Patriots’ OL coach Dante Scarnecchia wants to see better quarterback protection from his unit

Fred Kfoury III | Icon Sportswire

Slowly improving, but not quite satisfied.

That’s how New England Patriots offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia feels about his unit at the midpoint of the season. With quarterback Tom Brady having been sacked 21 times, Scarnecchia knows his guys have to do a lot better.

“Clearly, for having the same five guys, we’re not pass blocking as well as we did last year,” he said. “I think I have to do a better job of coaching them and getting more out of them.”

Brady was sacked 16 times with 33 quarterback hits and acquired a sprained AC joint over the span of the first five games. But in recent weeks, the protection has gotten better, with the line limiting the competition to five sacks and 10 quarterback hits over the last three games.

“We’re trending in that direction over the last two weeks,” Scarnecchia noted. “We’ve seen some good rushers out there and guys have done a much better job. Tommy seems to be a little more upright than he was in the first six games. Hopefully we are tending in that direction where we can really throw up a wall in front of this guy and help him.”

“They’re trying to do it right,” he added. “We just have to get it done better than we’re doing. We’re eight games into this deal and no one is satisfied. They’re not. I’m not. And certainly the head coach isn’t.”

Although the Patriots are heading into the bye week with a 6-2 record, there’s still a lot of work left to do in the second half of this season.

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