Are you kidding me?
lombardi coached 9 years. If belichick drops off its after 20. Lombardi went to the redskins after go and had a .500 record. Couldn’t win without Starr I guess.
Shula went his last 12 years without a Sb and his last 22 without a championship. Shula couldn’t win WITH MARINO so that would make him the GOAT if belichick doesn’t win without Brady?????
Shula had double digit wins 3 times in his last 10 seasons, with Marino
And Marino played QB as well as anyone.
This board is almost a parody with the BB baloney. I can tell several posters just sit back and watch F&M and seethe all afternoon.
Brady went to a team full of top-15 draft picks, second round picks that were only a few places behind the Pats 1st rounder (when they got first-rounders) and a bunch of reclamation vets - Gronk, Brown, Suh, Fournette - on the cheap. Give Tampa all the credit in the world for their recent moves - they did exactly what the NFL is designed for crap teams to do.
Give Brady a ton of credit, sure, but does anyone think that Tampa couldn't have won with several other QBs? Wilson? Mahomes? Rodgers? They gave up 9 freaking points to KC - first double-digit loss in Mahomes' career. Their D shut down the highest-flying O in the league this year three separate times in the second half at Lambeau after Brady picks - had that not happened and GB pulled that game out (which could have happened with something as little as Rodgers walking into the end zone on third down instead of trying to make an impossible pass), none of this talk would be happening right now. Brady would blame himself for that loss, and not without reason, and we'd all be saying, "better a year too early..."
That's how fine a line the NFL is. Champ or chump - Tampa's defense made Brady the former in the GB game.
And again, don't get me wrong. I was whooping it up for Brady in the SB, thrilled to see the GOAT be the GOAT. But let's not kid ourselves here in our BB flagellation exorcism. Brady landed in the best possible situation and used everything he has learned over two decades of success and that unrivaled inner fire to elevate that team. Barring injury, they've got to be favorites to repeat.
Meanwhile, BB went into FA with almost no money, lost most of his line-backing corps, his NT - then 8 pieces, several key ones - at the last moment. He played a season full of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd years players (no top-half of Round 1 picks), a reclamation prayer at QB who got COVID and never looked the same, and had a broken throwing motion anyway, missed almost 4 weeks of practice in the middle of the season due to protocols, lost their best receiver for 10 games, played one of, if not THE toughest schedule in the league, with half of their games against 2020 playoff teams, came within one play of beating the Seahawks and the Bills, and had KC on the ropes with Brian Hoyer, ffs.
7-9 meant that with all of that, with almost all of the veteran leadership and proven players gone, no LB corps, no serviceable QB, they were in the middle of the pack in the NFL.
Yeah, BB sucks. Gimme a break.