When did Brady, become Brady, and Bill become IBWT? Just an open discussion to see where people stand.

[Actual Pats Fan]

that 2001 team had no business being in the playoffs never mind the Super Bowl

Until the Mo Lewis hit.

I would argue it remains the greatest coaching job in NFL history

There is much to support your statement.

Putting Brady 2nd on the depth chart. The ceremonial playbook burial after the beatdown in Miami. Keeping Brady in there.

This contrasts diametrically with what Berry did in 1988: suicidally benching the winning, effective young quarterback in his first extended starting opportunity who demonstrated poise, leadership and the ability to make huge plays under the most pressure with the game on the line.

*(Bill's not the same coach today-see 2022)

Just getting a bunch of no name guys to buy in

They were no names only to people not aware of football.

So many things had to go right and the margin for error was practically zero

David Patten being knocked out in Buffalo...but with a leg out of bounds. And the refs called it correctly.

The Tuck Rule.

But Brady, by maximizing his team's chances with common sense, attention and awareness, made those fortuitous occasions possible. From the time he first started and then for twenty years, I knew we had the quarterback who gave us our best chance to win. Despite the presence of lots of much more experienced, more physically flashy, much more highly paid and ballyhooed quarterbacks.

They were the perfect storm, Ying to Yang, and something that will never again happen in our lifetimes

It can happen much more often than it does; but of course not for two decades.

You need a coach who lets the player play and employs personnel and strategy that, at least for the most part, does not sabotage the quarterback's efforts. Leadership, determination to succeed, the ability to keep everyone involved and make the crucial plays are the qualities that separate Brady, Montana, Flutie (and Zappe IMO). But the player must have the opportunity to play and get experience and develop.

 

[FCB02062]

In Bill we trust is fraudulent. It was almost all Brady managing the game in the 2001-2006 window (with a ton of Parcells players on defense, by the way, playing with all coordinators from the Parcells tree). And then it was Brady operating the offense at a genius level and overcoming the Coach's awful drafts in the 2006 - 2009 window, drafts that yielded absolutely nothing in terms of offensive impact players.
The team rode the quarterback, not the head coach, to their dominance in the "post Tuna guys" era. What happened once all the Parcells guys were gone and Brady left? After 17 years of dominance, 6 Super Bowls, 9 conference titles and sixteen playoff appearances the HC of the NEP has been reduced to what he really is - a fraud. He is a below .500 coach since Brady left (25-26 for those watching at home, including a playoff embarrassment). He was an abject failure in Cleveland in five seasons he compiled a terrible 37-45, 1-1 playoff record. He literally has done NOTHING as a head coach without Tom Brady. The biggest indictment on the Fraud of Belichick is his deplorable record in December and January once Brady left. I've posted this several times before, but it absolutely needs to be posted again, and again, and again, so the In Bill We Trust People get it through their thick heads - he is probably the most overrated head coach in history. The HC of the NEP, post Brady, is 6-13. In 2021 his team was 8-4 heading into December, they went 2-3 down the stretch and got steamrolled in Buffalo in the playoffs, In 2022 his team was 6-5 heading in December and they finished 8-9. in both seasons they were in the playoffs heading into December - and Bill Belichick's team folded.

Let's compare this to Pete Carroll's 3 seasons in Foxboro...how did Carroll do post November? Coach Carroll (who just took Geno Smith to the playoffs) went 7-8 in his three seasons post November - a .467% compared to Bill the Coach's disappointing .316%. Carroll won the division, a wild card game and lost the divisional playoff game in Pittsburgh, 7-6 in 1997. In 98 he rode Scott Zolak into the playoffs against a loaded Jacksonville team and was a Lovett Purnell dropped pass from taking a 14-12 lead early in the 4th quarter. These are facts. I know they hurt some of the Belichick Bobos, but please, pray tell, why would anyone say "In Bill We Trust" now or ever????? This is not a defense of Pete Carroll - it is simply an illustration of how a neophyte head coach (at the time), who was derided as a complete joke in the New England market, has put up a better results (28-26, including 1-2 in the playoffs) than the supposed greatest coach of all time.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

In Bill we trust is fraudulent. It was almost all Brady managing the game in the 2001-2006 window (with a ton of Parcells players on defense, by the way, playing with all coordinators from the Parcells tree). And then it was Brady operating the offense at a genius level and overcoming the Coach's awful drafts in the 2006 - 2009 window, drafts that yielded absolutely nothing in terms of offensive impact players.
The team rode the quarterback, not the head coach, to their dominance in the "post Tuna guys" era. What happened once all the Parcells guys were gone and Brady left? After 17 years of dominance, 6 Super Bowls, 9 conference titles and sixteen playoff appearances the HC of the NEP has been reduced to what he really is - a fraud. He is a below .500 coach since Brady left (25-26 for those watching at home, including a playoff embarrassment). He was an abject failure in Cleveland in five seasons he compiled a terrible 37-45, 1-1 playoff record. He literally has done NOTHING as a head coach without Tom Brady. The biggest indictment on the Fraud of Belichick is his deplorable record in December and January once Brady left. I've posted this several times before, but it absolutely needs to be posted again, and again, and again, so the In Bill We Trust People get it through their thick heads - he is probably the most overrated head coach in history. The HC of the NEP, post Brady, is 6-13. In 2021 his team was 8-4 heading into December, they went 2-3 down the stretch and got steamrolled in Buffalo in the playoffs, In 2022 his team was 6-5 heading in December and they finished 8-9. in both seasons they were in the playoffs heading into December - and Bill Belichick's team folded.

Let's compare this to Pete Carroll's 3 seasons in Foxboro...how did Carroll do post November? Coach Carroll (who just took Geno Smith to the playoffs) went 7-8 in his three seasons post November - a .467% compared to Bill the Coach's disappointing .316%. Carroll won the division, a wild card game and lost the divisional playoff game in Pittsburgh, 7-6 in 1997. In 98 he rode Scott Zolak into the playoffs against a loaded Jacksonville team and was a Lovett Purnell dropped pass from taking a 14-12 lead early in the 4th quarter. These are facts. I know they hurt some of the Belichick Bobos, but please, pray tell, why would anyone say "In Bill We Trust" now or ever????? This is not a defense of Pete Carroll - it is simply an illustration of how a neophyte head coach (at the time), who was derided as a complete joke in the New England market, has put up a better results (28-26, including 1-2 in the playoffs) than the supposed greatest coach of all time.

True, the obligatory hyperbole that comes with success is often wrong and annoying. Bill's a good coach. He deserves credit for all the excellent decisions he's made; we all make dumb ones so he's human. How many times did I stare in disbelief at some of the strategy over those twenty years; sometimes it killed us to no surprise for me and sometimes we won... anyway. Despite it.

Every single coach has attributes and flaws. Please remember that Tom is Doug Flutie if Belichick does not draft, keep, and play him. Only Tom didn't win the Heisman. Think of how nobody would take us seriously today if we touted the potential and greatness of Tom today, if he never started a game in the NFL.

BTW Pete coached the Jete before us.