The Massive Cost Offensively. (Part III)
Belichick has said without a uniform number, it is hard to distinguish between Brady and Polo He meant on style of play and on techniques. It is not difficult to see the differences between Brady and Brissetts style, though.
Constructing a Superbowl club is different than assembling a winning team. You have to optimize to take advantage of every thing your Team can do; and do it even better.
In summary, Brady's game has always been as a pocket mobile QB, whose forte is short to intermediate throws and very accurate to allow YAC. Being very accurate, he can throw a catchable ball with great velocity, to minimize interceptions and incompletions. Tied to this is the ability to read and anticipate a Defense. Brady also has the ability to release very quickly and compactly, on short drops, before being sacked.
He is not particularly a long ball thrower and his game is not as a practitioner of power running games.
That means the Team, over many drafts, is optimized to provide the best alternatives for such a talent. The Offensive line is heavily oriented to being a pass blocking line, at the sacrifice of power run blocking. The receivers are selected for their quickness, and route running to get open, and not particularly for size and deep speed. RBs who can catch and run a route, are usually preferred over power backs. None of this is absolute. Moss was a great deep reciever and still was at the tail end of his career when the Patriots acquired his services. Antowain and Le Garette are also antithetical to the norm of RBs who have succeeded here, like Kevin Faulk and now White.
That summary accurately describes Garappolo talents too. Brady has a better head from long experience reading Defenses, and Polo's release may be even superior to how great Brady's release is. That is saying something. It is Marino like.
The Talents of Brisette are not in that direction. He is a semi-accurate, long ball thrower, with mild accuracy in the short and intermediate game. His release is long, slow, and ponderous. Not that it hurts in the long deep game, but not conducive to the dink and dunk games of Brady and Garrapolo, and for which talents the receivers were acquired. I doubt you could consistently move the ball downfield as Brady does, little bits at a time and using the short accurate throw as a substitute for a running game, with a Jacoby. Brisette while talented, is just not that kind of QB.
Lets look at franchise QBs that win, but do it as Brisette type might do. Eli Manning and Ben Rothlesberger, I will use as examples. They throw long and complete deep quick strike scores. Their long game is augmented by superior RBs, and very talented deep receivers. Both types of skill players are very expensive to acquire and keep. Their Offensive lines are selected to benefit the power run, at the cost of pass blocking ability. Deep pass protection comes with the QBs deep drop and mobility and scrambling ability to buy time.
Let us suppose that the Pats acquired such a franchise type deep passing QB by trade or draft or development. You would need the following changes: Thuney, Cannon and Andrews would need replacement, possibly Mason too. They are not power run blockers to build a running game around. Goodbye to Amendola, Edelman, maybe Mitchell. Short, small, quick, marginally speedy WRs dont cut it any longer. Floyd fits, and no one else in the WRs, and his deep talent is marginal as a quick-strike weapon.
The TEs are fine. Blount stays, and so does Lewis, White's talent is wasted, so he probably goes too, and you need some more big RBs, trying to find a Laveon Bell. I am really impressed with the draft pick haul for Garrapolo that you got Now.
So to optimize the Offense for such a Super Bowl quality team, not just a plus .500 club, you would ONLY need to replace 8-9 Patriot starters!!!!
There is a Massive Cost to trading Garrapolo that you now begin to see. And we have not yet reviewed the Defense...
