What has been the secret the last few weeks for the New England Patriots’ offensive line?

If you want to pinpoint a big difference between the Patriots of the last month vs. the pre-holiday Patriots, it’s the play of the offensive line. New England has rushed the ball for 735 yards in their last four games (vs. Bills, Jets, Chargers, Chiefs) and have basically kept quarterback Tom Brady upright. Sunday night’s AFC Title win the line was at its peak with no procedure or holding penalties in a loud environment.

“The last two weeks we’ve been clicking well,” Patriots center David Andrews said. “I thought it was a big challenge this week – no penalties, we didn’t do anything to hurt ourselves on the road and that was going to be a huge challenge with the noise. …

“Our tackles (Trent Brown and Marcus Cannon) have been playing lights out so hats of to those guys, and the three of us on the inside (Andrews, Shaq Mason and Joe Thuney) have been holding our own.”

“There’s a lot of unselfish, hardworking guys in that group, you see that every week when they compete,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Tuesday in a media conference call. “Every week’s different, every week’s a new challenge. … Those guys have their hands full every week. But they come to work every day, work hard to continue to get better, they’ve done that individually and collectively as a unit.”

The health of the line has been a huge key, as well as the coaching of assistant Dante Scarnecchia. Scarnecchia has always gotten rave reviews for his work with the offensive line and this season, especially the last few weeks, has been no different.”

“Scar’s been awesome,” Andrews said. “He’s a tough coach to play for at times but you know there’s benefts to the way he’s coaching and the way he harps on us is to get our best. He knows what our best is and we still haven’t reached that so we’ll go back to work here this week.”

“Scar is an extremely hard worker, he’s incredibly well prepared and detailed in terms of his opponent and the players he’s responsible for coaching on a daily basis,” Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said. “He’s a competitive guy who wants to do well in every area he’s responsible for.”

Meanwhile, the Patriots running game has taken a lot of pressure off the line as well as the passing attack. It’s given the Patriots an added dimension.

“They’re great running backs and I’m just fortunate enough to get to block for them,” Andrews said. “Josh does a great job getting the ball in their hands and good things happen. We give them lanes and get them moving.”

And it’s a smart group, and Belichick said that there’s always input that’s welcome from the linemen.

“There’s always an element of adjusting, or having to modify your techinique or the way you’re doing it, based on a certain look or the way a player plays the play or how it unfolds after the snap,” Belichick said. “We have a pretty experienced group there. … if they feel they like they can do something a certain way, and it might be a little different from the way we’ve talked about, we’ll take that into consideration. A lot of times (the coaches) will go with what they think. Look, they want the same things we do, as long as it’s sound and fits with everything else we’re doing.”

And now the Rams will have to take New England’s offensive line into heavy consideration.

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Belichick was asked by a television reporter during Tuesday’s conference call on the report of a laser pointer in the direction of Tom Brady during Sunday night’s AFC Championship Game. The answer was predictable.

“Right now we’re getting ready for the Rams,” he said, and when pressed again, he said, “Working on the Rams.”

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Patriots Pro Bowl corner Stephon Gilmore will see old friend Rams receiver Brandin Cooks, who he went up against a lot last year in practice when Cooks was a Patriots before being traded to L.A.this past off-season.

“It’ll be fun,” Gilmore told the media after the game the other. “I’m excited for him, but on the field it will be all business. But it’s going to be a fun experience.”

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The Patriots are slated to fly down to Atlanta on Sunday. As has been the norm, the Patriots said there will be a fan send-off rally prior to their departure Sunday, with details to be made public later this week.

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