Dante Scarnecchia has had a massive influence on this Patriots captain

FOXBOROUGH, Mass - When David Andrews signed with the New England Patriots as an undrafted free agent in 2015, he had no idea that it would lead to one of the most influential relationships he would ever have. 

Just a year after he joined the team, the Patriots brought back Dante Scarnecchia to serve as the offensive line coach once again. And that same year, New England went on to win Super Bowl LI, defeating the Atlanta Falcons in a historic comeback win. 

Andrews learned and grew under the direction of Scarnecchia, so with him now being inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame at Gillette Stadium, there was no better person to talk to ahead of the ceremony than the Patriots captain. 

“No one more deserving. I don’t know if there have been many people in my career that have had such a big impact on my life, the game. I don’t know if I’d be standing here talking to y’all. And I’m not just saying that. I mean that because he taught me so much about the game, how to play the game, how to play the game the right way," Andrews told reporters on Friday. "I think about his offensive line, his playing code, and I mean there’s things you can apply to your life, marriage, raising kids. So it means a lot to a lot of people in the building and I think for anyone that played offensive line here, he’s had a lasting impact on.”

“He’s a great teacher. At the end of the day, any coach is a teacher. He’s a great teacher of the game. He’s a great motivator, he’s a great leader," Andrews added. "All things that required someone to get the best out of somebody. And I think he simplified the game and approached it in a way that was drilled into you. And you were going to do it the way he wanted it done, whether you liked it or not.”

Yet, there was one thing that Scarnecchia was certainly known for. 

“Don’t get me wrong, he loved correcting you,” Andrews said with a smile. 

But that was only because Scarnecchia took an interest in each and every one of his players. Andrews recalled one time when he had a one-on-one meeting with the offensive line coach and thought it was going to all be about football. Instead, Scarnecchia just checked in with him, making sure his wife was doing well and everything was good at home. 

"This was in the middle of the season. I think for me, that was kind of like this guy obviously cares about my production on Sunday, but he also cares about me," Andrews said. "And that stuff has some sort of effect on you on Sunday.”

And Scarnecchia also spoke about the center during his jacket fitting on Friday as he has seen Andrews continue to grow and become a leader in this league. 

“I think it’s a great thing because I think he’s invaluable to the team. His leadership skills and his toughness and the way he conducts himself in the meetings," Scarnecchia said. "There’s a guy, you could look at him all the time and that guy’s not sleeping in this meeting because he’s all business. To his credit, he is the player he is. He’s a self made guy and he’s a team guy all the way. Wish him nothing but the best.” 

Andrews is currently in his eighth year in the league, and while he isn't showing any signs of stopping soon, he has some idea of what he wants to do once his playing days are over. 

And his relationship with Scarnecchia is certainly a large part of the reason for that. 

“I think I want to coach, so having someone like that, you can try to pick their brain, who’s done it for a long time," Andrews said. "I don’t know if there’s a better resource out there.”

"Golly, I’ve done this for 25 years and heck I didn’t even graduate college so I gotta figure that out and I got a lot of stuff to figure out. But I do something so long and it’s all you really know. I care about it, I care about the game a lot. I don’t stop thinking about it. So I feel like it would be injustice not to do something with the game one day.”

And as for the level he wants to coach, he thinks he knows what it'll be. But as we saw with Scarnecchia, the natural competitor often comes out and their ambitions can get bigger. 

“I think I want to coach high school. My wife doesn’t think that’ll be enough. She thinks I’m gonna want to do something more so I don’t know," Andrews said. "We’ll see what happens. I’m not trying to think about that now. One day I’ll think about that. You guys can ask me more questions then.”