I have to say Hawg, you should consider a career in media/communications like your brother if you are not working in it already. This post perfectly sums up the Tampa season in a way that is pithy and just plain fun to read. You really should not waste your talents on hacks like us but I do enjoy reading them and hope you never leave us!
One observation. I think for the last 20 years perhaps we missed the transformations that were happening right before us with Brady. Troy Brown had been cut a bunch of times prior to playing with Brady and then he became our most sure-handed, clutch receiver of all time. Welker was traded away by our division rival to us and he leads the league in receptions for 6 straight seasons. Even Randy Moss as great as he was, had his best season with Brady setting the TD catch record. I could list about a dozen more including how the Oline transformed under Brady compared to Bledsoe but you get the picture. And then you look at the defense - no one believed that 2001 defense was elite. It had a ton of talent just like Tampa did this year but it often underperformed. Brady steps on the field and that entire unit gels and starts playing lock down, smash mouth ball without the penalties and puts on a jaw dropping performance vs the greatest show on turf like Tampa just did to Mahomes and company. These are not coincidences or just luck but a complete buy in by the whole team. That is the Brady effect. I just don't think we saw it as clearly as we do now after his SB victory in Tampa when it pretty much hit us over the head.
Thanks for the kind words, but I'm happy enough to be able to say whatever I want whenever I want and here is where I choose to do it.
People who haven't been around here for that long might assume that I have always unfairly hated Brady due to jealousy or some other reason, but that would not be correct.
I went to training camp in his rookie season and watched him do the same goal-line drills as Bledsoe at least as well as the star and that caught my attention. How come you
couldn't tell which one was the decorated veteran and which was the lowly rookie with no chance of making the roster? Over the next year plus, there were other impressive things
that I read about while at the same time I noticed that Bledsoe's game was deteriorating and he'd steadily become more predictable and easier to defend.
You mentioned my Brother and he will sometimes mention that I was the first guy he knew that wanted Brady to get his shot and that was before Bledsoe got hurt. People forget how bad Drew
was in the games leading up to that Jets game. We were barely able to get a 1st down and Bledsoe kept trying to gun the ball into tiny windows and the whole league had
caught onto him and it wasn't working. Bledsoe was stuck in his ways and couldn't find a way out. The second Brady got his chance we started making methodical drives and moving the sticks and I was thrilled with his ability to spread the ball around and manage the clock. It was like night and day. I felt bad that the injury was the catalyst, but am convinced that
Bill would've pulled the plug before long and benched Drew. Sad to say, he deserved to be benched and I was pleased that Belichick had the stones to leave him there when
he was ready to play.
I got in trouble for that opinion, too.