Putting the 3-2 Record, and Tom Brady, Into Perspective

[RayClay]

I especially like the 1988 49ers parallels. Joe Montana had just come back from a major injury, the 49ers had tons of personnel changes before that season, and they went 10-6 then ran the table not only that playoffs, but dominated the following year as well.

I really think that 2007 has really skewed people's opinions of Brady. Brady is more Jeter than he is A-Rod. He's a fiery, ultimate team leader, whose natural self doesn't put up monster stats.

This team will start rolling again when it gets back to playing smash mouth football, physical D, and a balanced, deceptive, timely offense. The team right now is putting too much on Brady's shoulders, and he can't (and shouldn't be asked to) perform like Manning.

Great first post. What the heck is 2007 anyway? A year we didn't win, that's what. Our greatest teams were the 2003 and 2004 teams. They played tough D, they were balanced and they didn't depend on superstar hookups. Brady used the whole field, all his receivers, a running game and a varied offense.

Randy Moss is a jewel. He shouldn't be used to go over the middle for short yardage, or passed to in double and triple coverage, getting bashed over the head.

WWW is a great safety valve, Moss a great deep threat and all around receiver. Let's mix up the run, play action, screens and different receivers (we've got Kevin Faulk fer crissakes). Let's make those defenses work and guess and hesitate. Then, when we need them in crunch time, WWW and Moss might have a little breathing room.

Don't want to run the offense like a variety pack, but Watson is playing well too. Let's make those defenses dizzy for a change. We used to do it with less "talented" personnel.

I think our D is going to be exceptional, but it will take time to meld. Different schemes and a lot of new people. I'd rather be peaking playoff time than sucking wind like some years.

 

[maverick4]

Shame on you for comparing a Boston sports legend to scum like Jeter and A-Roid.

Not sure if you're joking, or actually didn't get the point. Brady is like Jeter, in that they are fierce competitors, consummate leaders, who you can't (and shouldn't) count on for 45 homers (or in this case, 35+ TD's). They are what they are. To make your scheme around expecting them to do something they can't, doesn't make sense.

 

[shakadave]

Furthermore,

a) We're 3-2 vs. a fairly tough schedule. (Yet to play an opponent who had lost a game) Losing to the Falcons would not have been a total embarassment. Neither would losing to the Ravens. Neither is losing to the Broncos or the playoff-bound Jets.

b) Brady always was someone who got where he was due to hard work, at least more so than some of the other top QBs. I'm thinking of the quote where he said he just didn't think he was "that good." He had his timing and subtle pocket moves honed to perfection by the end of 2007/start of 2008. It makes sense that a year off would set him back more than some others.

 

[maverick4]

To rayclay:
Not sure why if Welker doesn't play, we are somehow incapacitated against the blitz. The offense shouldn't have to rely on any one guy to consistently make plays.

 

[ausbacker]

Brady's excellence has set the bar so high, that seeing Manning play the way he is at the moment, people expect that of Brady. The reality is, next year is going to be better than this season with Tom.

I've always subscribed to the 2 year theory. What happens or what you put in place 1 year, rolls over into the second year. I'm hopeful that Brady circa similar to 2007 is back in 2010.

 

[maverick4]

Brady's excellence has set the bar so high, that seeing Manning play the way he is at the moment, people expect that of Brady. The reality is, next year is going to be better than this season with Tom.

I've always subscribed to the 2 year theory. What happens or what you put in place 1 year, rolls over into the second year. I'm hopeful that Brady circa similar to 2007 is back in 2010.

At the same time, even when Brady is healthy, why do people expect anything close to 2007 numbers? After Manning's 49TD season, the most he's had since is 31 TD's.

 

[NEPatriot]

Stat doesn't mean a thing if TB can't win a game. I don't care about the stat. I WANT A RING.

 

[pencilneckgeek]

Nice post. I like the Jeter analogy. Class act, GQ beautiful person, annoyingly popular and good to those who aren't fans, willing to let the ump help him get the offense going by getting hit by a pitch.

The big difference with 2007 is the lack of a solid 3rd receiver who work the outside opposite Moss. Edelman is working a middle of the field that is already crowded with good receivers - Welker, Watson, Faulk. Gaffney is looking like a huge loss right now. The other big difference is the loss of Light. Two drives were wasted worrying about Vollmer. He misses a block or two, and Tom's confidence to work his way through his reads could lead to another loss or two.

I'm not sanguine about things coming together as the year goes on. Surely they can compete with anybody, but the any-given-Sunday rubric works both ways. A couple more missed plays plus tough matchups on the road in Indy and New Orleans, and this team could be 10-6, on the outside looking in yet again.

Still, it's ridiculous to say the sky is falling or that Brady sucks. He's not on the roll he was in 2007, but he's still managing the game and far closer to breaking out than falling apart.

The biggest thing I'd like to see is more of that F-You attitude - more aggression out of the offense and the defense, more commitment to the run, more willingness to take shots downfield or throw in a trick play, more willingness to crowd the line of scrimmage and force mediocre QBs like Orton to make the big play under pressure.

 

[ausbacker]

At the same time, even when Brady is healthy, why do people expect anything close to 2007 numbers? After Manning's 49TD season, the most he's had since is 31 TD's.

I don't think he'll ever get near 2007 to be honest, nay the Patriots entire team, but the fantasy football mentality has well and truly taken hold.

I'd love for him to be anywhere between 25-35 TD's with low interception rates, high completions and lots and lots of wins in columns.

 

[JoeShmoe]

How much of 2007 was about McDaniels?

Prior to that how much of the success was down to Weiss?

My view here is that a new D with a lot of young and new players is doing exceptionally well and our offense is really struggling

The offensive playcalling this year has been awful

 

[maverick4]

How much of 2007 was about McDaniels?
Prior to that how much of the success was down to Weiss?
My view here is that a new D with a lot of young and new players is doing exceptionally well and our offense is really struggling
The offensive playcalling this year has been awful

If we're going to give credit to Pioli, McDaniels, Dimitroff, Weiss, Crennel for the successes, then they are also on the hook for failures. Belichick is not a micro manager. He gives his assistants tons of autonomy, to follow his overall direction. This is why the team looks so different depending on who the coordinator is.

If it's all Belichick in every single event that happens, then that means his assistants are just robots who didn't think for themselves or make any decisions. The rest of the league obviously sees value in the work his assistants did, since they keep hiring them.

 

[Ring 6]

All true and great points. However, even if Brady gets back to full strength, or I think even if his injury never happened, I think we should bring our expectations down to earth, and expect Brady to be more of the 28TD clutch QB rather than the stats-sexy Marino/Manning type guy he was for one season.

It isnt mutually exclusive to play well, be clutch and to have stats.
You typically make comments as if good stats are a bad thing, and I think that confuses your point.
You seem to come off as if a team is deciding between stats and wins. Thats just not the case, every offense has a goal of scoring a TD every time they take the field. Being more successful in htat goal is never a bad thing.
Where the hollow value of stats come in is when the stats don't result in wins. Playing poorly and getting behind then throwing for 350 yards against a prevent defense and stll losing is a hollow stat. Dominating teams with your passing game and winning 18 in a row is not.
And TD stats aren't that necessarily important. The amount of offensive TDs is, but whether you score by the pass or the run is not.
The key stat with the 2007 Patriots was the record for points scored, nit the # of TD passes.

 

[D-cleater]

I don't understand why we are lowering the bar for Brady, and at the same time saying that it is not necessary for him to put up All Pro numbers in order for us to win.

A lot seems to be made of Brady's return from injury, yet the problem seems to be one of communication and timing with his receivers. You can attribute some of that to a year off but not all of it.

I think coaching has to take as much of the blame in our two losses as execution. In both games, we went into halftime with a lead but were shut out in the second half. That tells me that our opponents are better at making halftime adjustments.

 

[Ring 6]

If we're going to give credit to Pioli, McDaniels, Dimitroff, Weiss, Crennel for the successes, then they are also on the hook for failures. Belichick is not a micro manager. He gives his assistants tons of autonomy, to follow his overall direction. This is why the team looks so different depending on who the coordinator is.

If it's all Belichick in every single event that happens, then that means his assistants are just robots who didn't think for themselves or make any decisions. The rest of the league obviously sees value in the work his assistants did, since they keep hiring them.

It doesnt have to be one or the other.
Belichick does no make every decision and turn employees into robots, he trains hem on his system and philosophy and making decisions within the framework of it, and then monitors it and makes corrections.
Its like an involved manager who knows the business better than any subordinate in any line of work. Subordinates do thier jobs, are trained and encourtaged to think, but the boss sings off on the final product.

 

[BradyFTW!]

More Jeter than A-Rod? I hope not- A-Rod is a significantly better player in almost every facet of the game, except for clubhouse leadership. Brady's the best of both of them.

 

[maverick4]

Subordinates do thier jobs, are trained and encourtaged to think, but the boss sings off on the final product.

It doesn't mean that Belichick called every single play. The offense and defense look so different in style and personality, from 2001-2004, 2006-2008, and now 2009, because of the coordinators calling the plays during the games. Belichick isn't sitting there putting his fingers into everything on game day.

 

[RobertWeathers]

More Jeter than A-Rod? I hope not- A-Rod is a significantly better player in almost every facet of the game, except for clubhouse leadership. Brady's the best of both of them.

IMO Jeter's got the more attractive girl in Minka Kelly though. Kate Hudson certainly isn't chopped liver...

 

[Kontradiction]

Not sure if you're joking, or actually didn't get the point. Brady is like Jeter, in that they are fierce competitors, consummate leaders, who you can't (and shouldn't) count on for 45 homers (or in this case, 35+ TD's). They are what they are. To make your scheme around expecting them to do something they can't, doesn't make sense.

I was definitely joking.

 

[Ring 6]

It doesn't mean that Belichick called every single play. The offense and defense look so different in style and personality, from 2001-2004, 2006-2008, and now 2009, because of the coordinators calling the plays during the games. Belichick isn't sitting there putting his fingers into everything on game day.

I dont know that anyone ever suggested BB calls all the plays.
Once again, he dictates the philosophy, he participates in developing, approves or changes the gameplans, and monitors all of the calls. If the play calling is not to his satisfaction, he will correct it. While it is accurate to say he isnt making every call during the game, it is inaccurate to suggest he does not endorse them. There is a tremendous difference between giving the autonomy to execute a gameplan under supervision and letting the coordinator have unsupervised decision making for play calling.
The difference in style, IMO, are due to personell not coordinator.

 

[maverick4]

Looks like the bandwagon is full again after yesterday's game... completely reversing opinions about the team, and Brady, after one game against a horrible opponent.