I can't recall if you and I have kicked this topic around yet, but I couldn't agree more about Brady in 2019. He half-assed it all season long and didn't take the same risks that he would have unquestionably taken earlier in his career to extend a play and/or inspire his teammates. Along those same lines, on the sidelines Tom often acted like he was waiting for the boss to leave so he could sneak out early to beat traffic.
Being cautious with the ball has always been a big Brady trait, but that season he took it to ridiculous extremes and probably set an NFL record for balls thrown in the stands-- if such a stat was kept-- often when under pressure between mild and non-existent. I found it blatantly disrespectful to the game, his teammates and us-- the fans, but as you have no doubt noted, many fans think everything Tom ever did here was perfect and beyond reproach. Or, they simply don't have any idea what they are looking at.
Whenever I hear somebody say that Brady left the Pats in 2020, I like to correct them. His body left that year, but the rest of him left quite a bit earlier.
I use the word "sabotage", but I have never seen him have so many short fields as he did in 2019 with the outstanding D and Special Teams and do so little with it. I thought he had it with the Buffalo game, but then that odd Miami game hit and it came off like he just couldn't be second fiddle with wins, because of who he is. And, quite frankly, that happened all through 2018, too, where there had to be a meeting after that putrid display in Pitt where he led them to 10 points against a mediocre defense. All of a sudden, they committed to Sony and the run game and voila, another SB via BB's guidance. The last 2 years, 99% of the wins came from those groups, both the D and STs, even with Newton. They won every game last year via D and STs, so those groups have to be getting tired of what Brady has started on his way out the door. I bet the gameplan discontent has been going on since the ATL SB win, which is another trigger point for the Brady ego problem.
In 2019, once he pouted at the podium after great wins and Brown was cut, he started to ignore the impressive Meyers and demanded Sanu, I knew something was up with his head without a contract. I was hoping he'd go out with his hair on fire, but nope. He's been too successful here, apparently.
I'd bet money BB thought he was trying to make it as easy as possible for him like Denver did with Manning, and Brady thumbed his nose at it. It's just selfishness to the nth degree, and if you told me 5 years ago Brady would be THAT guy, I'd say you're crazy. No way Brady makes about himself and his contract now. No way. I was wrong.
As a veteran defensive player said to BB after the 2019 season, "we're not going through that again". Ouch.
