The Quest for 7: Patriots graded, T.B thinks T.B. stays, More staff leaving? Links 01.17.20

Morning! Welcome to The Quest for 7, where volunteer writer, Steven Viner, scours the net for seven Patriots related articles from other sites offering different points of view on the six-time champs. Paid subscribers not only get to read all seven, but they also get to check out his always fiery "Steve's Soapbox" at the end.

1. Hide your cell phones and clean out your lockers, kids. Pocket-protector-wearing Greg Bedard slaps his ruler on the desk and hands out his Patriots' unit grades for 2019. Some legit surprises here. When it came to Tom Brady's performance, my eyes told me one thing, but Mr. Bedard's numbers showed another. Also, see how Maurice Moton of Bleacher Report graded the 2019 Pats.

2. Ben Linsey of Pro Football Focus gives his Break out player for every position in 2020-21, and guess what? There's a Patriot on the list and he mans a key spot on the offense. This wouldn't fix all of New Englands' problems, but certainly a few.

3. In his first two years as Ram's head coach, Sean McVay's offensive scheme set fire to defenses across the league. Wanting a sprinkle of that magic McVay fairy dust, teams hired any and all coaches affiliated with the Wiz Kid. Now, Bernd Buchmasser of Pats Pulpit reports that the Browns are trying to pilfer their next GM from the Patriots. With double-digit GM and head coaches connected to Bill Belichick, it feels like other teams are squeezing the poor little Patriots fairy to death.

4. In my Salty Tears Take of the day, Nate Davis of USA Today throws in a dig about the Tuck rule and pleads his case — with a batch of disclaimers to cover his butt — that the Titans could be the next New England Patriots. Problem is, even if Mike Vrabel is the next Belichick, (I just literally LMAO, excuse me while I screw it back on) there's a certain piece Tennessee might be missing? Hmmm. What ... could that ... be? Oh yeah. Tom Brady ... Keep dreaming.

5. In a piece by Hayden Bird of Boston.com, Karate Kid Garoppolo reveals the important lesson he learned from Mr. Miyagi Brady. Garoppolo might use his chopsticks to catch that one fly and win a Super Bowl, but he has an entire jar to fill before he can focus power like the Master. Wax-on wax-of, Student Jimmy!

6. With free agency potentially creating cracks in the mighty Patriots dam, Josh Edwards of CBSSports has Belichick sticking his finger in this leak, plugging a position that could flood the defense if not fixed in his 2020 mock draft. Also, Sam Hellman of 247 Sports has what could be a very interesting project for the Patriots.

7. If Brady leaves New England, most feel L.A. is the team. (Ew.) Consider my "Positive Patriots News" streak still intact! Adam London of NESN lets us know why the always rational Colin Cowherd thinks Brady is a bad fit for the Chargers. If intelligence was a stat, Cowherd would lead the league in common sense. He never provides a take without giving it serious thought. And we have ... LATE BREAKING NEWS! Sean T, McGuire also of NESN lets us know which former Patriots great thinks Brady will be returning. Hopefully, this other "T.B." has inside info.

STEVE'S SOAPBOX

The place where Steve gets to give his take of the day from the perspective of a Patriots fan.

(Part 3 of 4) I decided to tackle who is the greatest. In Part 1 and Part 2, I selected the four best Patriots teams of all-time and asked readers to vote for seeding purposes. Yesterday, #2 seeded 2014 Patriots squared off against #3 2016 in part 2 of the series. Today, the #1 seeded 2004 dynasty completer will square off against the #4 2007 undefeated squad.

Key Plays and situations

2007 Offense vs 2004 Defense: First play of the game, Lawrence Maroney takes the stretch handoff, then flips it back to 2007 Brady. Covering Randy Moss, Ty Law bites on the deception, surrendering a step for a Moss 75-yard bomb. Touchdown ... and Josh McDaniels goes nuts. 2004 Belichick moves Eugene Wilson to help Law, singling up Welker against 2004 Asante Samuel. Moss is erased, although constant deep routes occupy two defenders. 2007 Kevin Faulk picks up four first downs on one drive that ends with a 1-yard Sammy Morris TD run behind Logan Mankins. Welker and Samuels take turns winning battles. 2004 Belichick insisting his defensive linemen use 2-gap technique produces little pressure by 2004 McGinest, Ty Warren and Seymour. Belichick pulls Wilfork and starts blitzing 2004 Rosevelt Colvin and Mike Vrabel while sticking Rodney Harrison on Faulk, leaving the secondary vulnerable. 2004 Teddy Bruschi reads 2007 Brady's eyes and drops into the deep middle for an interception. 2007 Brady bounces back by playing chess. He ignored Donte’ Stallworth all game, until he sees Randall Gay on Stallworth in the slot. Brady pump fakes to Moss, getting Wilson to commit, and fires back to Stallworth on a deep seam for another long score.

2004 Offense vs 2007 Defense: Not to be outdone by McDaniels, Charlie Weis calls his own razzle-dazzle on the first play — a double-reverse pass by David Pattern to Troy Brown. The older but wiser 2007 defense stays with their assignments, and Ellis Hobbs intercepts the pass. Corey Dillon turns himself into a human wrecking ball, and runs it seven straight times setting up a play-action pass to Daniel Graham. Adam Vinatieri kicks a field goal. 2007 Belichick goes with an old-school 4-3 defense to stop Dillon. 2007 Wilfork, Seymour, Ty Warren, and Willie McGinest start piling up run-stuffs, Dillon exits. 2004 Brady starts dinking-and-dunking to Deion Branch and David Givens. 2004 Kevin Faulk is abusing 2007 Harrison and Bruschi on screens and wheel routes, leading to a Brady scrambling TD. 2007 Belichick blitzes Harrison on a stunt with Adalius Thomas, they crush 2004 Brady, but he gets the throw off to Troy Brown on a drag, scoring a TD. Losing late in the fourth quarter, 2004 Brady feels Jarvis Green bearing down, but uses his footwork to create an extra second, and hits Branch with a strike inside the seven-yard line. Needing a touchdown, McGinest beats 2004 Matt Light, sacking 2004 Brady. Facing a 4^th and goal from the eight-yard line, 2007 Belichick blitzes Junior Seau up the middle. Brady's pass goes to Givens who has a step on Hobbs at the back of the endzone. Given has it for a split second, until James Sanders smashes into him, breaking up the pass. 2007 shocks the world and completes the huge upset, making Steven Viner pouty-face cry for a second time.

Final Score

2007 Patriots 28

2004 Patriots 24

Tune in Monday morning for the Super Bowl of Super Bowls: the 2014 Patriots, against the 2007 Patriots

2007 moves onto the finals face 2014. Here is the formula I created to HELP decide the outcome. (Scales of 1-10 and 1-5)

Team                       2004     2007     2014    2016

Brady                             6          10         8.5       9.5

RB’s                             10           5.5        4           7

WR/TE                          7            10        8.5         10

OL                                6.5          8           5.5        7

Passing defense          9.5          9          9          6.5

Running defense         8.5         7.5       7.5         9

Forced Turnovers        9            7.5       7            5.5

Playoff competition     10          3          7.5        6.5

Sacks (5 point)            4.5         4.5      3.5         2

FG Kicking (5 point)   5            3          4            3.5

Bonus                         1            2           3            2

Total                           77         70        68      68.5

Bonus is the number of Shutdown corners and Hall of Fame worthy WRs and TEs on the team.

Be on the lookout for more The Quest for 7 features. Want more Salty Tears and Soapbox? Click on my name above and scroll down for previous Quests!