Happy Anniversary Coach!
As a low level employee at a low level division III institution, I say Coach a lot. Way easier than remembering names. Just wanted to get out in front of that.
Now 21 years ago today, something incredible happened.
Bill Belichick was hired as the head coach of the New England Patriots.
Fast forward 21 years and there is talk about how Belichick is nothing without Tom Brady, to which I say, HA!!.
The ‘show me now’ society we live in is feeding off some strange idea that because Tom Brady left and is in the Super Bowl with his new team, it means that Belichick can’t win without him because the Patriots missed the playoffs this year. Insanity.
On the GREATEST COACH OF ALL TIME’S anniversary I would like to unravel this fake mystery by saying this... one year is nowhere near enough time to make this bad argument AND without Belichick taking him in, teaching him the Force and showing him how to work hard and eat your humble pie, there is no Brady.
Brady left for “greener pastures” which I am happy for him. Do I wish he stayed? 100% yes. I'm a sucker for a team-lifer and it would've been gold if he finished the next X amount of years in New England. But that didn't happen. Instead, Brady HAND-PICKED a team with weapons on offense and was middle of the pack on defense; that's a formula that has taken him to the big game before. And with him as Coach in Tampa, according to Bruce Arians, who has openly admitted to sitting back and watching Brady do the work, it was a perfect recipe for success this year.
Belichick didn't have that luxury. Even if he KNEW a year or two ago that Brady was definitely leaving the Pats to go to a new destination, the head coach/GM job of fielding a team of 53, three phases of the game in one season with a new QB is a task and a half. Even without the COVID hold outs Belichick needed to overcome, putting any other quarterback that isn't Brady in this situation would have been at best a wild-card team.
The point I'm ultimately making is the two can both co-exist without it having to be a "Belichick needs Brady but Brady doesn't need Belichick" discussion. They needed one another to win these past 20 years. Brady needed to learn from Belichick in order to go to Tampa and do the things he was able to do down there. It was an experiment that worked out because Brady is who he is. Belichick experimented with a former MVP (coming off a season-ending injury) and revamped his system to get to the end of an experiment that didn't work.
So if you are on the "Brady is better" train because of this season then get outta here with that nonsense. Go save it for the other clickbait media outlets that want to get a rise out of people.
