How good was Brady in 2001

[BobDigital]

Just a look back. Often this is a year I think Brady isn't given enough credit for. He is not the QB he would be clearly but I think history glosses over much of what he did this year. He was more than the mere game manager he is accused of being too often at this point.

Lets look at 2000 and compare it to 2001.

In 2000 the Patriots scored 17.3PPG. In 2001 they scored 23.2PPG (also count in the fact they scored 10PPG the first 2 games of 2001 and you have the following.

The 18 games before Brady with Bledsoe 296/18 = 16.44 The 17 games after 411/17 = 24.18.

While we can talk about defensive scores and other things this is over a touch down difference between the 2. Also when it comes to offensive talent yes Brady gained Smith but lost Glenn. I'd call it a wash really and would say both played with mostly the level of talent.

At the least is it fair to say Brady made a 6 point difference over Bledsoe who is a decent QB in his own right.

That year Brady also demonstrated key wins when he carried his team to victory. SD is an overlooked early gem. Scoring a TD with 36 seconds left in the 4th then leading his team to a 44 yard FGin OT. That 29-26 win turned out to be huge and without it likely no home field against the Raiders. I won't mention the playoff come backs that year as they need no reminders.

It is worth noting all of the teams 15 rushing TDs in the regular season came with Brady at the helm and that the Pats rushing so many TDs Brady made Brady look worse statistically than he was but Brady has always fed his RB the ball at the goal line sometimes to his statistical detriment. In a year with 635 passing TDs and 365 rushing TDs Brady passed for 18 and the Pats rushed for 15. Not generally the norm.

Also the most overlooked part of QB comes down to total points scored as getting your team into FG range matters too. The Pats under Brady averaged 24.18PPG. Brady lead the 6th best offense and 4 of the 5 ranked above had a lot more talent on them for sure. Only maybe GB is comparable in talent and they barely did better lead by Favre in his prime.

So I just think we need to give the first year of Brady's career a bit more credit. We should conclude all things considered he was already near as good as prime Favre at 32 in 2001. Not many people would put him just a bit below that level in 2001 but i think it is probably deserved. Obviously the styles are much different but the results are surprisingly close.

 

[archstanton543]

He was okay. Brady didn't really become Brady until 2003.

 

[everlong]

Better than Peyton Manning in either of his SB runs.

 

[varjao]

Tom Cool in the last drive of the SB giving Madden goosebumps.

 

[MagicMarker]

Early Brady was solid. He avoided making the big mistake.

I saw a lot of the same in Russell Wilson's rookie year, as well as Dak Prescott.

 

[oldrover]

He had some bad games... the worst was against Denver: 4 picks... in the second half... on each of the last four drives. That place was a horror show from the get-go.

The second Jets game, the Pats SUCKED in the first half... they were lucky only to be down 13-0.

Brady was Brady in the second half of that game for the 17-16 win... at least, he was the 2003-2004 Brady.

Man, that 2001 season was fun.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Brady was better in 2001 than people give him credit for. People look back at his stat line and forget how much stat lines have inflated in the last 15+ years. Back then that was a good year for a QB. And more importantly, it can't be overstated that a team that had gone 5-13 over the prior year-plus with him on the bench immediately ripped off a 14-3 Super Bowl-winning run, starting the moment he got his first start. That cannot be a coincidence. He wasn't just an immediate, huge improvement; he was an immediate, huge improvement over Drew Bledsoe, who at a minimum was by no means a bad QB.

 

[borg]

Screen pass
Screen pass
Screen pass
Weiss crafted a low risk offense and BB coached a field position strategy that leaned on the defense

 

[Clonamery]

Screen pass
Screen pass
Screen pass
Weiss crafted a low risk offense and BB coached a field position strategy that leaned on the defense

Still had to execute under immense pressure in the biggest game of the year.

 

[Armchair Quarterback]

Single biggest reason they won that year, they wouldn't have won five games if Bledsoe was the QB.

 

[PatsWSB47]

Stat this, stat that......I saw very early on in 2001 that Brady had"it". I saw his greatness before his career proved it. I think a lot of people did.

 

[brdmaverick]

I think people would be out of their mind to suggest that Brady of 2001 was anywhere close to Brady of SB49/51.

Brady was more of a game manager than STAR in 2001.......and we still won......we should be ok with that.

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

Half of the difference can be explained by returns/defense. There were 5 int TD returns, 2 punt returns for TD and Patten's TD pass.. That's 8 TDs right there for 16 games.....

 

[FourierSeries]

His numbers weren't great because he wasn't asked to do much. However, everything he was asked to do, he did incredibly well - including leading the team to a GWD in the SB.

He was very good in 2001.

 

[Bobsyouruncle]

There was a thread about this a while back. If I recall correctly Brady had the 2nd highest passer rating of any QB in their first year starting at the time. I think Culpepper was first.

From what I remember he had good efficiency stats, but didn't pass much. Obviously that worked out, but by the numbers he probably would have been a top QB that year if BB let him loose more.

 

[Hammer of Thor]

Screen pass
Screen pass
Screen pass
Weiss crafted a low risk offense and BB coached a field position strategy that leaned on the defense

That's what my recollection had been..... but I think we might have bought into the narrative a little bit. Check out this thread from late last week -- if you have an hour of free time, you can watch the SD game in its entirety (first post):
Throw Back Thursdays: G.O.A.T.

There are a lot of screens and runs of course..... but also a lot more deep passes and intermediate shots than I remember. It's interesting in that it's not 2016 Brady of course, but in that game you can see the foundation of what he is today.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Brady was better in 2001 than people give him credit for. People look back at his stat line and forget how much stat lines have inflated in the last 15+ years. Back then that was a good year for a QB. And more importantly, it can't be overstated that a team that had gone 5-13 over the prior year-plus with him on the bench immediately ripped off a 14-3 Super Bowl-winning run, starting the moment he got his first start. That cannot be a coincidence. He wasn't just an immediate, huge improvement; he was an immediate, huge improvement over Drew Bledsoe, who at a minimum was by no means a bad QB.

After watching Tom for 16 years it's amazing people on this board think QB play is still about yards, TDs and QB rating.

Tom brought leadership, energy and toughness to a position that requires it the most.

Keep in mind Bill always says Tom's greatest attribute is not making plays but making sure the team is not in bad ones.

BB and Weis protected him but let him a loose when they needed him (see Snow Bowl) There is no question he was a better QB in 2002 and onward but in 01 he was damn good and a top 10 QB in the NFL that year

 

[festy1986]

This just in. Brady was good in 2001

 

[lurker1965]

I remember this argument with a Peyton apologist. Lack of turnovers. Give him Bledsoe's turnovers and Smith and Troy Brown have a worse year in 2001. Yes, dink and dunk, so easy any team can do it but for some reason don't.

 

[NG Pats Fan]

His 91 yard TD to David Patten against Indianapolis was a 50 yard throw on the dime


Also watch from 8:00-830. Some great throws and even more impressive catches by terry glenn. My god was terry glenn talented