New England Patriots Midseason Forum, Part 6: Offensive Line

"Football is brutal only from a distance. In the middle of it there's a calm, a tranquility. The players accept pain. There's a sense of order even at the end of a running play with bodies strewn everywhere. When the systems interlock, there's a satisfaction to the game that can't be duplicated. There's a harmony."

Not many written words demonstrate the province of an offensive line more eloquently than that little gem from author and playrite Don DiLillo.  And if we believe his tome to be a truism, then the following statement must also be true:

The New England Patriots offensive line is the best in the NFL.

How do we know?  How could someone make such a pretentious statement?  It's simple:  The operation of an offense begins with the line play - and the more they function in anonimity, the greater the positive effect it has on the offense.

It goes far beyond the simplicity of statistics, and DiLillo captures it.  The brutality, the violence, the nastiness - all are a given to be successful in the trenches.  But to dominate - to be the best - there must be focus, to drown out all stimulus that detracts from the task at hand, to put aside individuality and to work in tandem within the system - to become one.

There's a harmony.  There's a calm, a tranquility.