i think in most minds the foundation was set......they had garrapolo, and that seemed like the plan......even when it came time for his big boy contract, i think they would have overpaid him if they felt Tom was close - i think the fact that he wasn't, and then continued to defy conventional wisdom and basic physiological principles, lol, threw everyone off......it was really a perfect storm of conditions, and i think once the situation really became obvious, everyone mishandled it to some extent, and that mishandling grew and fed into itself
has there ever been an athlete in any sport who played close to this level at 43? nolan ryan comes to mind, but there was real drop off even before he hit 40........gordie howe? but that was long ago enough that i'm not exactly sure it compares.......warren moon had the one really good season at 41, i know he and vinny played until they were 44, but it wasn't close to this level
i think everyone sort of backed themselves into corners, slowly.....it was like that old frog in a pot of cold water vs hot water analogy......by the time everyone realized the water was getting a little warm, things had already been set into motion
i think everyone, BB included, would say in hindsight there would have been a different way for it to go......if you simply put TB12 onto this years roster, we'd be the steelers, only maybe not as good......stuck with a roster that can't win it all, with a high priced QB........IF they had extended in say 2017, things may well have gone differently in that they would have made roster decisions differently
football is a game of numbers and percentages and many, many dynamic, moving parts.......the ones that play them the best tend to have the most success......by all accounts patriots staff made the right moves until all of the sudden they didn't
what would have been really interesting is if they HAD stuck with jimmy G......moved brady while he still had high value, completely rebuilt around a young garrapolo.......we might be having very different conversations right now.....not making any predictions as to how it would have turned out, but.....