FOXBORO — Dante Scarnecchia is a straight shooter. The Patriots offensive line coach doesn’t mess around. He doesn’t sugarcoat, or waste anyone’s time with a lot of hooey. He tells it like it is.
He’s not happy with himself, or the performance of the offense line, whether pass or run blocking. It’s not good enough.
“People have a right to criticize (the line). We’re not doing things very well. We’re not running the ball very effectively, and it always starts up front,” he said. “If that’s where the blame is going to go, put a target on my chest first. That’s how I feel about it. I’m responsible for those guys. Let’s start there.”
Scarnecchia said he felt the team had a good arsenal of backs starting with Sony Michel, who has struggled to get on track this season, and perform like he did toward the end of last season. Part of the reason is a lack of push up front, and not having holes to run through.
Of course, there have been injury issues. Starting center David Andrews was lost with blood clots in his lungs. Starting left tackle Isaiah Wynn, who was replacing last year’s starter Trent Brown, has been on IR with turf toe. On Sunday, starting right guard Shaq Mason, who many believe has been playing hurt, missed the game with an ankle injury.
The Patriots have also lost two fullbacks, most notably James Develin, who was the tone-setter of the running game. Scarnecchia isn’t buying any of the player losses.
“Those are excuses. We’re not making excuses for anything, or anybody,” he said. “We’re putting five guys out there just like everyone in the league does. We have high expectations for everyone we put out there. We’ll just leave it at that.”
Scarnecchia has also been a wizard at making it work regardless of the scenario or makeup of his line. This isn’t his first rodeo. He’s done more with less before.
“Every year’s a challenge. Certainly, we’ve been in situations like this before. It’s part of playing football in the National Football League,” he said. “You have guys that get hurt for periods of time, that’s nothing new. So you just put the next guy in there and get going, and try to do as good as you can do.”
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady hasn’t been sacked an outrageous number over the first eight games (13). He hasn’t been getting beat up. He gets rid of the ball, or throws it away before that happens. The problem is more about the time to throw the football. He just hasn’t had it consistently.
In that regard, Scarnecchia doesn’t believe what he’s teaching is hitting home.
“I have to coach a lot better than I’ve been coaching . . . and we have to do things a lot better than we’re doing,” he said. “We’re not seeing enough of what I believe in out there, so I’m not getting my message across, so I have to do a lot better job than what I’ve been doing.”
He indicated the players who have been filling in, be it Ted Karras at center, Marshall Newhouse at left tackle, or James Ferentz at guard, are trying to make it work.
“They’re going out there trying to do the best they can do. They work very hard. I’m grateful for every guy we have in our offensive line group,” said Scarnecchia. “They prepare hard every week. They go out there and try to do the best they can and I’m grateful for that.”
Wynn is eligible to play as soon as Nov. 24 against Dallas. He can resume practicing this week. Scarnecchia believes Wynn’s a good player. He just didn’t know what the left tackle’s status was, or if he would start practicing this week.
“That’s up to others,” he said. “Talk to Bill (Belichick) about that, I don’t know.”
Whether Wynn returns, or the Patriots make a move before Tuesday’s trade deadline, Scarnecchia is confident the line will be better over the course of the second half of the season.
“I’m a huge optimist at heart. I always see the glass as half-full. I think if we really continue to work hard, and embrace the techniques, and finish blocks, I think things will improve in the run game, and in the pass game. But we have a lot of work to do. We have to do a lot of things better than we’re doing right now, no doubt.”
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October 28, 2019 at 03:38PM
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Patriots O-line coach Dante Scarnecchia takes blame for poor play - Boston Herald
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