A vote of confidence for the painful philosophy of: "Better to let a player go too early than too late"

[1960Pats]

Then I will not be excited. ;-)

I went from sad when Brady left to excited for Stidham, then to hmmm when they picked up Cant and then WTF when I saw him play. I'll have a rough time putting up with another year without a decent QB.

 

[betterthanthealternative]

Most of the time, we are talking about contract renewal time. And most of the time, we are talking about the third contract.

The phrase "Let (player X) go" turns the player into a piece of property. They are highly accomplished professionals, which means in this society they have the lead role in determining their employer. The NFL isn't some carbon mine where you either work in your home town or your family starves.

We'll never know what was going on in the mind of a player regarding their choice of employer. And they are fully human - even they don't fully understand their own mind in real time. Heck, even the retrospective autobiographical writing is full of self deception.

 

[KontradictioN]

Same for stocks.

I count my blessings everyday that I followed my brother in laws advice and got out of Tesla before the Bull market hit.

I unloaded a good amount of mine, but still hold a few. Made a nice, little profit. They’re trading at $886.17 currently.

 

[PATS16N0]

Imagine watching Tom throw for 3rd and long under all kinds of pressure against the Seahawks in the Super Bowl and thinking “that’s Belichick. Belichick just did that.”

 

[DropKickFlutie]

Imagine watching Tom throw for 3rd and long under all kinds of pressure against the Seahawks in the Super Bowl and thinking “that’s Belichick. Belichick just did that.”

It would be like watching Brady to Gronk against the Rams in the 4th quarter and realizing McDaniels is a total fraudster without 2 hall of famers. Sorry had to do it.

.

 

[borg]

Gotta ask
If Tampa's D couldn't defend the multiple GB red zone incursions after Brady's pants crapping in the 2nd half, what would the Brady narrative have been in defeat?

 

[Rob0729]

I still don't have a problem with the Pats letting Brady go early at least from a cold hard football standpoint. The Pats were not in a position to get past KC this year with or without Brady. Hell, I think they would have struggled to get into the playoffs and if they did, they would have been one and done. This team had too many holes and not enough talent.

Personally, I think Belichick screwed up was giving Thuney the franchise tag and at least not trading him. I think the Pats should have gone into this year looking at it as a lost year and looking to rebuild for 2001 and beyond. And if you take that approach, you cannot bank on Brady being a viable option in 2001 or 2002 even 10 or 11 months later with Brady going to a Super Bowl. We still have no idea if he will hit the age wall hard next season.

I wish Brady would have retired a Patriot, but I think the timing was right for the divorce (for both sides).

As for Vinatieri, I think wanted to leave. The Colts were the perfect place for an aging kicker. Kicking in a dome. Didn't have to do kick offs. I think going to the Colts probably extended his career by anywhere from 3-5 years.

Kinda wished they kept Chandler Jones, but he shot his way out of town and his price tag was probably too high for the Patriots.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

Are you familiar with a bar named Nick's in Bloomington. My son and his friend worked there around 03-04.

Nick's is an icon on the main drag (Kirkwood Avenue) just off the center of campus.

Lots of good restaurants and bars in Bloomington. Fond memories. I met my wife of 30 years in Bloomington.

IU basketball has sort of become irrelevant though. I am hoping NE football doesn't go down a similar path.

 

[TheRainMaker]

Gotta ask
If Tampa's D couldn't defend the multiple GB red zone incursions after Brady's pants crapping in the 2nd half, what would the Brady narrative have been in defeat?

I'd have no problem saying he choked because he certainly tried. He was awful in the 2nd half. Rodgers just choked more as I wrote in the Bucs thread. The difference in the game was points off of turnovers. I think Brady converted 3 out 3 for TD's. Rodgers only mustered 6 points off of 3 turnovers. Rodgers late 1st half INT that resulted in a long bomb TD to Miller was the back breaker.

 

[TheRainMaker]

Kinda wished they kept Chandler Jones, but he shot his way out of town and his price tag was probably too high for the Patriots.

How did they know? They didn't even negotiate with him, just traded him.

 

[luvbrain]

Gotta ask
If Tampa's D couldn't defend the multiple GB red zone incursions after Brady's pants crapping in the 2nd half, what would the Brady narrative have been in defeat?

While "choking" would be accurate but it is also likely that he would have gone down the field and score a field goal or TD to win the game. What would you call it then?

It's really strange to read Pats' fans denigrate one of their own greats. We should just wish both of them all the best in their new endeavors. I do wish BB could have made it work but it was clear he had made up his mind that it was time to move on from Brady. The lack of cap space to resign him pretty much confirmed it.

 

[borg]

........it is also likely that he would have gone down the field and score a field goal or TD to win the game. What would you call it then?

Had Brady reached his 3 pick limit for the half and his pants crapping was over?

It's really strange to read Pats' fans denigrate one of their own greats.

In other words, don't cite facts that cast shade

 

[luvbrain]

Had Brady reached his 3 pick limit for the half and his pants crapping was over?

In other words, don't cite facts that cast shade

Fact is GB didn't score and Tampa D put a stop to it. So who is casting shade here?

And knowing him for the last 20 years, the crap can go either way. He had crapped before and he still came through.

 

[IllegalContact]

There was no point to keeping him......this team wasn't winning anything with him here.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

There was no point to keeping him......this team wasn't winning anything with him here.

Bingo. Brady doesn't accomplish the same in 2020 if he stayed in New England.

 

[PatsGirl2011]

Well Brady wanted to leave, so Im not going to blame BB for this. Sometimes you are tired of your boss and want to move on.

 

[Sicilian]

For those saying this is more than "one year too early" based on the way Brady played, I'll say this: I'm certainly not going to bet against him playing at this level beyond this year. But here are two stat lines:

Player A: 16g, 4727yds, 39td, 15int, 8.1ypa, 101.5 QBrating

Player B: 16g, 4633yds, 40td, 12int, 8.0ypa, 102.2 QBrating

Player A is Peyton Manning in 2014, Player B is Tom Brady in 2020. The very next year, Manning was ABYSMAL before being carried to a Super Bowl by an all time great defense. Again, I'm NEVER going to bet against Brady. But eventually the body gets older and things snowball downward FAST. Manning is a decent comp for Brady too, since they're both similar style QBs. It wasn't like Manning was Cam Newton, where the loss of some athleticism just completely messed up how he played.

 

[lancerman]

For those saying this is more than "one year too early" based on the way Brady played, I'll say this: I'm certainly not going to bet against him playing at this level beyond this year. But here are two stat lines:

Player A: 16g, 4727yds, 39td, 15int, 8.1ypa, 101.5 QBrating

Player B: 16g, 4633yds, 40td, 12int, 8.0ypa, 102.2 QBrating

Player A is Peyton Manning in 2014, Player B is Tom Brady in 2020. The very next year, Manning was ABYSMAL before being carried to a Super Bowl by an all time great defense. Again, I'm NEVER going to bet against Brady. But eventually the body gets older and things snowball downward FAST. Manning is a decent comp for Brady too, since they're both similar style QBs. It wasn't like Manning was Cam Newton, where the loss of some athleticism just completely messed up how he played.

Huge difference. Peyton Manning fell completely apart in 2014 and never got better. His stats were largely crap after the Rams game. He had two half decent games and everything else was trash and then he went in the playoffs and looked pathetic facing the Colts.

Brady has played his best football late.

 

[Sicilian]

Huge difference. Peyton Manning fell completely apart in 2014 and never got better. His stats were largely crap after the Rams game. He had two half decent games and everything else was trash and then he went in the playoffs and looked pathetic facing the Colts.

Brady has played his best football late.

I don't remember anyone looking at Peyton in that year and saying, "Well clearly he's going to suck next year to the tune of 9 tds and 17 ints." It's not anti-Brady to say that these things can happen suddenly. Manning went from a good quarterback to Cam Newton numbers (without the ability to run). And he was only 39. Brady is special, and I feel I have to say this again because people get riled up: I am NOT saying it is GOING to happen. Just that no season, no matter how good, is a guarantee for next year.

 

[skinnydog]

As to the original posters point, it true that the Pays have been well served by the philosophy of moving on a year early than a year late. But quarterback is a unique singular position. It is the hardest position to fill and the hardest position to replace. It’s not lIke the O-line or D-line, etc. where the loss of one player can be replaced with lesser talent and yet the line as a whole may be just as effective depending on the quality of the other lineman. So yeah, the philosophy works in general, but not so much for QBs.