The Quest for 7: Patriots news, Brady everywhere, Mock drafts, Links 1.20.20

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. Boston Sports Journal's own Greg Bedard nailed the two winners of Sunday's games when he gave his Conference Championship picks, and potential selloffs for the Patriots. Then, with some teams starting over at the head coaching position, Bedard finds some interesting players who might not fit into their system and could become available to the Patriots via trade.

2. In 2011, Logan Mankins played the entire regular season with a torn ACL. Now, this player looks to claim the throne as the toughest son-of-a-gun in Patriots history. 98.5 The Sports Hub staff tells us how someone on the offense played with a torn Achilles for the remainder of the season. With retirement likely, too bad the Patriots couldn't send this warrior out on top.

3. Jason La Canfora of CBSSports does his best to ruin Patriots fan's weekend by reporting Tom Brady is prepared to meet with other teams. Kind of like your wife or husband telling you they're shopping for a new partner, while you're still married. Mint.

4. Bernd Buchmasser of Pat Pulpit gives us fans the unfortunate news that this Ex-Patriots assistant coach will not be returning. With New England coaches jumping off faster than the Titan bandwagon fans, it would have been nice having one return to help provide more stability.

5. The answer to Boston.com's Arnie Stapleton's piece on who is the most dominant player in AFC Championship history is pretty obvious. But there's a lot of good stuff that you may not know, or simply have forgotten with the Patriots making it 13 times in the past 19 years. The struggle is real for Patriots fans.

6. Vinnie Iyer of Sporting News has the most interesting Patriots first-round pick I've seen so far this year in his 2020 NFL mock draft. Meanwhile, Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report goes the route that many prognosticators have in his 2020 NFL mock draft, by going with this position.

7. Have a couple of non-football related Brady links to share. The NESN Staff fills us in on Eminem dropping a surprise album out of nowhere, and referencing Tom Brady. Then TB12 was spotted at UFC on Saturday night, and Steven Kubitza of 12up tells us here how the crowd reacted to the GOAT.

STEVE'S SOAPBOX

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

(Part 4 of 4) I decided to tackle who is the greatest. In Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3, I selected the four best Patriots teams of all-time and asked readers to vote for seeding purposes. Last Friday in part 3, #1 seed and the beloved 2004 Patriots squared off against #4 2007. That damn 2007 Patriots team haunted fans again, but this time, with the upset. Today, in the Super Bowls of Super Bowls, the #2 seeded 2014 dynasty restarter will square off against the 2007 undefeated squad.

Key Plays and situations

2014 Offense vs 2007 Defense: 2014 Belichick has Brady comes out with Gronkowski lined up outside and Edelman in the slot to see how 2007 Belichick counters. Surprisingly, Rookie Brandon Meriweather draws Gronk while Asante Samuel covers Edelman. Older, but savvy Rodney Harrison is over the top of Gronk to double-team. The first 7 inside draws to LeGarrette Blount get stuffed by 2007 Vince Wilfork, Richard Seymour, Teddy Bruschi, and Ty Warren, leading to two punts and another 3^rd and long. Randall Gay gets toasted by Danny Amendola who sits in an open zone for a 15-yard, sparking momentum. Then, Edelman starts faking Samuel out of his cleats. Brady uses his two slot receivers to backbone two consecutive scoring drives: one a Shane Vereen pass to the flat, the other a one-yard run by Blount. Gronk has yet to be targeted. The second half starts with an Adalius Thomas strip-sack, with Jarvis Green scoring. Brady gets the ball back, pissed. Brandon Lafell beats Ellis Hobbs on consecutive throws, joining Edelman and Amendola in torching 2007 corners. No one covers TE Tim Wright on a play-action pass from the 2-yard line, completing the quick TD. 2007 Belichick stops double-teaming Gronk to help against Edelman and Amendola by using Harrison to single cover Gronk. Brady recognizes this and targets Gronk on four consecutive plays. Gronk gets his first catch of the game on a 28-yard seam route. Gronk then boxes Harrison out 8 yards downfield, but the safety times the hit to Gronks back perfectly for a pass-defensed. Gronk comes back to beat Harrison on a 22-yard back-shoulder catch that requires a perfect Brady throw. Then, on 2^nd and goal from the 5, Gronk and Harrison smash at the goal line, with Gronk bouncing off to the back corner of the endzone where Brady finds him for a jumping spinning grab. Replay shows Twinkle-Toes Gronk had both feet in. Touchdown. There's a little over 1 minute left in the game.

2007 Offense vs 2014 Defense: The matchup everyone’s been waiting for is a letdown. Darrelle Revis is not on Randy Moss. Brandon Browner plays bump-and-run on Moss, with Devin McCourty behind him as backup. Revis is assigned to Donta' Stallworth, while Kyle Arrington and Patrick Chung bracket Wes Welker. Chandler Jones continues to struggle at setting the edge, but 2014 Belichick lives with giving up the occasional 5 to 10 yard run to keep his Nickel defense on the field. With safeties helping on Moss and Welker, Logan Ryan gets beat by Jabar Gaffney on a chair route for a long TD. Later, Ben Watson beats Jamie Collins for an 11 yard TD. Gostkowski misses the extra point. Browner and McCourty hold Moss to 2 catches through halftime, but Browner collects 4 penalties for key first downs. 2014 Belichick moves Revis to cover Moss with no safety help. On a screen pass, Kevin Faulk jukes Dont’a Hightower and uses perfect blocking for a 35-yard TD. Going for a 2-point-conversion, Maroney gets tripped up in the backfield by Collins. Minutes later, 2007 is down 2 with 70 seconds left. On a 4^th and 4 just over midfield, 2007 Brady looks to Welker who’s been known for key playoff drops. 2007 Brady slightly overthrows a 5-yard in cut, Welker makes one of the toughest diving catches you’ll ever see. On 3^rd and 6, 2007 Belichick doesn’t want Gostkowski attempting a 54-yard game-winning field goal. 2007 Brady drops back to pass, Chandler Jones beats Matt Light for his second sack of the game. On 4^th and 15, 2007 Brady goes for Moss on a 17-yard button hook, Revis knocks the ball down from behind.

When all was said and done, it was not the team concept that won it for 2014, but the individual matchups. 2014 had Revis to slow Moss. No one on 2007 could slow Gronk without a double team, and no one on 2007 had the quickness to cover Edelman and Amendola. Gostowski showed why Belichick had little faith in him during the 2007 Super Bowl. And Matt Light’s documented struggles at blocking speed rushers proved he couldn't handle Chandler Jones. 2014 pulls off the huge upset. Still doesn’t feel right, like it should be 2004. But other factors came into play like 2004 Brady wasn’t at-his-peak Brady yet, (28 TDs to 14 Ints with 3,692 passing-yards) and the bend-but-don’t-break 2004 defense isn't the greatest way to beat that 2007 offense. Giants won by pressuring with just 4 rushers, and the occasional exotic blitz. (Okay, and about 10 other flukes going their way.) Screw you 2007, part II!

Final Score

2007 Patriots 34

2014 Patriots 35

So with my system, I dub the, 2014 Patriots, the greatest Patriots team of all-time! (Although deep down, I feel 2004 is.) 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!