The New England Patriots should have won more Super Bowls during the Tom Brady era.
New England Patriots fans are understandably euphoric that the Patriots in the inimitable Tom Brady era won a record-tying 6 Super Bowl titles. But what if I said that it should be a disappointment? Because it was.
Now I can hear the Patriots’ fandom blowing gaskets all over New England if they read this. But if you don’t believe me, how about the top New England Patriots’ beat writer feeling the same? That would be the inimitable Tom E. Curran. The best of the best.
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"Let’s get greedy. You enjoyed those six Super Bowl parades, right? What if I told you there could have very, very, very easily have been four more."
"Google it yourself. It’s all on YouTube. Anyway, the Patriots win that, they go to the Super Bowl and undress Carolina, which was a paper tiger team that season anyway. There. Ten Super Bowls. Oh, and yeah. We already went over Malcolm Butler last week. So 11."
So let’s get this straight, the best New England Patriots sports writer is on the record saying that the Patriots could very have, may very well have, and I’ll say, should very well have won 4 or 5 more Super Bowls in the Brady era.
It’s great having the best of the best on your side when you’re about to make a pretty controversial argument.
Combining Brady with good backs won Super Bowls
Patriots fans were rightfully basking for nearly two decades in the glory of winning 3 and then 6 Super Bowls during the Brady era. Yet, many, if not most, ignored or were oblivious to the fact that bad personnel decisions cost them more. Maybe many more titles.
When Brady hit his stride in the early 2000s, the sky was the limit for the team for the foreseeable future. They had a great, though beginning to age defense and an adequate offense. Combining Brady with a top running back was lethal to the Patriots opposition.
Even a dependable back with short-yardage capability would do. In the early Super Bowl years, they had backs that were a huge asset to Brady and the offense.
Antowain Smith was the one in 2001-2003. He was big, bruising back who got you the tough yards when you needed them. This got better in 2004 when they actually made a good trade for superb running back Corey Dillon.
That year, Dillon blasted through anyone and everyone for 1635 yards on the ground. He was great but wear and tear took its toll. Dillon wasn’t nearly as effective in 2005 and 2006. And neither were the Patriots.
Having a good back and a big back should have been the boilerplate for all the years the team was fortunate enough to have No. 12 at the helm. It wasn’t.
From 2006-2019, the Patriots only had 3 years with a back with 1000+ yards. In 2010, BenJarvus Green-Ellis with 1008. In 2012, Stevan Ridley with 1203 and in 2016, LeGarrette Blount with 1161. The Patriots won the Super Bowl against Atlanta after that season with the very underrated Blount.
In 2014, their leading rusher was Jonas Gray with a measly 412 yards rushing. That pathetic statistic should again have had Brady suing the Patriots for non-support.
It’s not rocket science for personnel departments to understand that an offense with the best quarterback in history only needs the complementary pieces on offense to win big every year.
You need an offensive line first. Then pass catchers who are capable.
But a strong running game is essential every year to provide a diversionary threat. Too often the Patriots didn’t give Brady one or more of these assets. Especially running backs.
So, as in 2019, they failed to do what they should have, win the biggest games.
New England Patriots personnel department’s failure to provide draft help was costly
The ultimate responsibility for the failure to win more Super Bowls during the Brady tenure in New England falls upon the personnel operation. Whoever was in charge, Bill Belichick, or whoever you want to blame did not measure up in many of those years.
The Patriots personnel operation failed to provide the necessary players to help their all-time great quarterback win.
Whether it was in poor receivers as in 2005 when they ultimately lost to the Colts in the AFC Championship Game; or, a poor defense that couldn’t hold the Eagles even when their quarterback threw for over 500 yards in the Super Bowl; or, in 2007 and 2010 when the Patriots defense could not make one stop to win a Super Bowl.
The personnel department failed to measure up and give Brady what he needed on offense and the team what they needed on defense to win. The common denominator is that the team with the best quarterback should win, if, he is given the weapons on offense to succeed and a good defense to hold the opposition.
New England failed to provide that on too many occasions during the past 20 years. It’s a shame, really. We recently heard that a Patriots draft list only considered 35-40 players out of 2000 or so worthy of a draft pick. It that weren’t so ludicrous and detrimental to the team’s success, it would be comical.
And this year, in 2020, a team with a good defense that is woefully deficient on offense, whose best offensive skill player is 34 years old, drafted defense with their first 3 premium picks in the draft. And in addition, they are counting on a quarterback who has thrown a sum total of 4 NFL passes to try to fill the shoes of the greatest quarterback ever.
And they failed to even draft a quarterback (like Jalen Hurts who was taken by the Eagles (who already have a proven quarterback) in the second round to maybe provide some competition to the second-year heir apparent. That was a big mistake. All the marbles are being bet on Jarrett Stidham. He flops, so do they. Big time.
So that’s the story. The Patriots under Brady missed out on an opportunity to haul in the greatest number of Super Bowl trophies of all time that would likely have never been challenged (although you can never say never.) They blew it.
And if you don’t believe me, to get some validation check out the article by the best in the business who thinks that 10 or 11 Super Bowl wins were possible. As they say in Foxborough, it is what it is.