By Michael Vallee

-That Was Then, This is Now: What a difference a year makes. Yesterday, eleven months removed from suffering a violent beatdown at the hands of the Denver Broncos in last year’s AFC Championship, the Patriots flipped the script, dominating Denver in a 16-3 defensive whitewash. In a mostly one-sided and, let’s face it, incredibly boring game, New England pushed around their opponent for 60 minutes, slowly grinding Denver into submission. It was the exact type of game they would have lost a year ago when their rapidly fading running game was disappearing behind an offensive line that was in tatters — the type of the game they set out to win when they retooled last offseason and the type of game they might find themselves locked into in the near future, when NFL playoff season begins. For those reasons, Sunday’s Patriots win had to be as important and satisfying to the coaches and front office as any win all year.

But what exactly changed? How did a punishing 20-18 defeat turn into an easy 16-3 victory?
Two words: offensive line.

Offensively, their performances in both Denver games was similar. In the 2015 AFC Title game and in Sunday’s regular season tilt, the Patriots offense struggled to produce against a Denver defense stacked with talent. Whether judging by points scored (18 vs. 16) or total yards (336 vs. 313) New England’s end result in the two games wasn’t much different – but how they arrived at that result was.

Last January the Patriots offensive line limped into Denver. The unit was banged up and underperforming. They couldn’t run the ball and were struggling to protect Brady. What ensued was as ugly a performance on offense as we have seen in the Belichick era. The running game was nonexistent, freeing Denver’s elite pass rushers to tee off on Brady – and tee off they did – targeting New England’s quarterback like laser-guided missiles and handing Brady what is widely considered the worst physical beating of his 17-year career.

Sunday was a different story. Fresh off manhandling the Ravens number one ranked defense, the Patriots O-Line strolled into Denver healthy, confident and with a little something to prove. And they wasted no time proving it. Patriot running backs piled up 137 yards on the ground and Brady, despite his struggles throwing, spent most of the day in the upright position. Same pass rush, same loud stadium, nowhere near the same results. The stats might have looked similar, but the tone and feel of the game could not have been more different. This time it was New England dictating play and Denver struggling to get their footing. That palpable Bronco intimidation factor from last year’s AFC Championship was gone, evaporating into the thin air of Denver.

Now that we’ve established what changed, the only question left is why?
Two more words: Dante Scarnecchia

Scarnecchia is almost like a folk hero at this point. A former Marine with a bedrock reputation for being both a genius and a hardass. He has been with the Patriots organization for over 30 years, surviving more leadership changes than J. Edgar Hoover. He semi-retired for two years following the 2013 season but quickly decided that fishing with the grandkids and playing skins at the local golf course just weren’t stimulating enough. He returned in 2016 and the impact has been instant. In 2015 the Patriots were 30th in rushing. This year they are 7th. In 2015 Brady was sacked 38 times. This year that number is at 14. Scarnecchia has dramatically improved the play of Shaq Mason and David Andrews, integrated rookie Joe Thuney into the offense and steadied the play of talented but inconsistent left tackle Nate Solder. If Scarnecchia is a football artist and the offensive line his canvas, then 2016 has been his masterpiece, and Marcus cannon his Mona Lisa.

Prior to the return of Scarnecchia, Cannon was a disaster. He failed as an interior lineman, then was moved to tackle where he doubled as a human turnstile. Trying to pass block he looked more stiff and awkward than that figure skating Sumo wrestler in the Geico commercials. Penalties, sacks, missed assignments…..every game was like Cannon’s own personal showcase on how not to play offensive line in the NFL. And last year’s AFC Championship was the pinnacle of his ineptitude. He couldn’t block anybody. Pass rushers Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware sprinted past him like he was a mailbox.

Enter Scarnecchia. The tackle whisperer. It’s been just one training camp under his tutelage, and suddenly, Cannon can actually play. One of the consistently worst rated tackles in the entire NFL the last two years is now rated as one of the best — and that rating would be put to the test in Denver. Cannon, for all his improvement, was facing his biggest challenge of the season on Sunday, a reunion with Von Miller, who is not only one of the best pure pass rushers in the NFL but just 11 months earlier spent four quarters terrorizing Brady and the Patriots offense. On that Championship Sunday, Miller was like a human wrecking ball, smashing through Cannon and the O-Line on virtually every play. Sunday’s game had all the makings of a mismatch, and it was, only this time it was Cannon doing the dominating. The once maligned tackle tossed around one of the best defenders in the game like his own personal beach ball, limiting Miller to four tackles, zero sacks and no impact.

Von Miller must have been shell-shocked by all this. “Wait, isn’t this the guy I abused last year?” Sorry, Von, no it’s not. This is the new and improved Marcus Cannon, retooled by the O-Line wizard, Dante Scarnecchia, because that’s what Scarnecchia does. He turns lemons into lemonade, chicken shit into chicken salad and terrible linemen into Pro Bowl tackles. He takes struggling units and reworks them into bona fide NFL assets. Sunday his handprints were all over the Patriots turnaround in Denver. Not sure if Belichick gives game balls to coaches but Dante was as important to the win as any person on either sideline. Not bad for a career assistant that one year ago was lining up eight foot putts and probably wondering if his days of crafting NFL works of art were over.

Luckily for Patriots fans, they weren’t.

-Number One with a Bullet: After holding Denver to just three points, the Patriots defense is allowing a league best 16.6 points per game. I’m still not sure they have the talent commensurate with such a lofty status but you have to give them credit for resilience. What if I told you in the offseason the following would happen:

-Chandler Jones would be traded
-Jamie Collins would be traded
-Dominique Easley would be cut
-Jabaal Sheard would be benched
-Chris Long would have just three sacks
-And their top defensive draft pick would be a bust

Would you have thought for one second that New England would somehow parlay all that into the number one scoring defense in the NFL? We’ll see if it holds up but, as of now, Belichick once again looks like a genius.

-Keeping Up with the Joneses: Speaking of Chandler Jones, since his trade many have lamented the loss of the former Patriot pass rusher but in 14 starts this year he has eight sacks and in just six starts Trey Flowers has seven sacks.

-Similar to the 2015 AFC Title game, the defense got off to a rocky start, before finishing strong. But it was the disparate damage from those rocky starts that proved to be the difference between winning and losing. In Denver’s first four possessions on Sunday they racked up 185 yards of offense but were only able to put three points on the scoreboard. Last year, on the other hand, Peyton Manning was able to capitalize on the early success by hanging a fourteen on New England. Football often comes down to making plays and in the second quarter Sunday Logan Ryan made a big one when he stepped in front of a Trevor Siemian pass near the Patriots goal line, returning it 46 yards and setting up Brady and the offense in Denver territory. Seven plays later LeGarrette Blount barreled in from the one-yard line for the game’s only touchdown.

Not only did the interception prevent Denver from scoring, it completely rattled Denver’s quarterback. Prior to that pass Siemian was 10-13 for 112 yards, but over the final three quarters Siemian was just 15-27, for a QB rating of 59.1. If the Patriots first half defense was defined by one big play, the second half defense was defined by dominance. Coming out of halftime Matt Patricia’s squad forced five consecutive three-and-outs, allowing just nine yards over 15 plays. During that stretch New England extended their lead to 16-3 all but ending any hope for a Broncos comeback.

-Brady on the other hand pulled a reverse Siemian. He started the game 0-6 for just the second time in his career, then settled down nicely to complete 16 of his final 26 passes. The other game that Brady started 0-6 was against the Giants in 2003, a game New England won 17-6. It is worth noting that Brady actually completed two of his first five passes in that game but both were nullified by penalties.

-AFC Least: On Sunday the Patriots also (yawn) won their eighth consecutive (yawn) division title, setting the NFL record for most consecutive division championships. At this point is there any Patriots fan that would actually purchase an “AFC East Champs” hat or t-shirt?

-When it was announced that human fumble machine Cyrus Jones was inactive you could hear a collective sigh of relief echo across Patriot Nation.

-Tommy Tough Guy: Late in the game Broncos safety T.J. Ward reminded everybody how much of a punk he is when he slammed Julian Edelman to the turf then, with his team trailing by 13, turned to the Patriots sideline and began flexing his biceps. I know the smart thing to do is praise New England for its discipline in not retaliating, but I’m going to go in the other direction. With less than four minutes on the clock and New England in command on the scoreboard, I would have preferred somebody on the Patriots take on the role of enforcer and slam Ward to the ground. Sometimes injecting a little attitude into your team is worth the 15 yard penalty.

-The Patriot Way: Interesting and somewhat controversial move this week by the Patriots claiming former Arizona Cardinals receiver Michael Floyd off waivers. The wideout was released by Arizona after he was arrested for DUI when police found him passed out behind the wheel of his still running car. Floyd has a history of alcohol issues dating back to his college days at Notre Dame.

As a pure football move this was a no brainer. Floyd is a talented wideout with elite size and speed and gives New England much needed depth at receiver. He is also a free agent after this season so the next few weeks provide the Patriots a chance to take a look under the hood and decide if they like what they see; and if they let him walk, the Patriots would likely get a substantial draft pick as compensation. Low risk, high reward, like I said, a no-brainer.

Where the moves get controversial is when we start contemplating the responsibility of an NFL franchise to a guy that might have a drinking problem. Naturally the first reaction on this front was from all the people that hate the Patriots and use moves like this as an opportunity to mock Belichick and the so called “Patriot Way”. NY Daily news writer Gary Myers wrote this about the move, “Bill Belichick is an enabler and a hypocrite….If a player is late for a meeting or practice, Belichick sends him home but (he) gave Floyd a job….The Patriots way is a bunch of holier-than-thou propaganda. It’s the Belichick Way, which adjusts the rules to fit his needs”

Before I point out how inaccurate this quote is you first have to understand where it comes from. Gary Myers is obsessed with Bill Belichick. Almost on a pathological level. It’s only a matter of time before we read the following headline, “Daily News Columnist Gary Myers Arrested Sifting through Belichick’s Garbage.” Myers hates his guts and always has. I don’t know why, maybe it’s a Jets thing, but take anything he writes about Belichick with a golf ball size grain of salt.

As for the quote, Myers doesn’t seem to understand that the “Patriot Way” (a term that Belichick never uses) has never been about New England building their roster around a bunch of choirboys. That is a misperception perpetuated by lazy reporters with an obvious agenda (looking at you Shaughnessy). The “Patriot Way” is the Belichick Way and it has always been about one thing: buying into the concept of Team first. It is not about moral compasses or arrest records, it’s about a selfless commitment to make any sacrifice and perform any role necessary to help the team win. Period. And Belichick has been nothing but consistent about this since the day he got the job.

As for the enabler part, isn’t that more of a league issue? I have no idea if Michael Floyd has a drinking problem. Perhaps he was passed out at the wheel because he is a lightweight who doesn’t drink much and therefore can’t handle his booze. Or maybe he’s just a guy that likes to have a good time with friends but is too stubborn or stupid to take the simple step of downloading the Uber app. Or maybe he is an out-of-control lush that desperately needs professional help. I have no idea, but if the latter is true, then shouldn’t the league step-in and force him to get that help before he is eligible to return to the field? Teams are judged by wins and losses and if a talented player is available and cleared to play somebody will always grab him, regardless of his personal issues. It’s the NFL, not the team, that should determine if a guy is fit to return to the field.

And before you label Belichick and the Patriots enablers ask yourself this, what was the alternative? If Floyd does, in fact, have a massive untreated drinking problem do you think he would have immediately sought help or abruptly stopped drinking and driving if New England didn’t claim him? An NFL player with a drinking problem, no structure and likely anger issues about being unemployed – gee, what could go wrong there? Floyd did something highly irresponsible, and possibly deadly, but don’t blame Belichick for his problems or pretend that those problems would have magically disappeared if he wasn’t claimed by the Patriots.

-Griff We hardly knew Ya: You always hate to say goodbye to a guy named Griff, but with the addition of Floyd the Patriots said sayonara to receiver Griff Whalen. Whalen is somewhat infamous in these parts for his integral role in the worst designed, timed and executed play in NFL history. The play, was the bizarre awkward fake punt in last year’s Pats/Colts game where almost the entire Colts punt team shifted to outside of the hash mark, leaving Griff Whalen and Colt Anderson alone in the middle of the field; with Whalen cast in the role of center and Anderson the role of quarterback. Then, against all earthly logic and common sense, Whalen snapped the ball to Anderson, who looked less prepared than Phil Simms talking about aeronautical engineering. Anderson was smothered instantly, resulting in a one-yard loss that gave New England the ball on the Colts 35-yard line. It was every bit as embarrassing as it sounds. And just to rub salt in the wound the referee flagged them for illegal formation because, and this is verbatim, “The whole right side of the line was not on the line of scrimmage.”

To this day I have no idea where that entire mess came from. Was this some kind of self-imposed punishment by the Colts for starting us down that hellacious road known as deflategate? Did Chuck Pagano owe Belichick money? Was Massive Head Wound Harry coaching the Colts special teams?

Perhaps the oddest part of the entire debacle was Pagano’s reaction after the game. When asked about the ill-advised fake punt Pagano said, “I don’t regret the play call at all.” Really? Chuck are you familiar with the concept of regret? Because a terrible play with a terrible result that humiliates your team in front of millions of people and plays a major role in you losing a game is pretty much a textbook regret scenario. If Pagano doesn’t regret that play what else doesn’t Pagano regret?

-Pagano eats at a fast food restaurant and becomes ill from food poisoning: “I don’t regret my decision to eat there?”

-Pagano causes a car accident that puts someone in the hospital: “I don’t regret the way I was driving.”

-Pagano loses his retirement savings on a Ponzi scheme: “I don’t regret giving all my money to Bernie Madoff.”

-Pagano gets fired as coach of the Colts: “I don’t regret saying I don’t regret the fake punt call.”

-Quitters Never Win and Winners Never Quit: I will write more about this next week but, for the record, I think recent decisions by college players to focus on the NFL draft and quit (let’s not sugarcoat it, that is what they’re doing) on their college teams is both selfish and gutless.