New England Patriots: ‘It was Tom Brady … ‘ all along
In a no surprise eventuality, Tom Brady once again led the New England Patriots … oops! the Tampa Bay whoever to his 10th Super Bowl appearance.
While I have a self-imposed boycott on watching any of these games involving Brady or anyone else actually, it is painful still that the all-time best New England Patriot and any other team’s player, has once again wound up where he always seems to, in the Big Game, the Super Bowl, but in someone else’s uniform.
In the early 1990s, James Carville, a political adviser (and a really good one) to Presidential candidate Bill Clinton coined a phrase to define the entire race to the White House.
It was, “It’s the economy, stupid.” That meant that the central issue was the economy and forget about pretty much anything else if you meant to win.
Clinton followed that advice, won the Presidency, and served two terms. Can’t help thinking of that phrase when evaluating the separation of Tom Brady from the team from which he should have retired (if he ever does), the New England Patriots.
Tom Brady was the driving force behind the New England Patriots dynasty
Don’t care to use that word, “st … d”, so I’ll paraphrase by saying that all along, “It was Tom Brady, … ” These pages are no stranger to that sentiment. But seeing Brady getting ready for another Big Game in that foolish uniform opens up all the old wounds.
A previous article months ago made that sentiment perfectly clear,
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"First, in their greatest faux pas of all time, the New England Patriots sent Tom Brady packing through indifference and insult. This was not only a terrible football decision, but it was also bad optics for New England.Brady was still playing at a high level…I’d called Tom Brady the “Great Safety Valve”. Mess up free agency? No problem. Botch the draft? It’s OK. Fail to build a solid offensive line? Fine.Always, there was No. 12 to cover up for all the mishaps. Well, that safety valve is now gone south to Tampa Bay. The Patriots poor performing personnel operation is now on their own. I don’t see that they have taken the proper steps to ready the team for the post-Brady era. Far from it."
Right. But who better than the New England Patriots hierarchy should have known that? They saw it every game. Every year. For two decades. That unlikely find in the sixth round in 2000 was like finding a hoard of 1000 Roman gold in coins in an abandoned field in the UK, a once in a lifetime score.
They got lucky.
But those who should have known that the most and appreciated it, even more, were either oblivious to that fact or unappreciative of the contributions that No. 12 made to that team for twenty years. Game-in-game-out. Year-in-year-out. Decade-in-decade-out.
In fact, coach Bill Belichick without Tom Brady is not a successful head coach. In my unofficial calculations, he has an overall losing record as a head coach statistically without that certain quarterback at the helm.
And frankly, with Brady at quarterback, the New England Patriots should have notched even more Super Bowl wins as a previous article explained. They, in fact, underachieved in that respect. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the great Tom Curran’s column if you need more convincing.
Belichick and owner Bob Kraft should consider themselves the luckiest coach and owner in the history of the NFL. Without Tom Brady, they would very possibly be also-rans.
Even this season, with another former NFL MVP, Cam Newton at the helm Belichick couldn’t deliver a winning, never-mind playoff season. It wasn’t Cam Newton’s fault. And that’s putting it mildly.
Newton had a higher completion percentage than Brady with a fraction of the weapons that Brady had at his disposal in Tampa Bay. No weapons for Cam Newton. No playoffs. Even though Newton scored 12 touchdowns himself. Problem was, nobody else did.
And who was responsible? It was the coaching staff and personnel department whoever that is, who blew this season and a possible playoff berth through poor coaching and awful personnel decision-making.
This writer simply can’t watch Tom Brady excel for any other team than the New England Patriots. One radio commentator once said that yours truly bleeds, blue, silver, and red. Right on target. A New England Patriots fan, purely, simply, and exclusively.
Could care less about any other team or games, except as they include or impact the Patriots. That’s why I won’t be attentive to the winner of the 2021 Super Bowl. For this writer, the only thing that matters now with the Patriots season in the rubbish can is the upcoming offseason.
Next. The 5 faces of the New England Patriots: The stars, the coach, the dynasty. dark
But, for a truly abominable decision by Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick, it may have been the Patriots playing once again in the Big Game. It was a bad decision that keeps on giving the New England Patriots’ fans nothing but misery.
So now we can only look forward to the offseason and next season. By way of the draft, free agency, and trade, we’re on to the New England Patriots 2021 offseason.
And, if Newton departs, expect the team to be even worse. Absent the old No. 12, don’t expect too much from this club. Unfortunately, as they say, it is what it is. That is until it isn’t.