He forced him out by not retiring at the end of this season, that's how. That's the root cause of Jimmy G being traded/leaving. If TB had announced his retirement effective next February, JG would be our QB next year. Pretty indisputable cause and effect. Jimmy was too good to sit another season, no matter what $$ the Pats might have been able to offer him. The team couldn't solve this, only Brady could have.
Tom's too good to retire right now, that's the rub. He's still intensely into it, you'd expect a 17 year vet in his 40's to start to lose that drive. God bless him. But the way this all played out raises the ante for him, that's my only point. As JG ascends to the top tier of QB's, which he absolutely will, Tom's decision will be scrutinized. He now can't retire after next season, for example, or he'll be crucified.
He's brought a lot of pressure on himself that he didn't have to. We now need him to play at least 3 more great seasons while the team prepares a different succession plan.
I don't think you want a QB unwilling to out-compete his backup. Shockingly, we see QBs around the league who are
unable to do so all the time. We're spoiled as Pats fans, as we've had the greatest ride of any fan base for 16 years now, both at QB and for the team as a whole.
In the off-season, before all the dust had settled, I drew some fire for saying hey, if BB and co. look at the upsides vs. downsides and come to the conclusion that you have to do a "Montana to KC" move, life goes on, and I'm the biggest JG fan in the world.
I'm a Patriots fan, not a Brady fan (okay, but yes I'm a Brady fan too... how can you NOT be??? Never mind, don't answer that.)
Point is, the guys who make these calls better than anybody in the league, made their call. If Brady, God forbid, has a setback
this week that begins the long (or short) march out the door, so be it.
You look at the facts in front of you and the risks in front of you and you make the call. The Pats make those calls better than any other team in the league.
As a Pats fan, everybody can have their own opinion on the front office's decisions.
What you can't do is have your own facts - and the objective fact is that this front office, including/led by BB in terms of personnel, has handled football operations masterfully taking the whole body of work together.
For 16 years, EVERY year, they've had a realistic shot at a Lombardi trophy. And yes, I'm including that 11-5 Cassel year, although it didn't look like it if you're just a Brady fan, not a Patriots fan. Well, almost every year. I think the 2002 let-down year, we were a barely above average team.
What does that performance record tell you about decision-making in New England?
You could say "luck," but I don't think so. They make moves, the moves tend to pan out. They see weaknesses, weigh them, see which can and cannot be masked. And it doesn't hurt to have the GOAT QB.
But part of the reason TFB is the GOAT is he gets his role. I'm not saying "system QB," I'm saying the culture and the system are both cause and effect in relation to TFB. He also realizes that as he aged he'd have a target on his back, nature of the beast. He saw that as another fight he had to win, another "I'll show them" moment like he KEEPS running into, no matter how he dominates his sport.
I don't post on here about "loyalty." I have ONE football "loyalty," and that's to the Patriots. But Brady completely understands that there's no reward for past performance. He's consistently demonstrated that he's not trying to pad his ego with a contract number or a purposeful pursuit of any given stat. The one year we went stat-crazy, 2007, he set the then-touchdown record. The Pats set the record for regular season games won. Record record record. Blah. I can count on the fingers of one hand - or rather, Tom Brady can - the stats that matter. Championships won. And it appears to bug him that it's only ONE hand. You can't buy that.
JG is promising, but you can't have it both ways. I saw somebody say maybe JG will come back to us one day when we need him. Feh. Maybe monkeys will fly out of my butt too. I mean, there's a connection there, I don't think any bridges are burned, and several players have boomeranged... but I don't think you want to hang your hat on that.
It's Tom Brady until Tom Brady's not the best option. Sorry about the timing, sport, but that day is not today.
I remember in 2007 thinking... We can only really *count* on
maybe 5 more years of championship opportunities... maybe more, but the guys who are talking about 10 more years are nuts.
Same thing now. Maybe his ceiling's age 41, maybe it's 45. But he's at the top of his game. They made the calculation in the bowels of Foxborough that the promising prospect doesn't get the gig in the foreseeable future because of age alone.
It's been the Brady-Belichick era. You, my friend, have decided that Belichick doesn't know what he's doing, and Brady's just another aging quarterback.
My experience on both of the above statements is that they are incorrect.
Clearly, like a broken clock, you'll eventually be right. Then you can go to a bar in 2020 or 2023 or whatevah and tell everybody "I CALLED IT!"
Okay, champ. You're wicked smaht. I'm just that basic. Pats seem to get the calls right, by and large. They've definitely earned a little trust from me when it comes to risk assessment, and that's what the personnel decision is, all talk of loyalty aside.
PS - am I the only one who's tickled that the Pats sealed off the oft-mentioned escape route to San Francisco? Yes, that put Brady a little more on the proverbial hook. Love it.
