The New England Patriots did a lot of winning during Tom Brady’s 20 seasons with the team, and there are a number of reasons for their success, including the quarterback’s greatness.
Another reason for the Patriots’ dominance over the course of two decades was the play of the team’s offensive line, which always seemed to do its job protecting Brady or providing the push needed for the running backs to punish defenses on the ground.
On Wednesday, Brady and FOX Sports’ Colin Cowherd discussed the offensive line being an issue in today’s game, and the quarterback explained why New England’s offensive line unit was always performing at the highest level throughout his tenure.
“One of the great things, I would say, in my experience with the Patriots was every player was coached,” Brady said. “Even if you were on the practice squad, even if the scout team offense was out there [offensive line coach] Dante Scarnecchia was coaching the scout team offensive line as if it was the starting offensive line. I think a lot of coaches are like ‘Hey, I’ll just coach the starter, maybe a few backups.’ As opposed to ‘I’m going to coach every single position so when people go down we’re going to fill those guys in, and they’re just going to step in and play a great role for us because they’re going to know all the calls, they’re going to know the timing, they’re going to know the precision, they’re going to know exactly what we want to on every play.'”
The impact of Scarnecchia is one that can’t be overstated. We’ve heard stories from so many players about his hands-on coaching style that really got through to his guys. It’s why he was able to hold the job for nearly 20 years and would’ve done so longer if he hadn’t retired briefly, and it’s also why he’s wearing a red jacket today.
