Stork's Health Vital To Patriots Success

Stork's Health Vital To Patriots Success

Injuries are part of the game in the NFL. Every team deals with injuries to major players every season. When an injury happens in the playoffs, it is even more devastating. This is what the New England Patriots are currently dealing with following the injury of center Bryan Stork’s knee in Saturday’s AFC Divisional Round win over the Baltimore Ravens.

While many look at the injury and wonder how the loss of a rookie center could be a major injury, the potential loss of Stork could be devastating for the Patriots in the AFC Championship game.

Stork Misses Practice

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The worry continues to grow as Stork misses practice time. Stork has been listed as a “DNP” or did not participate, at practice on both Wednesday and Thursday. With only one more practice before the game, the outlook is bleak for Stork. Generally, when a Patriots play misses two practices in a week he does not play on Sunday — even though the stage is elevates, Stork should be looked at as unlikely.

What He Changes

If Stork does not play, the entire Patriots offense changes. With Stork in the lineup the Patriots offensive line can play with Nate Solder and Dan Connolly on the left side and Sebastian Vollmer and Ryan Wendell on the right side.

When Stork is not in the game Wendell has to move inside to center and Josh Kline moves into the lineup. Kline has struggled throughout the season and does not bring the same bunch at guard that Wendell does.

How Good The Line Has Been

With Stork in the game, the Patriots offensive line is cohesive and does a great job in opening up running lanes for the Patriots running backs. In the Patriots midseason, six game stretch against the best the NFL had to offer, Stork and the offensive helped lead the Patriots to 115.8 yards per game. This included the Patriots 246-yard game in a 42-20 win over the Indianapolis Colts.

The line also protected Tom Brady against some of the elite pass rushers in the NFL. The Patriots kept the likes of Von Miller, Clay Matthews, Ndamukong Suh and Julius Peppers away from Tom Brady. They allowed the Patriots to average over 31 points per game.

Without Stork the Patriots would have to start mixing and matching on the interior, something that has not worked well for the Patriots this season. Whether it is Kline at guard, or Marcus Cannon or Cam Fleming at guard — none have worked. The mixing and matching has also hurt the play of Nate Solder, who is forced the check inside before taking care of the outside rush. All of this is fixed when Stork is in the game.

With or without Stork, expect a Patriots win. Without Stork, however, it will be much tougher and Tom Brady could get hit a lot more. Never has the center of the Patriots been so important to the Patriots playoff chances.