Where We're At & We're We're Going
It has been an immeasurable Pleasure and an incalculable Privilege to root for Tom Brady over the last Decade or so.
I've got plenty of Notions about how I imagine he could improve his Game, and I'm not shy about sharing them...But it seems to me that any Patriot Fan who deigns to write about Tom Brady ought begin by acknowledging that we are privileged beyond measure to share, one day at a time, the Ascension of Tom Brady to the status of Legend.
One ought as well acknowledge his Humanity, though, because in so doing one recognizes that his Accomplishments are Great not because he was preordained to attain them but because he overcomes his Flaws to earn them.
However, my particular Perception of things is that Tom Brady was a considerably better and deadlier QuarterBack from 2001 to 2006, when he scrapping and scraping with mediocre "Weapons" around'm, than he has been since 2007, which is of course when he ascended to Fantasy FootBall Legendary Status and perceived Greatness.
It's not even remotely coincidental that the Patriots won 3 Super Bowls before the Air Brady Era began...and none, since.
Yes, the Defense was considerably better, back then. And I'd be the last man ~ the very last one ~ to denigrate the Impact of a Tenacious Defense on any Team's Championship Prospects. I preach that stuff.
But only a Fool blinded by dazzling and absolutely meaningless statistics, or a Fan who simply doesn't understand how Championships are won and is ashamed to admit it, would deny that ~ despite all the transitory and meaningless Regular Season Statistical Glory of the last 7 Years ~ the Patriots's Offense has descended, devolved, and eroded into something bearing an horrifyingly eerie resemblance to the Peyton Manning Colts Offenses we used to destroy.
In a word: We cover ourselves with statistical Glory during the regular Season. But we do so employing a relentlessly Pass Oriented Offense ~ an unbalanced Offense ~ that invariably crashes to Earth when we run into the Iron and Steel of the League's Defenses in January: One need only peruse the Final Score of each Year's final Games since 2007.
Use The Whole Pig, Tom.
Good news is: There're signs that we're doing precisely that.
Brady's propensity, this past Year, to channel an horrifyingly enormous Share of his Passes towards Julian Edleman, Danny Amendola, or whoever was providing him an easy, soothing, and comforting Target in the Slot remains deeply disturbing, don't get me wrong, because it is precisely Brady's propensity to latch onto a Binky since the arrival of Wes Welker in 2007 that's rendered our Offense so predictable...and thus so easy to stop, come January.
But Coach Bill II The Mad (Genius), General Tom's CoConspirator, ere the last 7 Years, in developing an Offense that consistently racked up Fantasy Statistics and consistently got us to the PlayOffs while proving so Pathetically Predictable and Containable that it was virtually guaranteed to fail against the Iron & Steel of the NFL during The Only Games That Really Matter...saw fit, for whatever reasons of'is own, to thrust Brady into a situation, replete with Rookie WideOuts, where he was absolutely forced to choose between either insisting on requiring Tactical Perfection from his WideOuts on each and every Play, as he's so notoriously and foolishly done, ere the last 7 spoiled Years...or to embrace the Reality that Rookies make mistakes and ~ here's a crazy idea ~ work with the young, talented, and hard-working WideOuts.
Being Demanding is one thing.
Being destructively demanding...is quite another thing altogether.
I'm crazy about Tom Brady.
No joke. I love the guy.
Heart of a Lion.
Hardest Working Man in the NFL.
But somewhere along the line, he lost sight of the fact that Predictability Usually Equals Defeat.
Somewhere along the line, he lost sight of the fact that Using The Whole Pig ~ mixing it up constantly and relentlessly, to persistently and mercilessly keep Defenses guessing ~ dramatically increasing our chances of Winning It All.
Somewhere along the line, he forgot that it was just as important to earn his Players's Trust as it was for them to earn his.
Somewhere along the line ~ just about 2007, I'm thinking ~ it seems to me that he became entitled.
It gives me no Pleasure to write that.
I truly admire the man.
And he's long since proven that he's got the the Balls to overcome even something so addictive as a Bad Habit.
Use The Whole Pig, Tom.
Run when they expect you to Pass.
Pass when they expect you to Run.
Mix it up.
Involve every Player in the Offense.
Involve them constantly.
Involve every Player on the Offense when you need to Move The Chains, even if it costs us a Game or two in September.
Step away from the Binky, Tom.
Step away from the Security Blanket.
Use The Whole Pig, Tom.
Therein lies the way back to your Championship Glory...and your prospective Immortality.
What I'd Love To See
1 ~ Trade Ryan Mallett to the Highest Bidder. If we can pull in the first Pick in the Draft, great. If all we can get is the last Pick in the 7th Round in the 2017 Draft and a bowl of CornFlakes, great. I have nothing against the Lad, and in fact wish him well. But I don't like his Mechanics or his Poise, and wouldn't trust'm when the Bulletts were flying, so why bother? Presumably, he's gone a Year hence, anyway, so it's our last chance to get something back for 2011's 74th.
2 ~ Seek out young QuarterBacks with extraordinary Processing Speed, Poise Under Fire, and allegedly mediocre Arms. Arm Strength can increase significantly with Coaching, and Accuracy is Light Years more important, anyway. The QuarterBacks I've described are far more likely to Move The Chains against the best Defenses in January, yet preposterously tend to come cheapest in April ~ or May ~ and the Gutters are riddled with Rocket Arms.
3 ~ I've never subscribed to the notion that one needs to spend heavy Draft Capital on Franchise QuarterBacks. It seems to me that the best way to go about things is to continuously churn Late Rounders & UFA's, as I've laid out in Step #2, and develop them either to trade them for far more than one spent on'm, or, ultimately, to take the Reins.
4 ~ I don't think we need to be worrying about Tom Brady's Successor.
5 ~ But we do need to start developing Depth of Talent behind'm. It really ain't that hard to do so.