It took a few days of ranting about, cursing and blaming the New England Patriots for me to sit back, relax, and acknowledge reality: **** happens. So we didn’t win our 4th Super Bowl this past weekend. Brady hasn’t gotten to Montana and Bradshaw level yet. Bill Belichick hasn’t tied Chuck Noll just yet. At the end of the day it’s alright, we’ll have to start back up in September and make a run at it again. Does anyone want to really bet the Pats won’t be in the playoffs contending for another title next year? How about the year after? Show of hands? I didn’t think so. We’ve been spoiled this past decade in Boston with numerous titles in all 4 professional sports. I think I expected a victory simply because of that history. My mind told me leading up to the Super Bowl the Giants were a bad matchup. I was outwardly vocal about wanting to play San Francisco instead. Nonetheless, it was a game the Pats should have won the way it all played out. They had control of the game and let it go with one inexcusable drop.
But we all know what happened. No need to re-hash all the events of this past Sunday. The ironic thing in all this is somehow this Super Bowl loss “exposes” New England. It apparently “chipped into our dynasty.” What dynasty? The one from 2001-2004? Yea, there’s only a couple (I haven’t checked, maybe just Brady and Faulk) still on roster that were members of those 3 Super Bowl teams. What does a SB loss in 2011-2012 have to do with those teams? In the same light, there are those tugging at Tom Brady’s cape proclaiming him “no longer an all-time great” because of a 2nd Super Bowl loss. I get it, I really do. When someone is put on such a high pedestal so early in their career, the haters will do all they can to bring that pedestal down to earth. The problem for those who argue against Tom Brady’s legacy is it was firmly established on February 6, 2005 when the Patriots won their 3rd Super Bowl under Brady in a 4-year period. Since that point in time he’s just been adding to it.
I’m no math major despite my study in the field of Finance, but at last check they don’t dock you Super Bowl victories for losing SBs. You can check all the history books till your eyes bleed for QBs with 3+ Super Bowls. Sorry, those books aren’t wrong. That’s the list: Montana, Bradshaw, Aikman, Brady. Nobody else made that list. Tom Brady doesn’t need enormous numbers to validate his place among the game’s greats. He put himself in that class 7 years ago. But for the sake of appeasing those who question him, I’ll gladly play along. There’s endless reasons for Brady’s place beyond the 3 SBs:
1) His numbers
Yes, the one thing that’s never impressed me is the easiest thing to point to on top of his SBs. Brady, despite being called a “system QB”, a “dinker and dunker is essentially elite in the majority of all passing statistics. He’s just outside the top 10 in completions and will be likely 8th after next season, passing Montana in the process. He’ll move into the top 10 of passing yards next year and with a 4500 yard season would sit 9th just ahead of former teammate Drew Bledsoe. He’s tied with Elway for 5th in TD passes and will likely stay there until 2013-2014 unless he pulls off a 43 TD season. Still odds are by the time he’s done he’ll be no lower than 4th (depending on Manning could be second). His passer rating sits 4th all-time with only Steve Young ahead of him having played as many years or more than Brady. His INTs are much lower than all-timers such as Marino, Aikman, Montana, Elway and Bradshaw. There’s no need to keep going, you get it at this point. There was no “system” before Brady. Despite the offensive coordinators that come and go, the engine keeps running. That’s simply a product of the system’s conductor.
2) Winning
Yes even without referencing the 3 SB victories, Brady simply has an impeccable track record of winning. In 10 seasons as a starter he’s a +99 win differential in the regular season and playoffs. Next closest? Joe Montana at +79. He’s simply in his own zip code of winning for a career. He’s missed the playoffs only once as a starter in 10 seasons and that was reliant on a tie-breaker. He led the Patriots to the only 16-0 regular season of all-time even if it was tarnished vs the Giants. If you exclude his 9 wins during the 3 Super Bowl runs, Brady STILL has a winning record in the playoffs at 7-6 and those 7 wins outside of SB seasons would be good for 17th most all-time in NFL playoff history. 16 Quaterbacks in NFL history have won more playoff games in their careers than Brady has in non-SB winning seasons.
3) Indifference to Change and Impact on Teammates
History has shown it doesn’t matter who you put around him. He just wins. Early in his career he led offenses void of talent, simply didn’t make back-breaking mistakes and produced 3 titles with two SB MVPs. Later in his career he adjusted to a more pass-happy offense. First it was Troy Brown, Deion Branch and David Patten. Multiple SBs. They left and it was Ben Watson, Reche Caldwell and company. Another AFC Championship Game (where 34 points wasn’t enough). Then Moss and Welker came aboard and they only proceeded to obliterate numerous offensive records. Finally Moss leaves and Brady inherits two young TEs, has virtually no run game, and brings Deion Branch back whose career went to die in Seattle. Result: Two #1 seeds and a SB appearance. The fact Brady was so great early in his career makes losing a Super Bowl worthy of insult to his haters. His brilliancy has shined bright for so long that qualifying for 5 Super Bowls in 10 years as a starter is rippable because they lost 2 of them. Never mind the fact only one other QB qualified for 5 (with nowhere near the success of Brady), most QBs of his era are stuck on 1-2 trips. His biggest rival? 2 trips with one colossal Pick-6 and a losing playoff record to match. Wes Welker, Deion Branch, David Patten, nobodies before Brady. A second-year TE who didn’t even play his senior year of college is considered the best in the game. You going to tell me that is a product of his talents?
Nonetheless, the 2012 Super Bowl simply aided Tom Brady’s growing stardom and legacy. A “bad game” for Tom is 2 TDs and a would-have-been MVP award. The simple presence of the Patriots in the Super Bowl speaks volumes to what he had to do all year, carrying a defense that would embarrass a Pro Bowl crowd, let alone an actual NFL game crowd. The Pats were 31st in the league defensively this year, one-half yard better than Green Bay. Aaron Rodgers went out in his first playoff game with the 32nd-ranked defense. Carrying defenses this bad generally only gets you so far. Not with Brady. Just another challenge he was able to overcome. The AVERAGE passing game this season vs the Pats secondary was 24 for 38 for 293 yards. Yet despite this bulging tumor of cancer crippling the Patriots all year they returned to the Super Bowl. While I applaud Brady here, I should include all the other QBs who took a 31st-ranked or lower defense to a SB…..ummm….wait….just one second. That’s funny. I don’t see anyone? Assistance? Nope, it’s been confirmed. No QB has ever taken a team ranked 31st or lower defensively to the Super Bowl. To those saying “well there’s not always been 32 teams”, no QB has taken a bottom 2 ranked defense to the Super Bowl before this year, regardless of the number of teams.
Again I understand the frustration. It gets old watching the same guys succeed time and time again and constantly be the center of the sport’s world. The biggest criticism of Brady in recent years is he hasn’t been able to win a FOURTH Super Bowl. Poor guy, what a slouch. There’s likely a 4-5 year window here for him to win another, maybe another 2-3 of playing at an elite level. Seth and others were ready to pass the torch earlier this season when Coley and I backed Brady. Aaron Rodgers was the heir apparent to Brady coming off a Super Bowl win and racing out to a fast start. Aaron Rodgers ran 22 miles in the Boston Marathon and collapsed on Mile 23 as Brady went trotting by. Whether or not Brady and Belichick get that 4th SB remains to be seen. After all, how many more chances can he really get? If he does I’ll certainly defend his case as the greatest QB to ever play this game. But that’s still TBD.
All I can say is if it takes Super Bowl losses to represent a “bad year” for Brady, then you’re all just making my case for me.
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