Break it down -- offensive line

The offensive line took a hit this offseason when Matt Light decided to retire after 11 years with the Patriots. He did a great job doing the most important job on the field ... protecting the quarterback's blind side. And when that quarterback is Tom Brady, well you can't have a more important job.

The line has been a strength of the Pats for years. A lot of the credit for that goes to coach Dante Scarnecchia. He's been on the coaching staff since what seems like the first day the franchise was created. He's done just about every job except for head coach. As long as he is in charge of the line you get the feeling that things will be just fine.

STARTERS
As we say in the caption business... from left to right: Nate Solder (tackle), Logan Mankins (guard), Dan Koppen (center), Brian Waters (guard), and Sebastian Vollmer (tackle). The key guy here is Waters. As of the moment he has not re-signed but I think he will skip the first few weeks of training camp and then join the team when the games begin. A 13-year All Pro veteran can do that. He was a rock last year and looked like a guy who wanted to keep playing for a contender. If he doesn't come back then jack-of-all-trades Dan Connolly will step in. Youngsters Solder and Vollmer (two of the best Belichick picks of the last few years) will anchor the ends of the line. Koppen, a former Pro Bowler, broke his leg in Week 1 last year and never came back. He and Brady have a great rapport and I'm sure #12 is glad to have him back in the middle. Then there is Mankins. The Paul Bunyan of the offensive line. He has not quite played at the level that was expected of him after signing his big contract, but turns out he had a torn ACL so that probably had something to do with it. The Pats need him to get mean and nasty again and set the tone.

BACK-UPS
Connolly is that offensive lineman that every team needs. A veteran who can slide from center to guard and back again and never miss a beat. Second-year player Marcus Cannon has a lot of potential and looked good in a limited role last year after recovering from cancer treatments. Robert Gallery, a former high draft pick of the Raiders, comes to New England with a chance of rejuvenating his career. Ryan Wendell, Donald Thomas, and Nick McDonald all made contributions last year and provide solid depth ... something that is key to any offensive line.

IN THE MIX
Young guys who are taking Offensive Line 101 from professor Scarnecchia include second-year guys Matt Kopa and Kyle Hix and rookies Markus Zusevics and Jeremiah Warren. We'll see if any of them are A students.

The offensive line won't be nearly as entertaining without Matt Light. But it should be just as good. That's what counts.

In conclusion

A funny thing has happened as the Super Bowl that I thought the Pats would be playing in approaches. I'm starting to look forward to the game. Steelers vs. Packers. Should be an entertaining battle. It was the same thing last year when the Colts went up against the Saints. It's the same thing every year. No matter who is in the game, it's always fun. A couple of $10 squares don't hurt.

It's been a few years now since the Pats lost to the Giants, missing a chance at history (thanks again, Asante). The outstanding 2010 season looked like it had a chance to continue into February, but instead it ended in the worst possible way ... a home loss to the foot doctor and the Jets. It was ugly to witness in person. Much like the previous year's ending against the Ravens.

But the aftertaste of this ending is not nearly as sour as last year's. There are many more positives with this 14-2 team. Young players like Chung, Gronkowski, Hernandez, Arrington, and BenJarvis stepped up time and time again in big moments during the season. Veterans Brady, Branch, Welker, and Wilfork stayed healthy and provided the leadership that the young players followed. Mayo and Spikes (when not suspended) made a good combo in the middle of the D and Woody brought a spark to the offense. Unlike the end of 2009 when there seemed to be holes in the roster everywhere you looked, the Pats have a good mix of youth and experience that seems to be coming together.

The team overcame a series of key injuries that started before the season even started with Ty Warren and Leigh Bodden lost for the year and continued with Kevin Faulk and Stephen Gostkowski going down and not getting back up. All NFL teams have to overcome injuries, but not all do. The Pats did. That was just one of the many challenges the team faced and overcame. The regular season was one big game after another (Chargers, Steelers, Jets, Colts, Jets, Bears, Packers) and fourteen times the Pats came away on the winning side. That should not be lost in the disappointment of the playoff loss.

The post-season autopsy for the Patriots is still going strong on sports blab radio. I have caught some of it but not much. Thankfully talk is moving to the Celts run at 18 (I'd bet on it) and the reloaded Sox. But analysis of the Pats playoff loss pops up from time to time. Among the many points made there is one that is as far off base: Tom Brady and the Patriots have lost their last three playoff games. And they lost each one the same way. Not true.

The first of those three losses was that Super Bowl in the winter of '08. It was a classic game. The Pats had the title in their hands but it slipped away. After a year out of the playoffs when Brady got hurt (even though the team finished 11-5), the Pats were back but got shellacked by the Ravens. It was the low point of the past decade. The team was clearly drifting in the wrong direction. Brady got knocked all over the field and the young defense got pushed around. Expectations coming into this season were low, but Belichick and the Pats turned things back in the right direction for a great 14-2 campaign.

It ended again in disappointment. But the Pats didn't get pushed around this time. They actually took it to the Jets for most of the first half. But mistakes -- as they always do in the playoffs -- cost them the game. Yes, the Pats have lost three straight playoff games. But they are not connected at all. The Patriots should get a shot to end that playoff losing streak next year. If the trend they started in 2010 continues, I like their chances.

The month of February has arrived. Time for the Super Bowl and, since the Pats are not in the big game, time for a month off from blogging. If the owners and players don't figure out their issues it could be a lot longer than a month.

Bowling team

The NFL named its AFC and NFC Pro Bowl teams this week. The Patriots had six players honored. The game -- usually played after the Super Bowl in Hawaii -- will be played on the Sunday between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl this year. Not sure why. Just another bad idea by Commissioner Goodell motivated by what he thinks the fans want. The players on the Super Bowl teams will not take part in the game. Here's hoping the Pats players named to the team don't get to see Diamond Head this year.

The obvious pick was Tom Brady. This is the first in what will be a long line of honors regardless of how the team does in the playoffs. He has had a historic year. It's as if he took that ranking in the NFL's 100 Greatest Players personally. I know I did.

Rookie Devin McCourty was a somewhat surprising pick -- not because he doesn't deserve it -- but because the Pro Bowl selections are often made on reputation and he doesn't have one yet. Well, now he does. The first-round pick out of Rutgers has played as well at the hardest position in football as I've seen in a long time. Third-year linebacker Jerod Mayo and safety Brandon Meriweather also made the team. Mayo is completely back from the injury that slowed him last year. He may not make the flashy plays like Bruschi did, but he's around the ball all the time. Meriweather is also around the ball all the time and he delivers some of the hardest hits in the game -- legal and not. Unfortunately he sometimes delivers those hits to teammates.

Offensive lineman and recluse Logan Mankins was one of those reputation selections. He was picked for the third time in his career even though he missed the first half of the season because he didn't like the new contract the Pats offered him. When this season is over, re-signing Mankins has to be priority #1.

During the last offseason, priority #1 was re-signing the Big Man. Vince Wilfork. The deal got done, making him one of the highest paid players in the league. It was the moment that set the tone for the success that has followed this year. Giving athletes their big pay day -- deserved or not -- often leads to the beginning of the end for that player. The history of sports is littered with guys who got the cash and hit the beach -- or the buffet. But not Big Vince. He has had his best season ever. Defensive linemen have been going down all around him and Wilfork hasn't missed a beat. He's still an immovable object in the middle but has switched more to play end this year than ever in his career. He is the foundation that this whole team rests on.

The team was in need of someone to take the "Patriot Way" leadership mantle from Tedy Bruschi.

The Big Man is that guy. This won't be his last Pro Bowl season.

Summer camp

The Patriots opened their 2010 training camp in the rain today. Let's hope that's not an omen.

There were plenty of topics on the first day: Shawn Crable's release. Logan Mankins's contract. Bill Belichick's posters. Derrick Burgess's absence. Wes Welker's knee. Tom Brady's hair. Mankins's contract is the biggest issue but the posters and the hair -- not surprisingly -- got their fair share of the time on the air waves. Ah, sports talk radio.

The coach took down pictures from the team's Super Bowl titles that adorned the walls of the halls outside the meeting rooms at Gillette. No more pictures of Tedy or Rodney or Corey. A little message from Belichick to the younger players to do some things to get their pictures up there. I'm keeping my SI Super Bowl covers up on my den wall. Hope the coach doesn't mind.

The other non-issue issue was Brady's mop top. Enough said.

Mankins was reportedly offered a five-year deal back in June that would have made him among the highest paid players at the guard position. Since then he has blasted Robert Kraft and the team for being dishonest, disrespectful, and despicable. Today he didn't show up for camp. It's not officially a holdout. Yet. Mankins is one of the two or three best guards in the NFL. He wants more than the Pats offered him in years and cash. No problem with that. But enough of being disrespected by a $35 million offer. He's a key part of the line. My guess is the Pats sweeten the deal enough to get him in camp before the final preseason game. But maybe the lumberjack just wants out.

Linebacker Shawn Crable most surely did not want out. Me and Mark had high hopes for the 2008 third-round pick. He had all the tools to be to the outside linebacking job what '08 draft mate Mayo is to inside linebacking. Crable had the potential to be a key part of the transition from the Hall of Fame linebacking corp to the next generation. He just couldn't get on the field. He was always injured. This season was clearly his last shot at making it. That shot ended before it ever started.

Derrick Burgess did not show up for camp as expected for a guy that just signed a new one-year contract. Reports are that the 31-year-old linebacker, who joined the team in a trade from Oakland last year and played pretty well, is considering retiring. I guess playing for the Raiders really took a lot out of him.

Wes Welker did show up for camp but did not participate in practice -- mostly due to the wet conditions I'm guessing -- but he was working out. It seems that he has a very good chance of being ready for the start of the season. That would be amazing considering how badly he ripped up his knee in the fall. I'll be getting my Welker jersey soon. He's now the favorite Patriot of many. How can you not root for the guy? The team just has to be very careful he doesn't push himself too hard and reinjure himself.

That is really the most important issue in training camp. Health. Sure, there will be lots of stories about what rookies make the team, who will carry the ball, who will play linebacker -- and of course Brady's contract. But here's hoping there are no headlines like those that are coming out of the Ravens camp. Baltimore CB Dominique Foxworth tore an ACL. He will be out for the season. Rookie defensive tackle Sergio Kindle, who I was hoping the Pats would draft, suffered a fractured skull and will miss at least the rest of camp.

As the Pats continue with two-a-days (I hope to get to Gillette for at least one day of camp), those are the kinds of stories you don't want to read.