Belichick would not have the capacity to be both ruthless and successful without Brady. There have been a number of Patriots teams with glaring, debilitating weaknesses that were covered for by Brady.
I suspect with a slightly lesser QB Belichick has at least a few 8-8 records on his resume with the Pats.
Does anyone else not remember that BB was 5-13 when Brady took over?
That roster was very pedestrian in the 2001 season. Does BB even last past 2001 season had Brady not played?
As much as I love the Pats, you’ve got it admit, that team was one of the worst Super Bowl winners in history.
Brady is not a “system” QB and He accelerated the rebuilding process with the Pats. Had he not played the way he did, I don’t think BB would be the coach past year 3.
So yes, I agree with what you’re saying.
One could very easily argue that Brady has made Belichick's job among the easiest in the NFL. You put the GOAT QB on any team and then have them be willing to take a pay cut to allow the rest of the team to be competitive in the salary cap era, and it will create success wherever he goes.
Tom Brady is the most unique player in sports history. I would love to know why he left so much money on the table? The answer may be obvious, but you’re taking a huge risk that your organization is going to have the capability of putting a competitive team together year after year.
After 2003, Brady really could’ve taken the Patriots to the cleaners and would’ve been the highest paid quarterback in history every year.
I got absolutely blasted on another thread for bringing this up, but I agree with you that Brady has made BB’s job much easier.
Players and coaches go hand-in-hand. Good coaching will elevate good players. Bad coaching will expose good players. Here’s a couple good examples:
Troy Aikman admitted that when Jimmy Johnson left, Barry Switzer’s coaching style dragged the team down. He also admitted they were getting older but felt Switzer was pretty worthless.
The Lakers in the late 90’s were extremely talented. But because of poor coaching, they kept losing to inferior teams like the Utah Jazz (twice) in the playoffs and to the Spurs in 1999. Enter Phil Jackson, and they win three straight titles. Del Harris only survived so long with the Lakers because of their talent alone. They were able to mask his coaching deficiencies.
Phil Jackson’s system only works with very good players who are very smart. He tried to run the system in New York with Derek Fisher but failed miserably because the players were not very good.
I totally disagree when people say the Brady is a “system” quarterback when the “system” has changed throughout the years.
How does a player morph from a run-pass balanced system to dropping back 50 times a game? Only a handful quarterbacks in NFL history have been able to do that effectively. But Brady is the best at it.
You could argue he is the co offensive coordinator for the team. Not too many players have the ability to run an offense at the line of scrimmage.
You need to be a good player to execute any coaches system. Aside from Michael Jordan, Brady has been able to do that better than any player in sports history.
And players definitely have their say on how they want to run the system, they are not robots.
Just look at film during the 2001 season and you’ll see Brady talking to Bledsoe on the sidelines talking about what plays he likes and doesn’t like.
BB is obviously a very good coach. But with any coach, you need to have players that are good enough to execute your system. He just ended up finding the best quarterback in NFL history.
