PatsFanInVa

Let me begin with a fervent prayer that this does not happen in practice for many many years. These three, in combination, virtually guarantee annual competition for THE ultimate prize, season after season. These last ten years have included none where the Pats have been eliminated from consideration early, which is a recurring phenomenon for many NFL franchises, and used to be our lot more often than I like to remember.

Having said that, how important is each piece?

- Robert Kraft, age 69. Longevity (high side): 10-20 years. Season ticket holder since before the Pats entered the NFL. Possible replacement with similar characteristics? Arguably (son Jonathan.)

- Bill Belilchick, age 58. Longevity (high side): 20 years (ask father Steve Belichick, long-time assistant coach at Navy.) Found world-beating success at New England. We like to believe he'll coach here forever, for obvious reasons.

- Tom Brady, age 33. Longevity: 5-8 years. Has never played for another NFL team. Shows all signs of wanting to retire a Patriot. A "Montana in KC" scenario is always possible, but he looks in it for the long haul.

Obviously, the best 5-8 year scenario, and the most likely one, is that these three continue to work together in NE.

Then what? We hope we will at least have BB and Kraft together.

2008 showed that a BB-coached team (enabled by Kraft, who had the insight to trade away Curtis Martin to get the real brains in the Parcells/Bellichick brain trust) can win 11 games without Brady (though with a Moss at closer to the top of his game.)

2010 has shown just how unimportant that vertical threat can be when all else is going fairly well (thus far.)

Is it reasonable to think that winning without Brady can be as regular as winning with Brady has been?

Can another Cassel be rounded up, assuming Cassel's 2010 work is indicative of his future baseline, and not an outlier?

Granted this is a very "cross your fingers and hope" thread. We've seen how adroitly BB can handle "rebuilding." Dare we hope that NE's "window" is the length of Belichick's career, not Brady's?

In other words, after the 5 Lombardis we'll win between Super Bowls XLV and L, what does the future hold?

Just getting ahead of the next plausible wave of "The Patriots are done" threads from GangGreen.

Willie55

Great post but Martin wasn't traded, he was a restricted free agent. Parcells signed him to a contract that the Pats could never hope to match. Belichick came to the Pats a couple years later.

As for the idea of your original post, I think as long as the organization is sound this team will continue to win, much like the Steelers. The Rooneys have always been there, different pieces come and go, but they are always competitive.

__________________
Great teams aren't always great. They are just great when they have to be. - NFL Films Narrator


To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.



To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.



To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

livinginthe past

On the cusp on yet another Belichick/Brady inspired playoff adventure - and people want to dwell on when its all going to end?

Save this ***** until the season is done, for the love of god.

PatsFanInVa

Wahhh. If you can live in the past, I can live in the future. At present, here, it's 9:55 a.m., and the game's a while off yet.

Turn off your own mind, don't worry about mine.

And now back to our regularly scheduled program.

(oh yeah, & to the previous poster - mea culpa on the Martin/Parcells/Belichick chronology... main point remains: how many of us thought Belichick was the savior Kraft saw?)

Potstickas

I don't think even Kraft saw or even imagined what was about to happen.

CheeseMonkeys

I'd just like to say that it may be a good thing for Tom's reputation that Cassel seems to be turning into a good player. Too many people are saying that Brady's success is a product of BB and the Patriots system. Then they claim that Cassel is proof after he replaced Tom in 2008 and had such a great season. Well check it out, Cassel is have success over in Kansas city too.

__________________
“These players, a lot of other people didn't believe in them, but they believe in themselves. And that is all that matters.” - Bill Belichick

rgp88

I think that with Belichick, w/o Brady we can still be competitive (kind of like we saw in 2008) Belichick is the master of getting the most out of players, and he just may be able to develop another great QB. We probably won't win 12+ games every season, as has become sort of a norm around here...but good, entertaining, competitive football is all that any fan really has a right to ask for.

With Brady, w/o Belichick I am less confident, but still optimistic.

I love what Kraft has done for this team, and he was obviously an integral part of turning this team around, but at this point it seems to me that his main duty is just to facilitate the needs of Belichick.

rgp88

I have heard more people (jets fans in particular) say they opposite... that BB's success is a result of him "stumbling upon" brady. They point to his early days with cleveland as "proof". I think as pats fans we rightly recognize (or blindly assume?) that we are extremely lucky and fortunate enough to have the two best at both individual positions, and that is the reason we are so successful.

Serafino07

Although this is a theoretical post, the truth is that it will become a reality sooner or later. As we all know, change can happen instantly in the NFL and in life so maybe we can acknowledge how lucky we are now to have the Brady/BB/Kraft combination. Let's enjoy it while it lasts. With that having been said, I would think the most important cog moving forward is ownership. Having a healthy and driven Bob Kraft will make this team a force to be reckoned with year in and year out. Obviously, our QB and coach are doing great right now but they can be replaced with others. An owner who cares and who is invested in winning every year cannot be replaced.

DarrylS

What is happening is something that Mr. Kraft intened, although probably never conceived that it would be this successful, an excellent NFL business model.. based on sound economic theory; Do not overspend in bright shiny beads, always have assets available for future planning, do not fall in love with the vets.. scour the countryside for the next UDFA and develop a system that if someone goes down the replacement plays up to the expectation of the injured player..

Sounds so simple, but not too many teams can replicate it.. pretty confident that after BB, after TB and after Mr. Kraft.. Jonathan & family will intend to replicate what is going on here.

__________________
"Being the best doesn't mean you always win. It just means you win more than anyone else".. tweet from Kurt Warner to Tom Brady.