Seriously, Will New England Patriots Ever Win Without Tom Brady?
Sports these days often gets lost in the weeds of analytics. But more and more, one simple NFL glaring truth doesn't need a deep dive of statistical support:
Tom Brady deserves most - if not all - of the credit for the New England Patriots' dynasty.
Right, Josh McDaniels? Right, Jimmy Garoppolo? Right, Dave Ziegler? Right, Bill Belichick?
The not-so-secret sauce for the Pats winning six Super Bowls was an iconic quarterback who instantly read defenses, threw passes with uncanny accuracy and played his best when games mattered most.
This week we were reminded yet again that New England's formula was founded in No. 12. Not an offensive coordinator whiz who developed some fail-proof system. Not a general manager with a keen eye for talent. Not even a Hall-of-Fame head coach.
This realization has been a slow burn. But now - in the wake of the Las Vegas Raiders cleaning house - it's a five-alarm blaze of fact.
Tom Brady flourished without the Patriots, who have imploded without him.
In his second head-coaching stint, McDaniels went to Las Vegas and openly attempted to build a "Patriots West." Unfortunately, he succeeded. Without Brady on either team, McDaniels' new Raiders' offense matched the haplessness of his old Patriots' offense. Las Vegas ranks 30th in the NFL scoring 15.8 points per game; New England 31st at 14.8.
As the offensive coordinator in Foxboro - with Brady - for 14 seasons, McDaniels won six Super Bowl rings and is credited as the architect of a unit that set league records for points scored. In jobs in Denver and Las Vegas - without Brady - he went a combined 20-33 and has been fired twice because his teams couldn't consistently find the end zone.
Once Brady's beloved backup, Garoppolo started a Super Bowl for the 49ers but has since nosedived. In San Francisco he was beaten out of a job by the draft's "Mr. Irrelevant." In Las Vegas he's been benched in favor of someone named Aidan O'Connell.
Ziegler went west with McDaniels, taking over the GM gig after years in New England's front office. He was also fired this week after the Raiders went 9-16 during a season and a half of his talent evaluation.
And, of course, there's the harsh reality of Belichick and Brady.
With his quarterback, the coach went 249-75 with 17 division titles and six championships. Without his quarterback, the coach in nine seasons is 82-96 with only one playoff win. Since Brady left the Patriots after the 2019 season, they are 27-32 without a sniff of postseason success.
Conversely, all Brady did without Belichick and McDaniels and Ziegler - and everybody else not named Rob Gronkowski - was head to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and go 37-20 with another Super Bowl win.
At 3-5 and flabbergasted by their offensive futility, the Raiders this week fired their ex-Patriots. Despite a worse record (2-6) and an even more anemic offense, the Patriots at the trade deadline made zero moves regarding players, coaches or front-office personnel.
Meanwhile, somewhere in his dizzyingly busy retirement, Brady's legend continues to grow.
