Andy's arguments are based on logic he just happens to be steadfastly rooted to it.
'Brady is playing at an elite level. JG has played one and a half games. Brady is without question the guy who should start the season. '
I agree with every one of these points, and the conclusion that you rightly complete the series with. However, the conclusion Andy reaches is "Brady should therefore start every season ever." (Actually proud that I got Andy to take 2027 off the table).
That's the basis of his argument.
If Brady continues to play at an elite level why would you replace him with an unproven albeit promising backup? One can get you to the SB while the other can get you through almost two regular season games.
IMO, it is the JG supporters who are using emotional based opinions because it is they that "feel" or "think" JG is the future.
I don't think there
are JG supporters here. There are Patriots supporters and there are people trying to build a shrine to a player, not a football team. I've got no real desire to support JG, or support a transition to JG, specifically. Liked what I saw, he went down, now he's got a strain in training camp, I'm like "oh hell, he might be one of
those."
JG just becomes representative of the future divergence of interests between the Patriots and Brady because his number is up first, and because he shows promise. This is really about Brady. (And apparently some guy called Kellerman).
There's an inflection point in 2018 due to two contracts; and you might buy another year to waffle by tagging Garapollo. That's why we're determining
JG's value at all. And the question isn't "Is he better than Brady?" It's "What's the total estimated value of JG vs. next guy up vs. TFB for the indefinite future."
Lots of mad love for Brady. 2 interceptions. Granted, that's in 12 games. But who
does that? (You can say "3 interceptions if he had a full season" to compensate, and promote his 28 TDs to 35, amortized.) That was 2016.
I will keep Brady for the 2016 season every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
Now comes 2017. Then 2018. Then 2019. Etc. Then comes 2020-22, the Andy Johnson range. WHY???? He just had a historically great season in 2016! If he was better in '16 than '15, shouldn't he be better in '17 than '16, and much better by 2020 than 2017?
For my part I've said from the beginning that it's not about what happened in 2016 and it's only tangentially related to Brady's "heir apparent."
People hemmed and hawed about the GOAT argument based on rings, until that was put to rest in epic fashion. Well, let's put that to rest too but properly recount just how GOATy the GOAT is. Since 2007 inclusive, just after they changed the game to get Manning a ring, Brady's had 5 seasons with ratings over 100, 3 of them over 110. Montana had 2 his whole career. Montana never played a full season with fewer than 7 interceptions - by the way, that 7 was against 13 TDs, playing with the Chiefs. He also played only 11 games that year, fwiw. Brady's thrown 7 int.s or fewer for three regular seasons, in each case doubling that number of TDs, in 2 out of 3 cases nearly tripling it.
It's comparing across eras, but the comparisons are pretty flattering to Tom.
As a snapshot, Brady's never had a better year than 2016 (if we forget that it was a shortened season)...and come to think of it, I don't know who has. It's really an incredible body of work within the incredible body of work that Brady's career has been.
But it does not stand to reason that TFB has just gotten a glimpse of what he could be by age 49.
We haven't seen 2017 yet. If he comes back with an improvement over 2016, or anything like a semblance of 2016, that's one thing. If he takes a step back, that's another thing. If there's a "small decline" with the upgrade in talent, that's a third thing. And if there's a really sub-par year, that's yet another thing.
The
certainties are the contracts and the "just a number" representing TFB's age.
I do not know the answer in the gray areas. That's all I've ever asserted.
On the emotional side we have claims of clairvoyance into the 2017 and 2018 results, Brady's longevity, etc., and claims that Garapollo is not judged as anything special in Foxborough (whatever you and I think).
The game plan seems to be "Eff the future, Brady plays whether that's best for the team or not." I'm not old enough for that.
One certainty is that one talent TFB does not have is the ability to objectively judge his own future worth to the team. This is because he is a human being not a fugging robot. That's not his job. So if TFB says he's going to play until he's 45 or until he sucks, fine, but it might not be in NE.
