Obviously! Well, he was part of it at least. I think putting actual interior linemen (Connolly-Stork-Wendell) at the interior line positions is really what did it. I wish I could ask BB why they wanted to try tackles inside early this season. I guess the real answer, not the BB-speak “we’re just trying to find the best guys”, would be an attempt to put more size in the middle of the line because that had been lacking in recent seasons.
But what you lost with those tackles was the quickness needed for guards who are pulling and tracking down defenders to block in space. Those are key elements of the Patriots offense and the difference between Connolly pulling and Cannon/Devey doing it are light years apart.
There’s no question, at this point Stork looks like he could be the starting center for the next decade. While Wendell/Connolly certainly made things look a lot better on Sunday night, I think that is still a long-term area of need. So keep an eye on those first round guards next spring in the draft.
