FOXBORO — During a season in which keeping Tom Brady comfortable in the pocket has never been more important, the Patriots offensive line is doing its part.

Buffalo defensive end Aaron Schobel sacked Brady late in the first quarter of the season-opener. Since then, the group — comprised mainly of left tackle Matt Light, left guard Logan Mankins, center Dan Koppen, right guard Stephen Neal and right tackle Nick Kaczur — has pitched a sack shutout. The group has no sacks allowed in the last two games, and an overall sackless streak of 11-plus quarters.

Brady has been under pressure for much of the season. In a Week 2 loss, the Jets used an overload blitz to bring some serious heat on the quarterback, knocking him around pretty well. Overall, Brady has been hit 13 times this season, including seven times by New York, and that pressure has altered New England’s game plans.

But while the blitzes have forced the Patriots to occasionally get creative with their protection (they used Light as a tight end and added rookie Sebastian Vollmer at left tackle to try to blunt Schobel), New England has managed to avoid negative passing plays. The Patriots are tied with the New York Giants for the fewest sacks allowed.

“They’ve been great,” Brady said of his offensive line. “It’s pretty awesome to have one sack [against] through the first three weeks of the year.”

On Sunday against the Falcons, the Patriots did not allow a sack in 42 pass attempts, marking their second consecutive game with no sacks allowed. Including Sunday’s sack-free performance, Brady has not been sacked in his last 134 pass attempts, the longest current streak in the NFL.

Through three games this season, the New England offensive line has allowed just one sack on 142 pass attempts, easily the best ratio in the NFL. (The Giants have yielded one sack in 94 pass attempts.) By way of comparison, the Packers have allowed 12 sacks in 90 pass attempts through three games, the most in the league.

“They’re very well-coached and they all play well together,” Brady said of his offensive line. “We’ve played some challenging defenses as well, with a guy like Schobel in the first week then the Jets defense in the second week and then [John] Abraham this last week.”

One of the secrets to the group's success lies in the fact that its members have been together for the last several seasons. Setting aside a few games here and there because of injury, the combination of Kaczur, Neal, Koppen, Mankins and Light has been together most every game since midway through the 2006 season. That sort of continuity builds a confidence in your teammates.

“They’ve been together for a long time, so they know the calls, they know the schemes,” Brady said. “Offensive lines typically get a lot better as they play together. These guys have been together and relatively very healthy, which we’ve been lucky with.”

But it’s not just the familiarity of the offensive line that plays a role in avoiding sacks. (Last season through three games, the same offensive line had allowed 11 sacks, and ended the season with 48 total sacks allowed, fifth-worst in the league.) It’s a team-wide effort. As out of sync as he has appeared with his receivers through some of the first three games, Brady has done a good job getting the ball to his pass-catchers quickly, avoiding negative plays and successfully staying a step ahead of blitzers.

In addition, the Patriots' use of play-action — even just the threat of the play-action — has managed to keep opposing defenses on their toes.

“They ran the ball a little bit more than we expected,” said Abraham, the Falcons defensive end who had 16.5 sacks last season but none last week against the Patriots. “They have three good backs, so they ran more play-action at us, which made it hard and took us off our blocks.”

This week will bring the toughest team of the year for the New England offensive line. Baltimore can bring pressure better than most any team in the league. On Wednesday, Brady described the Ravens defense as having a “really blitzing style.”

“This week has its own challenges with this defense,” Brady said. “They’ve got some great speed pass-rushers, as well as a really blitzing style. Our guys always step up for the challenge, and I know they’re always prepared.”