Anybody who has read or listened to me over the years knows that when it comes to Tom Brady vs. Bill Belichick, I'm fairly down the middle. I don't have an allegiance to either side, and I've called both sides out for their respective faults.
I ripped Belichick for not surrounding Brady with enough talent on offense his final two seasons here while Belichick stocked up on defensive pieces that ultimately let him down. I called BS on Belichick's excuses about selling out in previous years even though Brady went to camp with a bunch of nobodies or has-beens and then Belichick threw stuff against the wall at the last minute (Antonio Brown, Mohamed Sanu) to fix the mess he created. That's no way to build an offense ... and could you spare a tight end ... ever?
I also got on Brady for no longer doing the offseason work here that helped make him and the offense great. And I dismissed any notion that Brady lacked input into the gameplans his final two seasons (they were decisions made by the coaching staff to maximize the talent on the roster — and Brady has turned the Bucs around by doing exactly what the Patriots did down the stretch in 2018 with focusing on the running game and throwing from under center ... funny how that works).
I don't have a horse in this Tom/Bill race. And I don't believe one will ever be proven right or wrong, as I said here on the day Brady stated his intentions to play elsewhere:
All will look at the scoreboard all throughout the season. What’s Tom doing? How are the Patriots doing? We’ll all be comparing and contrasting, and we’ll find some enjoyment out of that. But will that really tell us anything? The circumstances are so different with each team. Sometimes in sports, there aren’t always winners and losers.
And I'm still in that same place today. I just don't understand some of the talking points that are out there right now. Even with the Bucs in the NFC Championship Game, it doesn't tell me anything. I'll explain why with some of the popular talking points:
"Only Tom could have done this to the Buccaneers and Bruce Arians ... he's just a winner."
As much as you want to make the Buccaneers into this total loser franchise, this is patently false. Over the course of the franchise's history back to those creamsicle uniforms? Sure. Have they had some tough times recently, like most other franchises? Sure. But for about a decade, from 1997-2007, the Bucs were a force under Tony Dungy and then Jon Gruden. When I think of the Bucs, I think of those coaches, not John McKay or Ray Perkins.
The Bucs are far from the Bengals. They went 7-9 last season with terrible QB play in Arians' first season. They were going to take a step forward with just about any QB who was a better game manager than Jameis Winston.
The Bucs were third in points and yards in 2019 without Brady.
With Brady, they are third in points and seventh in yards.
No, Brady did not rise that offense from the dead.
And say what you want about Arians — and I certainly have my criticisms about him, especially his mouth when he's feeling himself (like now) — but he led the Cardinals to the same spot five years ago with Carson Palmer. The Cardinals were a worse (and cheaper) franchise than the Bucs.
So was Palmer a great winner like Brady? How does that work?
If this was the Bengals and Marvin Lewis ... now we're talking.
"This proves it was Tom over team."
How? The Bucs were loaded more than many of us knew (hand raised). I didn't realize the defense or offensive line was this good, and Antonio Brown and Rob Gronkowski were surprises that many didn't anticipate.
Congrats to them for making the pieces work. I didn't think they'd get the two offensive philosophies to mesh in time to make a run — they almost didn't — but their defense was better than I thought and I didn't figure the NFC South to be the new AFC East with four automatic wins.
The Patriots ... were not good. So they didn't win with Cam Newton. That doesn't mean they couldn't have done better had Belichick found another quarterback. That has nothing to do with Brady, that's just a negative on Belichick.
The Patriots were likely going to be on either side of 8-8 regardless of the QB, depending on how the breaks went. That includes if Brady stayed here.
You think that's wrong? Did you miss the part at the end of 2019 when the Patriots finished 2-4? How come Brady didn't make them a winner then, with similar weapons and a better defense?
Thank goodness the Bucs had Brady to beat a 7-9 Washington team on its fourth QB. Or that he led three touchdown drives of 3, 20 and 40 yards after turnovers, going against a QB in Drew Brees who couldn't throw the ball farther than 15 yards or at more than 40 mph.
I mean, no other QB could ever do that.
"Brady made the NFC Championship Game ... that just proves he's the goat."
Quarterbacks who have made their conference title games in recent years:
Josh Allen
Ryan Tannehill
Jimmy Garoppolo (Super Bowl)
Jared Goff (Super Bowl)
Blake Bortles
Case Keenum
Matt Ryan (Super Bowl)
Cam Newton (Super Bowl)
Carson Palmer
Colin Kaepernick (Super Bowl)
Joe Flacco (won Super Bowl)
Alex Smith
Mark Sanchez (twice)
Rex Grossman (Super Bowl)
So if making the conference championship game says something positive about Brady, doesn't it also means that most if not all the QBs on this are also great winners that lifted their teams?
Of course it doesn't.
That's why this will never be black and white.