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They come up short on functional talent and suddenly Brady is among the GOAT...When Brady says he doesn't care how they win as long as they do I believe him. He's the most adaptable QB on the planet. He's done it with less and with more. He's done it with his arm and handing off to running backs who were capable of running even when they knew it was coming. What he's been unable to do is win it all with one hand tied behind his back as Bedard stated when he also doesn't have a defense capable of closing out a game.
BTW if you're going to critique him you could start by getting his name right. As PatsFanInVA hints, the F in abreviated references to Thomas Edward Patrick Brady doesn't stand for Francis...
One of your most inane efforts to date.
And for those who think he makes too much, his present deal averages $15.8M per, same as Eli and less than what Manning ($19M) and Brees ($20M) average. And a lot less than the $20M dead cap charge Bill amassed this season. Bill used to say that a (as in any) franchise QB shouldn't take up more than 12% of the cap. Of course Brady was making minimum when he won his first ring as a 6th round draft pick. His second contract averaged $6M per agaiinst a cap that was $72M at the time. The 2005 deal 2 rings later and 2 years early that was the teams idea averaged $10M against a cap that was $113M. His present deal entered into in an uncapped 2010 averages $15.8M against a midpoint $128M cap and accounts for roughly a couple of hundred grand more than Belichick's ideal...
Talent and playmakers are the problem. Not because they can't afford them, but because they have failed to locate them or those they did have proved to be not durable or consistent performers when it matters most. Last off season Belichick tasked McD with self scouting this offense and coming up with a solution to the problem that had dogged it since 2007. What to so when the two top targets were taken away whether by an opponents defense or injury so the offense could still perform. His answer was to add Lloyd, experiment with Edelman for speed, and amass depth behind the two TE's while balancing the run pass ratio (which mind you failed to exist in 2007 because he was clinging to Maroney and in 2011 because he benched his rookies for the playoffs). Trouble is that didn't work, either. Because they still couldn't run against Baltimore's nickle, they appeared determined not to feature Vereen running or receiving away from the Ravens strength, the backup TE's in the final analysis were all jags, Lloyd wasn't as productive as anticipated and Edelman was on the shelf again by mid season.
This team operates on a margin. But that has little or nothing to do with Brady's ego or psyche or contract. They inked 2 TE's entering their third season to contracts that combined average $15M per. They are paying their LG and top LB and NT/DT deals that combined average $25M per. No TE or OL or LB here ever approached that level of elite top 5 or even top 10 deal on Belichick's watch even while performing at an elite level for years. I doubt Tedy or Vrabes ever cracked the top 20 and Rodney once pointed out neither did he. Bill has finally belatedly shifted his focus on defense to drafting youth and speed into what had been an empty pipeline for too long. Even went so far as to make an inseason trade to shore up a secondary that remaind abyssmal. His efforts continue to meet with mixed results. And unfortunate durability issues. That side of the ball remains a too long neglected work in progress that too little too late couldn't save. 9th in points allowed but 26th in yards allowed. A good deal of their improvement has revolved around turnover differential. We saw little of that effect in the post season. They got no pressure on Flacco and forced no turnovers and they even managed to get gashed a bit on the ground to the tune of 9 first downs.
Are players responsible individually for their own execution, you betcha. But when almost everyone has a bad day at the office it's time to look beyond the individual battles to coaching, game planning and ultimately roster construction. You'll never have all pros at every position. That's where scheme can be a difference maker. But absent sufficient talent and a lucky break here and there, scheme alone all to often becomes little more than failed theory.
Whether or not they game plan and playcall to run the ball has less to do with Brady than it does with the core faith the coaching staff has (not) in it's backs and OL to get the job done on the ground. And whether or not the passing game succeeds has less to do with the QB's performance or drive (love how he's either too intense or not intense enough depending on critic) than it does with coming up short on playmaking, functional options to ttarget. His top target was on the shelf again, his 3 best remaining targets were making physical and mental mistakes throughout and his 4th option was Deion Branch...with Vereen a distant 5th. His backs were averaging 3.9 ypc against a nickle defense before the lead back got Pollarded and lost the ball in the process. Frankly, I don't know what else he was supposed to do.
I believe the Ravens were in everyone's heads where they have resided since 2010, and the game plan and mindset ultimately the execution on both sides of the ball suffered as a result. Despite what they say, guys aren't stupid and they know they are playing on a razor thin margin. Most of which traces back to decisions made above their paygrade over the last several seasons. Poor drafting and development not to mention a reluctance to draft for certain positions coupled with poor choices in FA. That's what has dogged them since 2007. It's led to insufficient pass rush, a heartattack inducing secondary, and lack of explosive playmakers on both sides of the ball as well as on ST. Lose a couple of key cogs in that wheel as they seemingly do every playoff season when you're facing increasingly stiffer competition and you have the recipe for arriving there only to come up short. Teams on a tight margin either play tight or roll the dice and throw caution to the wind.
That's the parable. Maybe you should retitle this thread The Mortality of Billy Bob Belichick's System. Or take the stand Felger has that the law of averages dictates that a team that consistently knocks on the door is bound to break it down sooner or later. The key is adding a few more cogs to the wheel so when they next knock on that door they won't again be rolling on the mickey mouse spare. If Gronknandez or whatever backs it up can be counted on and Deion Branch isn't the last man standing playing half the snaps in 3 wide and they can commit to a mentality of running the ball beyond when it's easy and Denard doesn't regress like all the CB's before him and Marquise Cole isn't covering one of the opponents legit weapons and they add a punishing presence to that secondary and we're doing more than safely going through the motions on ST, he may well be proved correct again, as he was last Sunday.
Perfecion is an admirable goal. But you're never going to achieve it. The solution is to have enough talented playmakers to overcome that reality and make just enough plays to overcome their opponents. That is what the teams of 2001-2004 had that the teams of 2007-2011 and 2012 haven't had. Brady is the only constant, but even Joe Montana wouldn't have won 4 if he'd been asked to play that last one without Jerry Rice while fronting a transitioning defense that didn't rank 3rd in points allowed and 4th in yards against.
