issues the team faces?
Sure. I want to replace you so I'm going to create this vacancy now so that anyone I might be interested in will at least listen before committing some place else. You in turn are free to explore every opportunity before most of the jobs are filled. Works for both sides.
 

RedOctober3829

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Mark Daniels got to talk to Belichick regarding Googs. Apparently, he's interviewing for the assistant line coach with San Diego.

“Dave’s contract is up. We talked after the game. We’re going to go in different directions on that one,” Belichick said. “I really have a lot of respect for Dave. We obviously had a lot of success offensively last year and this year. Appreciate all his efforts and all he did for us. Wish him well in whatever his future brings, but there will be some type of a transition at that position.”
http://www.providencejournal.com/article/20160127/SPORTS/160129352/SHARED/st_refDomain=t.co&st_refQuery=/MHZlIbbcH2
 

tims4wins

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So possibilities at this point
- Daboll takes over as OL coach, they hire another TE coach (who?)
- Ferentz returns as OL coach
- Other?
 

MainerInExile

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I predict it will be Daboll. He has moved around a bit since coming back to the Pats (offensive coach assistant, working mostly with the OL IIRC then TE coach) and I would imagine OL is a "promotion" over TE. I've always assumed he's the OC-in-waiting if McDaniels ever gets another HC job, so I would guess they want Daboll to get as much experience as possible.
 

tims4wins

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I predict it will be Daboll. He has moved around a bit since coming back to the Pats (offensive coach assistant, working mostly with the OL IIRC then TE coach) and I would imagine OL is a "promotion" over TE. I've always assumed he's the OC-in-waiting if McDaniels ever gets another HC job, so I would guess they want Daboll to get as much experience as possible.
This mirrors my thoughts exactly
 

amarshal2

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Since 2006, the Patriots have selected exactly 2 lineman in the first three rounds. Vollmer in 2009 and Solder in 2011. That's downright negligent when your team's greatest asset is protected by these guys.

Maybe they weren't coached well enough, or maybe a bunch of mid-round draft picks played like a bunch of mid-round draft picks against some elite pass rushers.
How many interior lineman have the Patriots drafted in the top 3 rounds in 16 years under Belichick? One? Are you sure this is "negligent?"
 

DJnVa

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Like others, I think it's been building all season, but I heard them mention on the radio that maybe the Miami game was the tipping point--a simple game plan and they couldn't do it.
 

Shelterdog

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I predict it will be Daboll. He has moved around a bit since coming back to the Pats (offensive coach assistant, working mostly with the OL IIRC then TE coach) and I would imagine OL is a "promotion" over TE. I've always assumed he's the OC-in-waiting if McDaniels ever gets another HC job, so I would guess they want Daboll to get as much experience as possible.
Like being a special teams coach, OL coach seems like it's is a specialist position on kind of a separate track--once you become an OL coach you just kind of stay in that job, unless you become a head coach, but then if you get fired you become an OL coach again.

I think it's more likely that they get a grizzled lifelong OL guy like Pat Hill (former BB OL coach) or a maybe a former player/current assistant OL coach like Ray Brown in Carolina.
 

Al Zarilla

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Like others, I think it's been building all season, but I heard them mention on the radio that maybe the Miami game was the tipping point--a simple game plan and they couldn't do it.
That's what we like: a single point of failure, a cause célèbre, something to hang our hat on. The Miami game was probably the low point of the season. If you can't devise a simple, mostly run offense, if BB and Josh think that's the way to go, against a weaker team and win when home field throughout is on the line, that is pretty bad. Adios Clemenza soundalike.
 

Van Everyman

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RIP Phillip Rivers

Edit: Given that he supposedly had a feeling the hammer was coming, wonder if he had this job lined up already.
 

Reardon's Beard

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Sounds like his contract was up anyway and he wasn't confident the performance merited a return. Good for him for landing somewhere else, but glad the Patriots are revisiting the OL system here.

Get someone with experience. I do not care what it costs or takes to make it happen. Get the best OL coach you can find, period. This is too important for the team the next two years.

Do what must be done.
 

Erik Hanson's Hook

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How many interior lineman have the Patriots drafted in the top 3 rounds in 16 years under Belichick? One? Are you sure this is "negligent?"
Seeing as how Brady turns 39 in August...yes.

It's not hard calculus, except for the people who are afraid to criticize Bill for anything (not saying that's you).
 
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DJnVa

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As Brady turns 39 in August...yes.
If they had, you realize that then maybe you or someone else would be here posting about how it's awesome Brady has all this time, but the defense can't fucking stop anyone and how come they don't have a run stopping LB like that Hightower kid down in Atlanta or a hoss on the DL like Tampa Bay has in Malcolm Brown?

Had they invested early round picks where you want, another part of the team is weakened. It's a zero sum game.
 

Erik Hanson's Hook

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If they had, you realize that then maybe you or someone else would be here posting about how it's awesome Brady has all this time, but the defense can't fucking stop anyone and how come they don't have a run stopping LB like that Hightower kid down in Atlanta or a hoss on the DL like Tampa Bay has in Malcolm Brown?

Had they invested early round picks where you want, another part of the team is weakened. It's a zero sum game.
You're implying that there's no way they could still have Hightower, or a good defense, without investing more in the o-line. I don't believe that.

Who's more important to you, Tom Brady or Donta Hightower / Malcolm Brown?
 

DJnVa

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You're implying that there's no way they could still have Hightower, or a good defense, without investing more in the o-line. I don't believe that.

Who's more important to you, Tom Brady or Donta Hightower / Malcolm Brown?
The defense is really good because they have invested some early picks there. Had those gone to OL then those other guys wouldn't be here.

With the crappy OL they won the Super Bowl last year, and nearly got back. Had early round defenders not been here, do you think we'd have better results?
 

Erik Hanson's Hook

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The defense is really good because they have invested some early picks there. Had those gone to OL then those other guys wouldn't be here.

With the crappy OL they won the Super Bowl last year, and nearly got back. Had early round defenders not been here, do you think we'd have better results?
I get what your saying, and am happy about the state of the defense. But maybe if those picks go to the OL, Brady doesn't get hit 23 times last Sunday.

I'm not necessarily talking about first or second-round picks (where Hightower and Collins were drafted)...I'm talking about picks like Tavon Wilson, Darius Butler, et all...

Edit: or perhaps free-agency...Brian Waters worked out pretty well...your point still stands, though
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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I get what your saying, and am happy about the state of the defense. But maybe if those picks go to the OL, Brady doesn't get hit 23 times last Sunday.

I'm not necessarily talking about first or second-round picks (where Hightower and Collins were drafted)...I'm talking about picks like Tavon Wilson, Darius Butler, et all...

Edit: or perhaps free-agency...Brian Waters worked out pretty well...your point still stands, though
Jesus Christ, Darius Butler was drafted 6 years ago. To go back to that pick and say well maybe they should have taken an OL instead implies a ridiculous amount of wishcasting.
 

amarshal2

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Seeing as how Brady turns 39 in August...yes.

It's not hard calculus, except for the people who are afraid to criticize Bill for anything (not saying that's you).
For most of BB's tenure, regardless of Brady's age, the Patriots have had one of the best pass blocking o-lines in the NFL. It's only since their coach of the last 35 years retired that things have gone down hill.
 

Shelterdog

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I get what your saying, and am happy about the state of the defense. But maybe if those picks go to the OL, Brady doesn't get hit 23 times last Sunday.

I'm not necessarily talking about first or second-round picks (where Hightower and Collins were drafted)...I'm talking about picks like Tavon Wilson, Darius Butler, et all...

Edit: or perhaps free-agency...Brian Waters worked out pretty well...your point still stands, though
Darius Butler and Tavon Wilson were--like Gronk and Collins--second round picks. Is your point that they'd be better if their bad draft picks on positions other than oline were used to get great offensive linemen?

Anyhow, every team is going to have strengths and weaknesses--you're not going to have above average starters in their prime at every position who stay healthy and you can't invest a ton of resources at every position group. So yeah, they invested less in the oline in draft capital than they invested in the front seven and they didn't get to the Superbowl. Boo fucking hoo.
 

MainerInExile

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Come on guys, it's simple. All the Patriots had to do was replace all of their bad draftees with good draftees, and we'd be getting ready for the Super Bowl right now.

And sure, they won the Super Bowl last year, but what have they done for us lately?
 

Erik Hanson's Hook

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Darius Butler and Tavon Wilson were--like Gronk and Collins--second round picks. Is your point that they'd be better if their bad draft picks on positions other than oline were used to get great offensive linemen?
Yes.

Boo fucking hoo.
That's cool. Get back to me next year when you're Boo fucking hoo-ing after another playoff loss where TB12 gets hit 20 times while throwing 50 times.

I get it. I'm outnumbered. I guess time will tell.
 

DJnVa

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Yes.

That's cool. Get back to me next year when you're Boo fucking hoo-ing after another playoff loss where TB12 gets hit 20 times while throwing 50 times.

I get it. I'm outnumbered. I guess time will tell.
You keep missing the point. No one is disputing it's a problem.

The issue is that you want to toss back all the busts and replace them with Pro Bowl OL. It doesn't work like that. They don't know which OL draft picks will pan out any more than they known any other slot. We could just as easily toss back a Chandler Jones for a shitty OL as we toss back Tavon Wilson and get some stud OL.
 
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Trlicek's Whip

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I get what your saying, and am happy about the state of the defense. But maybe if those picks go to the OL, Brady doesn't get hit 23 times last Sunday.
This is like John Sterling every time someone strikes out at the plate and he theorizes a five-run inning because "if he didn't swing at that third pitch, he'd be on first base and extend the inning, because the next guy got up there and hit a home run in the next inning."

I mean, if the Pats fired their O-line coach last August, maybe they wouldn't have lost in Miami and the Patriots beat Denver at home last weekend and are prepping to play Carolina.

But keep skimming through eleventy-billion variables to liplock with "causation."
 

jablo1312

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Notice how the defense was the only unit keeping the offense in the game for the entire second half on Sunday?

Jesus Christ, they drafted Stork, Jackson, and Mason in the last 2 years. Connolly retired, Wendell got hurt. Malcolm Brown will hopefully be a contributor on this team for the next 10 years. I understand Easley can't stay on the field, and that's the risk you take when you're drafting a guy with no ACL's, but if he turns into Geno-Atkins lite on 3rd down suddenly you're looking at one of the best pass rushes in the league. The defense couldn't get off the field in key spots for years, and I'm glad they invested serious draft capital to change that, and took their chances.

They overturned most of the line this year, and while they're not all high draft pedigree players, it's on the coach to, you know, coach the players to a certain performance level. Of course I'd still like them to look at guards and a swing tackle in free agency in the draft.
 

Shelterdog

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Yes.


That's cool. Get back to me next year when you're Boo fucking hoo-ing after another playoff loss where TB12 gets hit 20 times while throwing 50 times.

I get it. I'm outnumbered. I guess time will tell.
I absolutely agree that if we could replace all our bad picks with good picks (and keep all our good picks) then we'd have a much better team. I'll let BB know; I'm sure he'll think it's a great idea.

Also we shouldn't sign players who get hurt. Imagine how could the team would be if we'd never extended Mayo and instead used that money on free agents who stayed healthy and outperformed their contracts!
 

54thMA

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Them being down their top two backs in the AFCCG was a major issue, Denver did not respect the run at all, they pinned their ears back and stormed the castle play after play.

Brady just had no time, plays continually were blown up before they got started, specifically the 4th and 1 where Amendola was open in the middle of the field and on the two point conversion attempt where Gronkowski was open in the back of the end zone, but Brady did not have enough time to see either of them.

I hope whoever they hire helps develop some form of a running game so play action comes back into play again as it was non existent the latter part of the year.
 

E5 Yaz

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Matt Light suggests why things went wrong

Luckily, former Patriots offensive linemen Matt Light provided his expertise on the situation Friday during an appearance on WAAF’s “The Hill-Man Morning Show.” “(Denver) is a horrible place to go play, especially in that circumstance,” he said, via WEEI.com. “You’ve got the best defense in the league. You’re in their place. And you don’t practice a snap count? It blows my mind that, really, the game was lost because of a snap count.
“I don’t think that they practiced their snap count at all, really, to any degree. We went into a game being able to snap silent count five different ways. Not two. Five. And in that game, I watched them on the snap count and I was blown away. You’re handcuffing your tackles, and that’s what happens when you don’t effectively run a silent snap count. And it was terrible to watch.”


http://nesn.com/2016/01/matt-light-it-blows-my-mind-patriots-lost-afc-title-game-due-to-snap-count/
 

troparra

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Luckily, former Patriots offensive linemen Matt Light provided his expertise on the situation Friday during an appearance on WAAF’s “The Hill-Man Morning Show.” “(Denver) is a horrible place to go play, especially in that circumstance,” he said, via WEEI.com. “You’ve got the best defense in the league. You’re in their place. And you don’t practice a snap count? It blows my mind that, really, the game was lost because of a snap count.
“I don’t think that they practiced their snap count at all, really, to any degree. We went into a game being able to snap silent count five different ways. Not two. Five. And in that game, I watched them on the snap count and I was blown away. You’re handcuffing your tackles, and that’s what happens when you don’t effectively run a silent snap count. And it was terrible to watch.”


http://nesn.com/2016/01/matt-light-it-blows-my-mind-patriots-lost-afc-title-game-due-to-snap-count/
Hell, that makes a lot of sense. Has anyone besides Matt Light brought up the silent snap count in the various post game analyses? I haven't seen it.
 

riboflav

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Football is not my primary sport of knowledge so I apologize if this is a remedial question but who would be mostly responsible for not having practiced multiple silent counts? I would've thought that would be Josh more so than a position coach like Googs but I don't know. I assume Josh because wouldn't the count involve more than just the OL, like Brady for example?

EDIT - In any event, seems like fruitful terrain for an ITP article.
 

crystalline

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The WEEI article has more- Light criticized the OL game plan, saying they should have done more cut blocking, and used Gronk on some crackback blocks.

Light hammered home two other points: there was no scenario where the New England offensive linemen could make the Denver rushers “fear” the possibility of having their legs taken out, as well as the fact that tight end Rob Gronkowski wasn’t utilized in hopes of trying to slow down the Broncos.

“Give me at least one three-step because I need to make this guy fear a little bit of his up the field pass rush by me taking his legs out from underneath him,” Light said. “Or, hey, let’s bring Gronk from the outside and let’s crack one of these defensive ends, like he did with [ex-Buffalo defensive end] Aaron Schobel and knocked him into another galaxy and literally spun his helmet off his head, and the guy literally didn’t even want to take two steps upfield at that point.

“They didn’t give [Denver] anything to think about,” he added. “They didn’t have to keep them honest in any way throughout that whole game plan, and then the snap count obviously was terrible. It wasn’t the talent on the field. They could have beat that team with a little bit more preparation and doing things a little better, and it didn’t happen.”
Plus more about how Dante was great:
Light said the move from longtime offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia to Dave DeGuglielmo — who was fired days after the game — was a sizable change.

“You take a guy like Dante Scarnecchia, who never let off the pedal for an instant and always drilled into us that it’s got to be better and we’ve got practice this. And, yeah, Dante, we get it,” he said. “But [the 2015 team] didn’t get it.

“I don’t think the atmosphere in that offensive line room is the same without a guy like Dante.”
http://itiswhatitis.weei.com/sports/newengland/football/patriots/2016/01/29/matt-light-on-waaf-patriots-lost-battle-with-broncos-up-front-because-of-snap-count-issues/
 

soxfan121

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Can someone get to the point already?
Hell, that makes a lot of sense. Has anyone besides Matt Light brought up the silent snap count in the various post game analyses? I haven't seen it.
EDIT - In any event, seems like fruitful terrain for an ITP article.
Bryan Stork Was Tipping The Snap

However, this is not the first time Stork has used the head bob with disastrous results: in Week 4 of 2015 against the Chiefs, Stork displayed the same head bobbing move. Mark Schofield wrote about it in this review of the Patriots loss, prophetically saying: “telegraphing the snap count like this is something Stork must never do again.”
 

PaulinMyrBch

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I'm genuinely pissed about this silent count and head bob tell that Light has brought into focus. Such a simple thing to prepare for and have ready, something we've been doing for years, with the best QB in the business...and we fail to prepare for the contingency when we might need it? Unreal. When you contrast that versus the anniversary of the Butler interception and the amount of prep that went into that specific play, it boggles the mind. I can still hear Ernie Adams in the "Do Your Job" video, 'we try to be prepared for anything that might come up on a Sunday'. I'm going to spend the whole offseason mildly pissed off.
 

accidentalsuccess

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I was horrified that there weren't enough snap count variations during the game. Can't remember if I posed in the game thread but yeah it was THAT obvious. Not sad for the coaching change at all. I always appreciate Light's commentary, too. You can see why he was such a successful player...brains and brawn are necessary in the modern NFL, especially the Pats system.
 

ShaneTrot

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I don't remember a screen or a draw the whole game.

I don't want to make excuses either but all these guys missed time during the year. We know Vollmer is good when healthy and PF has rated Cannon highly in the past at RT.

The lack of technique and backsliding of Stork probably doomed DeGuglielmo.
 

RedOctober3829

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I don't remember a screen or a draw the whole game.

I don't want to make excuses either but all these guys missed time during the year. We know Vollmer is good when healthy and PF has rated Cannon highly in the past at RT.

The lack of technique and backsliding of Stork probably doomed DeGuglielmo.
If Cannon is on this team next year something is wrong. The cap savings if he's cut make too much sense plus he has shown if he has to be counted on week after week that he will not get the job done.