I will throw this out there at the risk of being shouted down.
Is there an argument that the best alignment is playing Andrews at C, Mason at one guard spot, either Jackson or Kline at the other guard spot, and Vollmer and Stork at the tackle positions?
My thought process is:
- get the best 5 linemen on the field;
- Andrews was not at his best last night but has had a good year;
- Cannon is not as good at tackle as Stork, as disappointing as that is; and
- Fleming is not as good at tackle as Stork, as disappointing as that is.
Why am I wrong? Or do you think I am on to something? (And I get that we are working with the ultimate SSS with Stork at tackle. My response is that we have seen a fair amount of Fleming and Cannon, though less with him, and the results aint pretty).
The other thought that I had last night is that while I understand using multiple linemen to keep guys fresh, especially with so many newly returned linemen, at some point this group needs to become a unit and all the substitutions could retard that. I know, when you are 10-0, you have the luxury of trying different things and substituting, and that's their inclination regardless of their record. But I have heard so many linemen talking about the importance of being a unit that I hope the Pats settle on a core 5 in the next few weeks (with the injury caveat, of course).