It took a few days to sort this out, but as many expected, Bill Belichick is parting ways with New England Patriots. This ends one of the greatest dynasties in sports history, let alone NFL history.
Belichick won six Super Bowls as the head coach of the Patriots. As the league evolved, Belick evolved with it and kept on winning.
Of course, he had Tom Brady for those six Super Bowls, and Brady went on to win his seventh after leaving New England. In this video clip, sportswriter Charles Pierce addresses the Belichick vs Brady question in terms of who deserves more credit, which in some ways is a silly question. Both were critical. Brady probably never has his career without Belichick believing in him and keeping him in the starting lineup over Drew Bledsoe. Meanwhile, Brady’s amazing talent and focus helped Belichick with his blind spots.
You can weigh in here on your thoughts on the Belichick/Brady question.
Tom Brady has announced his retirement from the NFL, and it’s not hyperbole to say that this is the end of an era. Brady is the most successful quarterback in NFL history and is widely recognized as the greatest player to have played the position. Patrick Mahomes may have something to say about that over the next ten years, but for now nobody is coming close to Brady’s accomplishments.
After last year’s retirement fiasco and his subsequent personal issues, Brady handled this one in a clean and subdued manner, with a simple announcement on Instagram that didn’t leak. He handled it with class.
He also avoided any silly Brady vs. Belichick talk following his announcement by having Bill Belichick join him on his podcast, giving both of them the opportunity to gush over the other’s accomplishments, which frankly came off as very authentic.
Belichick was effusive in his praise of Brady, and went into great detail about how Brady saw the field and recognized coverages.
You could see it on the first drive of the game. Josh Allen was ready to run the ball when needed, and he was being accurate with his throws despite the cold weather. That as it turned out was a terrible combination for the Patriots defense and the Bills went on to destroy New England 47-17 in a game that must have been pure nirvana for Bills fans.
Allen completed 21 of 25 passes for 308 yards and 5 touchdowns. He was the difference all night long, but this entire team came out to play. Bills players were called out by the press after a tough home loss to the Patriots earlier in the season when they were bullied in cold weather. They weren’t going to let that happen again.
Meanwhile, Mac Jones had a rough night even as he started the game with some nice throws. His first interception was a nice throw, but Micah Hyde made an amazing play on the ball for the INT.
The real problem, however, was the Patriots defense that gave up a touchdown to the Bills on their first seven drives of the game. Bill Belichick had to be sick after this performance, which of course had to make Bills fans that much happier.
The Bills were a 4.5 point favorite in this game, but it’s a game I didn’t want to touch as we didn’t know which version of Josh Allen would show up. Allen wasted no time showing he came to play, and this version of Josh Allen makes the Bills a serious Super Bowl contender. Allen’s problem has always been consistency. At times he can lose his accuracy. If he can be dependable throwing the ball and run when needed, the Bills will be tough to beat this postseason. Let’s see how he does.
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Rob Gronkowski was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to reunite with Tom Brady, which will make things pretty interesting in Tampa.
Naturally, this gives everyone plenty to talk about in terms of the drama in New England with playing for Bill Belichick. Both of these guys probably wouldn’t mind a fresh start in a different atmosphere.
It’s really going to be interesting to see if Gronk can hold up. If so, you have a bevy of weapons in Tampa with Mike Evans, O.J. Howard and Chris Godwain. Brady will have his weapons!
Meanwhile, what are Patriots fans thinking?
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After a miserable rookie season under Jeff Fisher where he threw more interceptions than touchdowns, few would have predicted that Jared Goff would be a starting quarterback in the Super Bowl just two years later. Instead, many were tossing around the “bust” term.
Things certainly changed once Sean McVay took over the Rams and quickly resurrected Goff’s career and reputation with his innovative offensive schemes. This past season Goff completed 64.9% of his passes for 4,688 yards, 32 touchdowns and just 12 interceptions.
