The question I have is this. If Mo Lewis never injured Drew Bledsoe, what would Brady be right now? Same numbers/stats? Never get a chance? On a different team? I'd have to think the Pats were gonna give Brady a shot at that point regardless of the injury but who knows..it could have changed things.
I think he would have been starting by mid-October. Bledsoe was an average QB by 2001 and Belichick had a history of moving on from such players. To think Brady would have never got off the bench if not for Lewis is an incredible slap in the face to Brady and Pates fans should be ashamed to say such a thing.
a nice drive? it's one of the greatest in SB history. 1st yar starting QB at his 17 w/ just over a minute left and no timeouts. if that game gets to OT and SL wins the toss NE most likely loses. That was an incredible drive. I don't care if the NE O didn't score a point, NE had a 2 TD lead in the 4th qtr- no team had ever blown a 2 TD lead in the 4th qtr of a SB before. They played great for 3 qtrs and collapsed at the most critical time- kind of like Jets-Broncos this year. You have to finish off games to be considered a great defense. Prior to the Eli/Tyree and ben/Holmes drives it was the best in SB history. Considering the time on the clock it may have been better than both of those. 1:21 to play at their own 17 w/ no timeouts. A nice drive of dinks and dunks:lol: I love that- do thoe plays count? do you have to throw a 60 yd pass in roder to have a successful drive? he got them into makeable FG range to win the SB, if that game gets to OT it's a coin flip. if they lose the flip they are likely losing the game. Brady was going to be starting sooner tha later regardless of the hit. maybe he starts 3 weeks later and NE misses the playoffs in '01 so it pushes the dynasty back by a year but he was going to be starting very soon. Bledsoe was an average QB his entire career and BB just gave him a $100 mil deal after the 2000 season BUT starting 0-2 the pressure was moutning for BB and this was his last shot as a HC. Brady would have been starting soon.
Never. --None of those other QBs are convicted cheaters. --Vinatieri --None of those other QBs played with these disgusting rules that favor the offense, and are ruining the NFL. (Except Manning) --Fuck Tampon Brady
You cannot place the blame on just the defense of NE. So if it is a 0-0 game but the defense lets a team kick a fg to win it, the defense lost the game? To ignore the fact that defense let up 17 points and scored 10 shows your bias in your argument. You have not once credited the defense while I have given Brady a lot of credit for the drive and his play leading up to it. The drive would have never happened if the O could have put together a drive more than 3 plays late in the 4th. The defense alone did not let St. Louis back in the game. The defense should get a lot of credit. That is my argument, your arguing against. We aren't going to convince each other, and we both agree Brady is easily a top ten QB. Not much more to say on this issue.
really this. there's always going to be a huge * when discussing Pats superbowls, so there's really no way you can even begin to discuss how Brady is goat I mean the league docked them of a first round pick AND destroyed the evidence. Seems like everyone was silenced when Spygate occured and then a subsequent (predictable) smear campaign was unleashed on the leakers. So I can't see how we can discuss Brady as GOAT, we probably need to start this discussion for Big Ben first before we start with Brady.
The O gets some blame but if you have a 14 pt lead in the 4th qtr the bulk of the blame goes to the D for blowing it unless the O's TOs led to the points but that didn't happen in this case. I credited the D many times, I said '01 was their best year but they blew a 14 pt lead in the 4th qtr of the SB- I'm sorry but that takes away most of the good from that game. No Tom Brady in 2001 no SB for NE- it's as simple as that. The D was excellent for them that year but w/o the play of the QB they probably aren't even a playoff team.
Junc is dead on in this argument... If it wasn't for Brady, Belichick is someone's defensive coordinator today. Tom Brady IS the patriots Dynasty. If there is no Tom Brady in New England, Belicheck probably gets fired in 2001 or 2002.. I see BB having a coaching career similar to a Wade Phillips w/o Brady... A good coordinator and an average head coach, probably bounces around the league as a coordinator. Hell you could make the argument that with Wade Phillips maybe they would have won more Super Bowls. Bill makes many mistakes and really hasn't improved that defense at ALL in his time there. Having a QB that puts up 35ppg hides many mistakes and makes any coach look good. As a Jets fan I hate both guys but I at least respect Tom Brady because he is legitimate.. He is really an incredible Quarterback. BB has been riding Brady's coat-tails the whole time. AND he almost f##ed it all up with his spygate crap : YOU HAVE TOM FREAKING BRADY YOU DON'T EVEN NEED TO CHEAT. Oh and if Brady does win the Super Bowl this year, and I think they probably will, then YES Brady is the best QB of all time. Especially with the way that offense has been the last 5 years and what he has had to work with and that BAD defense.
The D led to as many points as the O. I agree no Tom Brady no super bowl, but you could also say no Vinateri no Super Bowl, no 2 interceptions no super bowl. That super bowl was a complete TEAM effort and one player or one unit alone did not single handedly lead his/their team to victory.
It was a team effort but the D blew a historic 4th qtr lead- that takes away from how well they played through 3 qtrs.
On NFL Films 'America's Game: The 2001 Patriots' BB said that Tom had a far superior pre-season leading into the 2001 season, and the only reason that he didn't start Tom over Bledsoe was the lack of experience, he's big on having younger players sit to learn and develop before throwing them into the fire. Chances are Tom would have been put in over the course of the season, Bledsoe wasn't playing well.
If you watch the play though it was the correct usage of the tuck rule. Vinny never got his second hand on the ball and his arm was going forward when the ball was knocked out. That was more of an arm going forward therefore forward pass ruling. Tried to find it on Youtube because one tuck rule debate uses footage of Vinny and you can see it was two different scenarios. Agreed. They needed all 3 phases to play really good to win.
I wonder how Colts fans are feeling, having Brady win a title in their building or Eli passing Peyton. Jets and Colts fans are facing a similar nightmare.
What if the tuck rule never happened? Patriots dont win a first ring, and maybe never win any ever.....
Adam Vinatieri is the greatest clutch kicker in NFL history. But he only gets that chance because Brady put him in position to win those games. ...And in the win over Carolina, he wouldn't have had to make a last second FG if he hadn't missed two earlier in the game!
I love Jets fans bringing up the tuck rule. Your QB was the beneficiary of that rule against the Pats earlier in the season! The tuck rule didn't win that game. It saved them from a sure loss, yes. But nothing was stopping the Raiders from making a stand on D after and keeping the Pats from FG range. Nothing was stopping the Raiders from trying to get into FG range on their next possession with Janikowski, who was kicking through the weather like it was a summer afternoon. Their coach (Gruden) pussied out and played for OT. Nothing stopped the Raiders from letting Brady march right down the field in OT and win the game. The whole idea that the tuck rule won the Pats the SB is a joke. What the Pats did, was what a great team does. It took a fortunate turn of events and made the most out of it. The Raiders used it as an excuse to cry and whine like the loser babies they are, rather than make it a tiny playoff footnote by standing up and winning the game.
On the way to Carolina didn't he make 5 field goals in a playoff game to carry you there? One kick was also blocked. I agree if Brady didn't drive there, Adam doesn't get a chance. But if Adam doesn't make two tough kicks against OAK Brady doesn't get a chance. We could go in circles, I was just arguing that Adam cannot be overlooked in the whole scheme of things. Ice blood in his veins.
