this is a tough thread for me to read. it brings back the last two years, when TB was, as he remains today, at the peak of his talent.
in one of those years, the pats' Front Office, for whatever reasons that we can debate forever, stripped him of his best weapons and he still almost got it done, with the team running out of steam in the second half of that game in indy we all want to forget. last year, he had the weapons but, for reasons that have been debated for hundreds of hours out here, it didn't happen in Arizona.
that's easily two more rings he might have had with just a few things breaking differently, some in his control, many not. but the nfl is a tough place to win and every season has its "woulda, shoulda, coulda" teams. The mountain that will loom before the pats and 31 other teams next week is an incredibly difficult one to climb, as BB points out every year at just about this time.
I don't know what the next three or four years of his career at the peak of his powers will bring, but, personally, I don't ask anything else of him. he's brought it all and he's given it all. another trophy would be incredibly satisfying, but Tom Brady has nothing else to prove.
but my reading is that he is a balanced guy for whom football is very important but not the overriding obsession it is for PM. He won't hang on if he's on the downslope.
