HOUSTON — You don’t need to be Bill Belichick to figure out why the New England Patriots lost last year’s AFC Championship Game: The offensive line was simply dominated by the Denver Broncos’ pass rush for 60 minutes. Tom Brady, who fires off passes faster than any quarterback in the league, just did not have enough time to throw and the Patriots offense could not move the ball.

The line was a liability, but the front office did not go out and spend a ton of resources bringing in better players in the offseason. Instead, Belichick turned to a familiar face: 68-year-old Dante Scarnecchia, who retired as New England’s offensive line coach in 2014. He had been working as a consultant evaluating draft prospects for New England. Belichick asked him to return to his old post, and Scarnecchia accepted the invitation. And he told Bleacher Report’s Doug Farrar he’d be back for another season in 2017.

Scarnecchia’s impact on the 2016 team has been nothing short of remarkable. The Patriots’ blocking has improved across the board. Tom Brady was sacked on 3.4% of his dropbacks this season. That number was 5.4% in 2015. That played a large role in the 39-year-old putting up one of the best seasons of his career and Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett playing well in Brady’s absence. New England’s running game improved, too. The Pats finished seventh in rushing yards after finishing 30th a season ago.

Tom Brady will get more than a few league MVP votes, but the true MVP of this Patriots team just might be Scarnecchia.

It’s unbelievable how much the individual linemen improved under the tutelage of Scarnecchia. RT Marcus Cannon was a second-team All-Pro. A season ago, Pro Football Focus graded him as one of the worst tackles in the league. LT Nate Solder returned to form after a couple down years in a row. RG Shaq Mason looks like an entirely different player.

“Marcus, Shaq Mason, David Andrews, the list goes on and on,” said Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said of the players who have benefitted from Scarnecchia’s return. “I’ve seen this. I can sit here all night and name guys that have benefitted significantly. Whether it be over the course of a season or a career. He makes every player in his room better. That’s a sign of a tremendous coach, which is what he is.”

Scarnecchia has been doing this a long time. He easily pre-dates the Belichick era in New England, having started as a tight ends and special teams coach in 1982. Outside of one year in Indianapolis, Scarnecchia was on the Patriots staff for the following 30 years. He started coaching the line in 1999, and it didn’t take long for him to establish himself as one of the best offensive line coaches in the league.

So how does Scarnecchia do it?

“Well he’s an excellent teacher,” says Solder. “He can break down the game so we can understand it, he can break it down so we can play at a higher level and he’s consistent too. You’ll see from day one of OTAs all the way through to now. Super Bowl practices, we’ll be doing the same drills because those drills translate, and he harps on the same things that really helped me improve my game.”

The other coaches see it too.

“He’s as good a coach I’ll ever be around,” said McDaniels. “He’s a tremendous communicator. He has the most guys to coach on every play on our entire staff. He does a tremendous job of being able to communicate to all of those people what their job is and what the expectations are and how to do it the right way.”

Scarnecchia not only does a good job of communicating with his players, but he also teaches them to communicate with one another and to trust one another, the keys to good offensive line play.

“He takes young players, and he creates a relationship with them,” said McDaniels. “They believe in him and trust him. Then, he makes them better. Through that process, you have a group of five guys that play well together because they all believe in each other.”

Talk to any of the Patriots linemen about what makes their unit so successful, and their chemistry and camaraderie is the first thing they all bring up.

“Our whole offensive line likes playing with each other,” Cannon said of the line’s chemistry. “Come in together, meet together and leave together. It has just been a tight group of guys. It is a great offensive line we’ve got.”

The Patriots have built a great offensive line and have done so without the blue-chip talent you’ll find on the league’s best offensive lines. That’s all Scarnecchia, who has gotten so much out of an unheralded group.

“He doesn’t complain that he wants more of these or more of those or that he wants a guy drafted in the first round,” McDaniels said. “We have one first-rounder in that room and that’s it.”

“Those guys, to a man, would all say the same thing that I’m saying about him. We’re lucky to have him.”