Flagg the Wanderer
Mourning Algernon
They were considered at least a marginal superbowl contender that year, yes. And just before the season the owner announced the move, and essentially everyone connected to that team was a lame duck, and the whole thing spiraled. What he did with the Browns was a very successful turnaround - that team was a total disaster when he came aboard, and there was no FA/Cap to bring parity. He built them better each year until they were a playoff team in year 4. Year 5 was a total mess for all sorts of reasons that more of a players' coach could probably have managed somewhat better, but they were pretty much exclusively non-football reasons.
I don't think anyone is belittling the impact Brady had on the organization. But you don't need to belittle the impact Belichick had in order to recognize Brady's amazing contributions. Brady was given the perfect situation and organization to succeed, and he more than took advantage of it. He absolutely became key to the culture and an exemplar of The Patriot Way, and he was a leader who had a way of making people into believers. Belichick did this, too, in his own way - through his carefully developed knack for putting players in a position for them to succeed and be better with him than they were without him. And we saw that time and time again with players coming in and outperforming what their history would suggest, then leave and not perform to that level with other teams.
Belichick did this with Brady, too. And Brady's unique personality and drive allowed him to leverage that into a culture that was Belichick's design, driven with unique talent by Brady, and yielded a period of success that is unique in professional sports.
If the Patriots come in under .500 again, maybe we have this discussion. But they went 1 game under 500 in a year when Brady and Brown were playing for Tampa but among the top hits to the Patriots' salary cap.
I don't think anyone is belittling the impact Brady had on the organization. But you don't need to belittle the impact Belichick had in order to recognize Brady's amazing contributions. Brady was given the perfect situation and organization to succeed, and he more than took advantage of it. He absolutely became key to the culture and an exemplar of The Patriot Way, and he was a leader who had a way of making people into believers. Belichick did this, too, in his own way - through his carefully developed knack for putting players in a position for them to succeed and be better with him than they were without him. And we saw that time and time again with players coming in and outperforming what their history would suggest, then leave and not perform to that level with other teams.
Belichick did this with Brady, too. And Brady's unique personality and drive allowed him to leverage that into a culture that was Belichick's design, driven with unique talent by Brady, and yielded a period of success that is unique in professional sports.
If the Patriots come in under .500 again, maybe we have this discussion. But they went 1 game under 500 in a year when Brady and Brown were playing for Tampa but among the top hits to the Patriots' salary cap.