BURRILLVILLE � The 66-year-old man stood by, taking in the sights and sounds as those around him fired handguns at the various targets lined up at Addieville East Farm. Shots rang out and a loud clang could be heard with each target struck.

BURRILLVILLE � The 66-year-old man stood by, taking in the sights and sounds as those around him fired handguns at the various targets lined up at Addieville East Farm. Shots rang out and a loud clang could be heard with each target struck.

The man, wearing a multicolored, long sleeve flannel with light blue jeans and a Syracuse baseball hat, watched closely. He�d never been at the Matt Light Celebrity Shoot-Out before, but Dante Scarnecchia tried to enjoy his first time at his former player�s charity event. This was the 10th anniversary of the Light Foundation�s fundraiser, but Scarnecchia was busy each of the past nine years, when he was offensive line coach for the Patriots.

The former coach, who stepped away former the game following 32 NFL seasons, is enjoying retirement, he says.

As the shots rang out around him, he wouldn�t comment on the Patriots current offensive line � which is also under fire. Instead, Scarnecchia simply said it was nice to be around his former players.

�It really is,� Scarnecchia said. �I�ve always wondered what this even was like, because they always had it on the players� day off, which meant the coaches were working. This is the first opportunity to come over here. Matt invited me to come over and I�m happy to be here.�

Scarnecchia silence on the issue speaks volumes about the Patriots� current offensive line situation. Throug three games, it�s a mess. Tom Brady�s been sacked seven times this season and pressured routinely as the offense has struggled to put up points.

The Patriots line is missing two vital pieces from its past in Scarnecchia and former All-Pro guard Logan Mankins, who was traded to Tampa Bay in August. The loss of leadership has been evident.

On Sunday against the Raiders, Brady was sacked two times and hit six times. The performance was a big step backwards after the team allowed only one sack in Week Two. The team�s pass protection struggled of the gate this year without Mankins, giving up four sacks and 16 hurries in the season-opener in Miami.

Without Scarnecchia, who coached the Patriots offensive line from 1999 to 2013, the position group is now led by Dave DeGuglielmo. Light, who started 153 games with the Patriots, and Scarnecchia, said the early bumps are to be expected with so much turnover.

�We have an offensive line that has had to make a lot of changes, let alone the fact that they lost their leader and a guy [Mankins] that was just a perennial pro, but they have a new line coach and they have other guys that haven�t been in the system very long,� Light said. �Those are huge hurdles to overcome. That�s not going to end tomorrow. That�s not going to end in two weeks.

�They�re going to continually evolve and figure out how to play the game together better. And they need to do that. I don�t think anybody should question how the guys will get the job done. They�ll find a way to make that happen.�

In the first three weeks, the interior of the starting offensive line has been completely different than in previous seasons with Marcus Cannon (left guard), Dan Connolly (center) and Jordan Devey (right guard). Until this season, neither Cannon nor Devey ever started a game at guard in the NFL. Virtually all of Cannon�s experience comes at tackle and Devey, who�s had his struggles, was on the practice squad last season.

On Tuesday, Devey said there have been some adjustments working with DeGuglielmo.

�A new coach, new terminology. Every coach has their way of teaching it. We�ve all adjusted to it well, I feel like, and are moving forward,� said Devey, who then credited Scarnecchia for helping him last year. �Tremendously. Yeah, he�s a fantastic coach. I can�t say enough good things about him. I feel like he helped me a lot develop, especially being on that practice squad role.�

The Patriots ended up swapping in rookie center Bryan Stork during the game on Sunday, moving Connolly to guard and Devey to the sidelines. It�s going to take some time, Light said, for all the players to get acclimated to one another. That also goes for veteran tackles Nate Solder and Sebastian Vollmer, who have to get used to working with new guards next to them.

�Things are going to happen, because there are moving parts, and look, when you have a guy next to you, that you�re not as familiar with, it makes things exponentially harder,� Light said. �People need to understand that. It�s not the guys as much as it is the situation.�

You can�t help but wonder what the offensive line would look like with its former coach at the helm. Scarnecchia looked as spry on Tuesday as he always did on the sidelines each Sunday. He was happy to be at Light�s event and not back at Gillette Stadium preparing for the Kansas City Chiefs with the rest of the coaching staff.

�The last time I fired a rifle or a pistol was when I was in the Marines,� Scarnecchia. �It�s fun to be out here.�

Light acknowledged that it was strange to think of a Patriots team without the man everyone called �Scar.�

�It�ll tell you what, it hasn�t happened in a long, long time here in New England,� Light said. �But I can tell you this, he�s here, and we�re happy to have him here for the first time ever. Retirement I�m sure is treating him well.�

It�s just not treating the Patriots as kindly.