New England Patriots: Better without Tom Brady? Not a chance

Thinking the New England Patriots will be better without Tom Brady?

Ex-New England Patriots are commenting on whether or not they think that the Patriots offense will be better without Tom Brady.

Here’s what a couple of ex-Patriots have said recently. Rob Ninkovich was asked, could New England’s Offense Be Better Without Brady?

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Here’s what Ninko had to say.

"“It’s hard for me to think the Patriots are going to be better without Tom Brady. You talk about running the football. Yeah, if you’re not playing from ahead and you don’t have the lead, you can’t just run the football over and over and over again. You have to play from ahead to run the football. I don’t think the Patriots are in a better place without Tom Brady.”"

A voice of reason. This makes good sense. Ninkovich feels that the Patriots may be behind in a lot of games, obviously. Their good defense notwithstanding.

But, it is certainly clear, if your offense can’t score points, and a lot of them, you will not only be behind, but you will likely lose games.

Here’s another comment by former Patriots tight end, Christian Fauria,

"“They’re better off without him,” Fauria told co-hosts Glenn Ordway and Lou Merloni on WEEI. “Can I tell you why? And it has nothing to do with Brady’s skill set. It’s not because he’s not good or he can’t throw it or he’s lost some speed on his fastball. It’s because where he was in his career, his age, what he wanted to achieve, and what the Patriots were trying to achieve were completely different. So it was never going to work out. They were never going to see eye to eye. Fauria said Brady “doesn’t want his stats being messed with and won’t throw interceptions,” therefore he won’t make aggressive throws to Harry."

Now, while I have been very critical of the Patriots brass for their allowing Brady to leave town (or rather riding him out of town on a rail), I must admit that No.12’s attitude last season seemed, well, very un-Brady-like.

It has been speculated that Brady maybe froze people out of the passing offense for whatever reason. My view on that is this, if Brady actually did write people out of the offense, it must have been for a very good reason.

But, regardless of that fact, thinking that the offense will be better this season without the greatest quarterback who ever threw a ball downfield; the greatest winner in the history of the NFL; the greatest competitor you ever might see, is incorrect.

No. 12 above all else, was about winning. He wasn’t going to do anything that would impede his attempting to do just that each and every game. Brady as a Patriot was all about one thing, winning, and he was the best ever at it.

5 reasons why the New England Patriots offense is worse in 2020 than in 2019

It’s not rocket science that the Patriots are not the offensive team they were in 2019. Here are five reasons why not,

First, they lost the greatest quarterback of all time who was still performing at a very high level, the paucity of receiving targets notwithstanding. Frankly, no other reason is necessary to cite.

Second, their replacement is inexperienced. Now he may be great, I hope he is, but to put all your marbles in that type of basket is well a real gamble. To say the very least.

Third, the wide receivers are poor, even when healthy. They have the great Julian Edelman and a lot of question marks. And this to go along with that untested quarterback.

Fourth, the running backs are still average. They are mid-sized. Not very fast. Not game-breakers. Not bulldozers. They are mediocre, at best and that’s only if the offensive line stays intact.

Fifth, they will rely on two rookie tight ends who were both reaches in the draft.

The Patriots are a team on a gamble in 2020. They did nothing to shore up the greatest loss of a player in their history. They did nothing to improve a lackluster running game.

They did little if anything to improve their wide receiver room which was awful in 2019. This included not drafting a single wide receiver in the 2020 draft, and their tight end situation is a complete unknown. It’s totally untested. Their offense regressed significantly by losing Brady and neglecting to improve these other components.

Now all these things might just fall into place, everything will be beautiful and the Patriots will win 12 games again, but a lot has to happen to see that eventuality.

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And if you’re paying attention like Ninkovich, you’d be just a bit skeptical.

Beginning July 28, we will see this highly unusual drama begin to play out. It’s going to be very interesting, indeed.

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