Vince Wilfork's Leadership Holding Patriots' Patchwork Defensive Line Together

FOXBORO, Mass. -- Vince Wilfork continued to take his game to new levels during his 2010 Pro Bowl season, and one of the most remarkable aspects of this campaign has been his ability to get it done amid a revolving door of defensive linemen.

In the last week alone, the Patriots placed defensive linemen Ron Brace and Mike Wright on injured reserve, while also temporarily suspending rookie defensive lineman Brandon Deaderick. They also signed Atiyyah Ellison Wednesday and then released him Saturday.

Of the Patriots' current crop of seven defensive linemen, two of them -- Eric Moore (Dec. 3) and Landon Cohen (Dec. 22) -- have been added in the last five weeks. Three others -- veteran Gerard Warren, rookie Kyle Love and Deaderick -- were added in the offseason, while Wilfork and second-year lineman Myron Pryor are the only two who were with the Patriots last season. Pryor, though, missed seven consecutive games with a back injury.

The never-ending series of changes started almost immediately when the Patriots had issues with Derrick Burgess in training camp and placed Ty Warren on injured reserve Aug. 13. They've also placed rookie Kade Weston and Darryl Richard on IR.

Even with all of that, Wilfork has turned in his best season, despite the fact that he's almost always getting to know a new linemate.

"It’s very tough coming into a system like this and being successful right away," Wilfork said. "It’s very tough. At times, it’s not perfect. At times, I go out and do some things that I look at [on] film and think, ‘What was I thinking?’ It’s very tough in a scheme like this. But these guys, they get it. Me being a pretty accountable guy, I want to make sure that these guys coming in that are going to help [us] know how we do things. If that’s watching more film or staying after and working with some guys, that’s what it is. Whatever they need for us to be successful, that’s what we’re willing to give.

"I think all year we’ve been working very, very hard all around, every position. Some things [that] we don’t do a lot of, we spend a little bit more time on. At this point in time, there are some things that you can do a lot better, some things that we haven’t done all year but we did in camp, some of those things might come up now. We have to approach it and we have to know what we have to do when those things come up. But, these guys, like I said, you’re professional. When you’re at this level, you’re professional. It’s very hard to come and be successful at this level, at this time especially, on a team like [ours with] the schemes that we run. It’s pretty tough, but we manage to do it. It’s hard work. That’s all it is, hard work paying off."

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(nesn.com)