Poll.. is it Brady left, or Pats let him go?

Bill Lee said:

I was with you, right up to the 'and' part of that sentence, LOL! There was a lot to like about that team, but IMO we've been so blessed over the last twenty years there's a number of teams I would pick over that team as my personal favorites.

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I get it and knew I'd get killed for that but I loved that old Pat Patriot team and that season. I used to be a laughingstock in school for having a Patriots helmet when the cool helmets were the Packers and Jets.

Drunken Cicerone said:

I don’t think Belichick wanted Brady for the past three years.

and if this team gave their 43 year old QB 30 per they’d have to cut roster rather than improve it. It doesn’t work for them in any way.

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Belichick wanted to replace Brady 3 years ago. Brady proved BB wrong by winning a Superbowl AFTER the Garappolo trade.

So BB set up Tom to look bad by alienating Brady's trainer, alienating Gronk into retirement, and giving him ZERO weapons for the 2019 season. More of the same expected for 2020 after his reported 'bad conversation' with BB so of course he left.

Here's how the conversation went:
BB - We're fixing to keep you for another year Tom.
TB12 - Can I get a two year deal and some assurances you will actually give me weapons this time around?
BB - Nope one year prove it contract. You're over 40 Tom. And you're no damn GM, you get the groceries I put on the table and you'll like it.
TB12 - Click. That went badly. Guess I'll have to tell Kraft the bad news.

2020, if the NFL holds a season, will be a rebuild year for the Patriots. Stidham will need another year to get his bearings and we might draft a QB to compete with him. So If the Pats go only .500 or worse during L.A.B., Life After Brady, I wouldn't be surprised.

IF we can find a good QB, then this team can start competing again, but that can be a surprisingly long process.

I expect the Bucs to have a better record than the Patriots in 2020, and certainly they have a way better shot at making it to the Superbowl.

KontradictioN said:

This is the poll we needed.

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I thought we needed a poll asking, "What will have the worst effect upon New England, Tom Brady's departure or the Covid-19 virus?"

No one seems to ask the question why we are so "up against the cap" and yet we have zero studs on offense and the defense is mediocre and getting substantially worse at LB. The reason is piss poor roster management and 5 straight years of bad drafts by guess who! My god people are such BB homers on this forum. It's friggin nauseating. 6-10 this season. Enjoy your Cleveland Browns sub .500 greatest coach of all time.

fnordcircle said:

It's both. Irreconcilable differences in a situation where both parties had good reasons for their stances.

Some relationships end because both sides just simply want something different. We're just predisposed to try to paint one side as the crazy ex.

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Sounds like you have experience.

sean10mm said:

Serious answer is it's both. Neither side took the idea of Brady coming back particularly seriously because it's a Catch-22.

Part of why Brady wants to leave is the poor quality of the offensive roster as a whole. He doesn't want to spend the twilight of his career throwing to scrubs and being blamed for the result. If the Patriots paid him anything approaching a competitive rate, they would have no cap space to buy the upgrades necessary for him to want to be there in the first place.

None of it added up and both sides knew it. Belichick lowballed Brady because he more or less had to in order to have the cap space to reload the talent on the roster as a whole, and Brady shrugged and signed with the Buccaneers so he could make $30m per throwing to several good young receiving weapons.

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IMO TB12 is so past his prime that he's going to make the Bucs WR's look pedestrian. In his prime he made average receivers look good. I contend the Pat's receivers will look better with Stidham throwing to them.
Defenses will rush Brady every which way from Tuesday. He will look even worse than he did this past season. A "severe injury" will take him out of the lineup and save his ego. He will never play the second year in TB. Belichick wanted him gone because he knows the tank is empty. TB12 will be the biggest disappointment in the NFL in 2020. He should have retired. He is the GOAT, but his time has passed.

borg said:

(AP News Mar 18 06:45)
Three Waste Management garbage trucks were seen entering Gillette Stadium and Patriots Place early this morning. Large crews were spotted removing various pieces of equipment including massage tables, vibro-rub machines, cryogenic pods, as well as cases of concussion water and exotic oils plus stacks of foam pads, medicine balls, and pliability bands. Dressed in a hooded sweatshirt, the apparent supervisor of the operation was spotted standing on top of one of the behemoth vehicles urinating on it contents as they were being compacted on site.

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Somewhere, off in the distance, a dog barked

RIP#40 said:

IMO TB12 is so past his prime that he's going to make the Bucs WR's look pedestrian. In his prime he made average receivers look good. I contend the Pat's receivers will look better with Stidham throwing to them.
Defenses will rush Brady every which way from Tuesday. He will look even worse than he did this past season. A "severe injury" will take him out of the lineup and save his ego. He will never play the second year in TB. Belichick wanted him gone because he knows the tank is empty. TB12 will be the biggest disappointment in the NFL in 2020. He should have retired. He is the GOAT, but his time has passed.

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I watched quite a few chiefs games. It was night and day when you see those Chiefs receivers just running wide open. Any QB makes those throws. How many gimme plays did Brady have this year? Aside from Edelman and AB absolutely nobody could get open. Now supposedly Stidham magically makes those guys better?

Run DMC said:

No one seems to ask the question why we are so "up against the cap" and yet we have zero studs on offense and the defense is mediocre and getting substantially worse at LB. The reason is piss poor roster management and 5 straight years of bad drafts by guess who! My god people are such BB homers on this forum. It's friggin nauseating. 6-10 this season. Enjoy your Cleveland Browns sub .500 greatest coach of all time.

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because.......it's the recipe that has produced unparalleled success

people would be honest to admit that they didn't know WTF brady was the moment bledsoe got hurt

IllegalContact said:

because.......it's the recipe that has produced unparalleled success

people would be honest to admit that they didn't know WTF brady was the moment bledsoe got hurt

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and the star of the show for 20 years was Tom Brady! Not BB and his constantly mediocre defenses other than the one he inherited from Parcells!

Well since BB allegedly offered Brady 25 million a year and Brady turned it down he didn't want to be here.

Cannot blame him though because the receivers are a joke here and Tampa has stud receives.

By making Brady the offers they did and didn’t make over the past few years, it’s clear they didn’t want him to stay.

TheRainMaker said:

Brady wanted out. He knew the Pats couldn’t get him what he wanted. There were way too many holes on offense which some fans on here are still delusional about.

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And he wanted to get paid. he couldn't get paid and have the offense rebuilt at the same time.

This isn’t that difficult.

Find me the guy who lives in the same place for 20 years, is a hero to everyone, has kids in the local schools, has friends everywhere, who wants to finish out his last 2-3 years in a different part of the country.

Bob Kraft is a lying POS and if you don’t know that already, you’re just gullible. His spin is total BS, and he’s a shtty actor, pretending like it just dawned on him...

...hmmm...now that I think about it...he did move his belongings...and...oh never mind.

Bob is a flaming douche in his New England dealings and even more of a flaming douche in his Goodell NFL dealings.

VJCPatriot said:

Belichick wanted to replace Brady 3 years ago. Brady proved BB wrong by winning a Superbowl AFTER the Garappolo trade.

So BB set up Tom to look bad by alienating Brady's trainer, alienating Gronk into retirement, and giving him ZERO weapons for the 2019 season. More of the same expected for 2020 after his reported 'bad conversation' with BB so of course he left.

Here's how the conversation went:
BB - We're fixing to keep you for another year Tom.
TB12 - Can I get a two year deal and some assurances you will actually give me weapons this time around?
BB - Nope one year prove it contract. You're over 40 Tom. And you're no damn GM, you get the groceries I put on the table and you'll like it.
TB12 - Click. That went badly. Guess I'll have to tell Kraft the bad news.

2020, if the NFL holds a season, will be a rebuild year for the Patriots. Stidham will need another year to get his bearings and we might draft a QB to compete with him. So If the Pats go only .500 or worse during L.A.B., Life After Brady, I wouldn't be surprised.

IF we can find a good QB, then this team can start competing again, but that can be a surprisingly long process.

I expect the Bucs to have a better record than the Patriots in 2020, and certainly they have a way better shot at making it to the Superbowl.

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I agree with almost everything that you posted. I disagree with the idea that Belichick provided no offensive help last year. We've gone through this a lot. Belichick made several mistakes. In the end, bb simply couldn't overcome all the injuries, and Gronk's retirement.

Given Belichick's positions in the past 3 years, and the 2019 contract, the probability of Brady coming back was very, very small.

It's 100% Belichick's decision (maybe Kraft's, as well). It was not Brady's decision.

He, of all people, should know the importance of having a franchise QB on the team. Brady may be declining, but he's still better than whoever is starting next season, and I still believe him to be a top 15 QB in the league.

If they really wanted to keep Brady, they would have done everything in their power to create cap space and re-sign him, but they didn't. This tells me that they don't believe Brady is worth his cap hit.

Whether they made the right decision or not remains to be seen, but I strongly believe this was a Belichick decision.

There's no Ray Lewis option.

I don't know this place anymore.

Last convo... Between Brady and Kraft was portrayed as Kraft waiting for Brady to portray himself and his posture...

Was it a lead in to negotiations? Meaning are you interested in sitting down and working out a deal? I.e. last chance now , so what is your evolved position, Tom? ( Again without $$numbers it is not clear what the team was offering. So this makes Kraft comments incomplete at best)

Basically answer no, Brady free now and this is goodbye.

mgteich said:

I agree with almost everything that you posted. I disagree with the idea that Belichick provided no offensive help last year. We've gone through this a lot. Belichick made several mistakes. In the end, bb simply couldn't overcome all the injuries, and Gronk's retirement.

Given Belichick's positions in the past 3 years, and the 2019 contract, the probability of Brady coming back was very, very small.

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Beyond failing to get a TE, BB took all the right steps (without always making the right move).

Gave Brady a receiver with the Pats' 1st round pick (to go with a 1st round LT and 1st round RB from prior drafts).

Gave Brady Antonio Brown (who, from the rumours, it appears Brady still wants to play with).

Gave Brady Sanu for a 2nd round pick (practically going "all in" on the season by giving that up).

I can't agree with the assertion that BB didn't TRY to give Brady some talent to work with, it just didn't pan out.

Also, let's be real. Does anyone really think Brady would be gone if he still had Brown, or if Brown was returning to the Pats from suspension this year?

There is a very reasonable argument that Kraft pushing to release Brown set this whole thing in motion. This poll needs a new option - "Kraft screwed it all up". If the Kraft apologists don't like it, they can choose not to click that option (and then go back to complaining about Trump in the coronavirus thread).