Brady was an offensive coordinator in New England and left a top ten or at worst a top twelve quarterback. His decline in stats were partially a product of circumstance. With that said, I am going to explain why the Patriots are better off without him.
Brady had luxuries other players and quarterbacks weren't afforded. There were things Brady did, that other players would've found themselves disciplined for, but Brady is "the Goat". I'll get into these things as I go.
As I previously said, Brady was a coordinator for the Patriots. The Patriots for majority of twenty years, benefited from Tom Brady reading a defense and changing a play at the line of scrimmage. In 2019, how many times did Brady check out of a run, into a pass and have the play shutdown because he audibled into a play the defense was waiting for?
How many times did it appear Josh McDaniels was getting away from the run game to pass and the pass wasn't working? If you go back and look at the 2019 season, there were several games the run was working but the Patriots got away from it. Too often while this was happening Brady was changing the play. Brady was upset over the past two seasons and made it known in 2019. He did not want to transition into a power run - run first team. If one looks at the Buccaneers, they're built to be pass first.
Brady had his circle of trust. Over the years, fans pleaded for Belichick to draft Brady a top receiver. Fans got their wish in 2019. It was well documented that Brady didn't want to train or mentor younger receivers. Brady did not feel it was "his job" to do such. With such, Brady never had a connection with Harry.
On top of that if Brady didn't trust a guy, he wouldn't throw them the ball. This is another thing Brady admitted to. How many times in 2019 did Brady have pass catchers open, like his tight ends, and not throw it to them? Over the past few years, how many times did he ignore Chris Hogan or Philip Dorsett? Brady's unwillingness to throw to younger players is why both Edelman and Sanu both played with season ending injuries.
Ask yourself, why couldn't Brady develop the same chemistry with Meyers as Stidham? Brady is the GOAT after all. How many of the Patriots receivers were actually wasted by Brady over the years? Guys like Aaron Dobson, Josh Boyce, Kembrell. Thompkins, even Matthew Slater; how much fault goes to Brady for their lack of production on the Patriots offense?
Brady's accuracy has been slipping over the 2018 and 2019 seasons. How many times would Brady put the ball where his pass catchers couldn't or struggled to get it? How many times did he throw it behind them.
There was one play that stands out in 2019. The Patriots had the ball in the redzone and Brady throws a pass to Sony Michel that should of been a touchdown. Sony had to do almost a complete 180 to catch the ball because Brady not only threw the ball behind him, he threw it closer to the defender instead of putting it to Michel's right.
Brady is a good quarterback and his experience will be missed but there is no denying that Brady wasn't helping his pass catchers and his refusal to work with them hurt the Patriots offensive production. It's debatable how much Brady hurt the run game.
The more Brady won, the more comfortable he became. With his comfortably, he took liberties that other players couldn't. One must wonder if those liberties had anything to do with Belichick wanting to move on from Brady. We all know Brady was getting older but Brady made it difficult to develop players and hindered the Patriots offense. There's no way anyone can say Tom refusing to work with teammates didn't hurt the offense.
The Pressure is on the Patriots quarterbacks to succeed. Ask if the Patriots are better off without Brady again in December but for now, there are several areas that benefit the Patriots by Brady's departure, and only one negative; his experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment