Belichick Shows Pittman Why He Needs Great Quarterback

Retired New England coach was actually worse without Tom Brady in coaching career

Author:
Andy Hodges
Updated:
Jan 27, 2024 3:10 PM EST
Original:
Jan 27, 2024

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas coach Sam Pittman basically needs to find a collegiate version of Tom Brady. If that ever could even exist.

Retired New England coach Bill Belichick proved that. It was something I stumbled across looking at stats for something else and it was surprising.

Belichick retired this month after winning six Super Bowls and is mentioned in conversations about being the greatest NFL coach ever. You may want to add some context here. After hiring an inexperienced quarterbacks coach who picked him out, the Patriots took a flyer on Brady in the sixth round. It ended up being the biggest steal in NFL Draft history.

Now Pittman needs that with the Razorbacks. It's interesting Pittman has a better winning percentage without Brady than Belichick has. Belichick was just 47-57 with the Patriots without Brady (.452). In the four years post-Brady, the Patriots went 29-38 (.433) with one playoff appearance and zero AFC East titles.

Belichick has just two playoff appearances in the 10 full years without Brady (counting 2008 since Brady was injured in the first game of the year). He has just three winning records and is only 1-2 in the postseason and no division titles. Brady also won a Super Bowl after leaving the Patriots with Tampa Bay. Still having any questions over the value of a quarterback.

As a point of comparison, Pittman is 23-25 (.479) without Brady at quarterback. The Razorbacks haven't had anything close to being that kind of quarterback. All he's got to do is find somebody like that, which is impossible to predict. It doesn't appear Arkansas has the NIL money to attract one out of the portal, either.

The Belichick coaching tree isn't that great, either. Take Nick Saban out of the equation (his defensive coordinator for four years in Cleveland) and it's pretty much a collection of journeymen. They were 31-33 over those four seasons, which is pretty comparable. Pittman hasn't had anyone that looks to be the next Saban, either.

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Don't take this wrong. No need to diminish Belichick's record, but the stats are the stats. There is an argument to be made Brady may have been responsible for two Hall of Fame careers. Pittman just needs to find a quarterback who knows how to win.

As Brady proved, that doesn't mean he's always got the measurable stats. For a tall guy with a skinny frame who combined that with being slow, he ended up being the one with the most Super Bowl championships. The same holds true in college quarterbacks. The ones who win the most don't always have all the greatest measureables and Pittman chases too many players who look the part, but can't win games.

You'd think after dealing with that for three years, Pittman might get the idea. Bobby Petrino had one great quarterback (Lamar Jackson) and even he didn't fit the perfect mold for that offense. If nothing else, it shows he let a quarterback do what he does to win games.

There's still a little bit of recruiting left in this cycle, and not a single quarterback who's shown he can compete for a championship. It's not the only piece to the puzzle, but maybe the most important one. It's been over a decade since the Hogs had a quarterback who was a big-time winner. Maybe it's time they find out if folks can win games instead of looking good on videos.