One critical aspect of the Patriots’ six-game winning streak that has turned around their season is reestablishing an identity as a physical football team in the trenches.
Although Bill Belichick always builds his roster to be tough on the line of scrimmage, offseason splash addition Mathew Judon pointed to an unsung tone-setter for the Pats’ physical mindset.
“I think one person that embodies that is Teddy K [Ted Karras]. He’s just so physical,” Judon told reporters before the Patriots took on the Atlanta Falcons in Week 11. “In [training] camp, we get them better, and they get us better. Iron sharpens iron. As tough as we are, is as tough as we are going to be, and then it carries on through the season.”
The Pats inserted Karras into the starting lineup first at right guard, then eventually at left guard beginning in Week 5 when the team dealt with a COVID-19 situation in the offensive line room.
Once Isaiah Wynn and Mike Onwenu returned from the COVID list, Karras remained a starter on the left side, with Onwenu filling in for starter Trent Brown at right tackle, who was on injured reserve.
The surprising move came when Brown returned from a lingering calf issue. Karras continued as the starting left guard, sending Onwenu, a 2020 All-Rookie team honoree, to the bench.
Even though outside observers were shocked by Onwenu’s benching, the production from Karras and New England’s offensive line speaks for itself. After a shaky start, the Pats are protecting Mac Jones at a high level and running the football effectively behind their offensive line.
Since Week 5, the Patriots are second out of the NFL’s 32 O-Lines in Pro Football Focus’s pass-blocking efficiency metric and have climbed to seventh in team run-blocking grade.
With Karras on the field, the Patriots’ offense adds 0.09 expected points per play compared to -0.11 EPA per play without Karras and is fourth in the league in pressure rate.
Individually, Karras ranks 15th out of 81 qualified guards with a 73.0 PFF grade, and the Pats’ left guard has only allowed eight quarterback pressures in 281 pass-blocking snaps.
“We were displeased with how we performed earlier in the season. The turnaround is a credit to everyone and the way we work, how we prepare, and how much guys care,” Karras told CLNS Media in an exclusive interview.
“We have a lot of talented guys in the room coming to work every day and fighting our way out of what was a rough start. To turn it around now and put ourselves in a position to be in games that matter is a credit to everyone’s work ethic and pride in our game.”
On Judon publicly recognizing his physicality, Karras pointed to past and present teammates along the offensive line and legendary coach Dante Scarnecchia for instilling that mindset.
“That’s just the attitude that I learned from guys like Dave [Andrews] and Shaq [Mason]. Back to guys like Marcus Cannon, Nate Solder, and Joe Thuney. That’s the culture of our room and how we were raised and trained with coach Scarnecchia,” Karras said.
“That’s a certain way to play, and I owe a lot of my career to Dante [Scarnecchia]. We’ve had high draft picks here, but many of us are, coming out of college, average O-Lineman guys who work hard and try to do their best. When we work together, it does have a physical aspect to it.”
Karras, who was a sixth-round pick by the Patriots in the 2016 NFL Draft, joins a current group with an undrafted center (Andrews), a fourth-rounder at right guard (Mason), and a 2015 seventh-round pick at right tackle (Brown). Plus, Onwenu was selected in the sixth round.
Along with setting a physical tone, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick pointed to Karras’ experience over the last two seasons at center and a high football IQ as a standout trait.
In fact, Karras said in our interview that he wouldn’t rule out coaching after his playing career.
“Having Ted as a second center in there helps in a lot of areas with both recognition and communication. That’s been good for us,” Belichick said last week.
“In an ideal world, both your guards can play center, and then that would give you the communication because there’s a lot of pressure on the center to handle the communication on the line of scrimmage. Kind of like the quarterback, you want to handle it from the middle of the formation from the inside out. When the guards see it the same way as the center, when they have that kind of experience, when they can recognize it in sync with the center, and then that moves the communication to the tackle and the tight end much more quickly and smoothly.”
In 2019, Karras started 16 games for the Patriots at center when David Andrews was forced to sit out the year due to blood clots, and then he was the starting center for Miami last season.
During Belichick’s spending spree last March, Karras signed a one-year deal to return to the Patriots after a year away. At the time, it looked like he would start at center with Andrews going elsewhere in free agency. However, Andrews made a last-second change to re-sign in New England.
“I’m sure I probably am annoying to him sometimes because I’ll spit something out, but he does a great job of getting us on the same page. I’ve had a few moments where I’ve helped him out too. To have us both out there, it’s been a lot of fun,” Karras said.
Although he said Jones handles pre-snap communication “phenomenally well” as a rookie, Karras noted that the offensive line put the onus on themselves to lead the way in that department.
“With a rookie QB back there and some new guys, we felt the onus was on us to get it going, and communication and assignment football is a big part of that.”
Another trickle-down effect of Karras staring at left guard is the stabilization at left tackle with 2018 first-rounder Isaiah Wynn, who is the only top 100 selection on the Pats’ O-Line.
In the first four games of the season, Wynn allowed 13 quarterback pressures with a PFF run-blocking grade of 53.8. Since returning to the starting lineup from the COVID list, Wynn has allowed only seven total pressures with a terrific 87.3 run-blocking grade in five games.
“He’s a very dynamic player—an elite athlete who’s really strong. Great movement and awareness,” Karras said of Wynn. “We’ve really grown into a nice little style that we’ve had together.”
Of course, it’s impossible to have a conversation about the Patriots’ offense without discussing quarterback Mac Jones, so what impresses Karras the most about the Pats’ rookie QB?
“One of the things that sticks out is his command of the offensive line and the whole offense. You think about this kid coming into this program, and this offense which is meticulous and very detail-oriented, and [he] has a grasp on all of it,” Karras told me.”
“In the preseason, I was working at center, and during the season, there’s no lapse in anything we are doing. I feel very comfortable that he knows what he’s doing. I don’t want to get too technical because, as he says, it’s top-secret information, but he does do stuff [that surprises you for a rookie].”
Karras also pointed out that Jones goes out of his way to get to know everyone on the offense.
“He does a great job of having little relationships with everyone on the offense, which I think is a big deal for a quarterback to know his troops. He knows everyone and has a relationship with everyone, which is really cool to see.”
As the Patriots turn their attention to their division rivals in the Buffalo Bills, New England’s six-game winning streak has them in a position to take a stranglehold of the AFC East with a win.
“The parity is unbelievable [in the AFC],” Karras said. “Our next five games are going to determine who’s where and who’s going home. This is really fun down the stretch December football like we wanted to play when we started the season. It’s going to be high-stakes ball, and that’s where you want to be.”
Karras and the Patriots are looking forward to the challenge of going up against a Buffalo defensive front that currently leads the NFL in pressure rate this season.
“You have to start with Ed Oliver at three-technique. Then you go to the two linebackers, [Matt] Milano and Tremaine [Edmunds], who are as good as it gets. Then, they have a bunch of D-linemen that are really good. You can go down the list with all these guys. It’s going to take a max effort on Monday night to go out there and get a victory.”
The Patriots always have bigger aspirations than to win eight games in a season, and they’re ascending at the right time for the stretch run followed by hopefully a postseason berth.
The move to bench a promising young player in Onwenu for a steady veteran in Karras continues to receive criticism. However, it’s another reminder that Belichick knows best.
Karras has solidified himself as a glue guy for the Patriots’ offensive line.
