DeGuglielmo and Lee Majors have something in common. They’re both “Fall Guys”.

Tom Brady was hit 20 times in Sunday’s 20-18 loss in the AFC Championship. Someone had to pay for the Patriots golden boy hitting the ground as much as he did and it’s not the offensive line, it’s their position coach.

The Patriots fired offensive line coach Dave DeGuglielmo on Monday night. Part of me can understand why the Patriots would fire DeGuglielmo but there is an even bigger part of me that think he was scapegoated for the Patriots offensive line woes this season. Sure, Sunday’s performance was abysmal but it is unfair to lay all the blame on DeGuglielmo.

While I get that DeGuglielmo should shoulder some of the blame, it’s not his fault that he had a patch work offensive line to work with this season. Between injuries to Nate Solder and Sebastian Vollmer, not having Ryan Wendell and having to bring along three rookie offensive lineman, DeGuglielmo had his work cut out for him. It’s unfair to place all of the blame on him given the circumstances but Belichick couldn’t release the entire offensive line so he fired their coach.

Belichick doesn’t usually scapegoat guys but he did that by firing the well liked and respected DeGuglielmo. He placed the blame for the offensive line’s performance solely on him. While I get that someone should be held responsible for the play of the offensive line on Sunday, I don’t think it’s fair that Gug had to lose his job.

The NFL is a bottom line business. Its all about results. Unfortunately for DeGuglielmo, Sunday’s 20-18 loss to the Broncos will fall squarely on him and the performance of his offensive line. Its unfair but so is the life of an NFL coach. Its a nomadic business for a reason. It’ll be interesting to see who Belichick hires next. Could it be Dante Scarnecchia? Probably not, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he had a voice in the hiring process. Either way, the Patriots need to be better along the offensive line and their will be a new line coach leading the way.