Yeah, I feel like some people ignore this or put very little weight on it. In 8 of 9 SB trips the Patriots had a Top 8 defense. Eight out of his 20 seasons he had a Top 5 defense. He had a coach and a defense who shut down two historically great Rams offenses, nearly 20 years apart. Defenses that almost always gave Peyton Manning fits. Not to mention Brady had an outstanding OL for most of his career, even though he always got the ball out quickly. In the middle of their quasi-dynastic run they went 11-5 with Matt Cassell under center.
Brady is great, sure he's the GOAT, but he's just like Montana to me. They played in insanely great situations. Supporting casts, great coaches, great defenses. Even after leaving New England, Brady went to a team with arguably the second-best group of weapons in the league and one of the best offensive minds out there. I'm not convinced that Brady is actually better than someone like Rodgers or Dan Marino if you flipped their situations but he's obviously the most accomplished QB ever.
So much of this is just wrong.
1. The defenses were great in the first 4 years but the defense just broke open like a sieve against Jake Delhomme in 2003. Then the defenses were pretty bad in the 2009 through 2013 years when the Patriots had their best offense (I say best because they put up a historic amount of points). The defenses during their second Super Bowl run were mostly just OK (no great shakes against Seattle, Atlanta, etc. and absolutely horrible against Philadelphia). They had a great defense against the Rams.
2. Outstanding OL? How did they build this outstanding OL? 7th round draft picks and free agents cut by other teams. UDFAs? You had players no one wanted like Hochstein, Andruzzi, Compton, heck Stephen Neal didn't even play college football! So many of these guys. The Patriots hardly spent any draft capital on OL, and they never brought in top FAs. It amazes me that so many of these guys came to New England, were plug and play, and they suddenly became very good OL in front of Brady. A guy who knew how to move in the pocket and got the ball out fast, making OL look great. So many examples year after year. UConn's own Donald Thomas was looking for work when the Patriots picked him up. Next thing you know he signs a big contract to leave New England and is never heard from again. Look at the Giants Nate Solder. Exposed. Look at Trent Brown, talented but considered a bust, signed with New England for nothing. Then goes on and cashes in big, but isn't really doing much. And the best example of all: when Brady signed with Tampa this year, so many articles were written in the Tampa papers about how Brady was going to get crushed behind that porous OL. Look at Jameis Winston's sack totals. They are very high. But instead this OL has improved massively in front of Brady. They are very talented and highly drafted, but compared to the sacks given up early, they are doing pretty well now, with the exception of LT Donovan Smith, who is not very good.
3. The reason why New England went 11-5 and DIDN'T make the playoffs with Matt Cassel is because they didn't deal any of those 11 losses to teams they were actually competing against for playoff spots. There was a huge dropoff in games lost from the prior year when they didn't lose any, a year in which they had a very touch schedule against 8 playoff teams. Finally, and this doesn't seem to be said much, Cassel didn't even have a career year in New England. When he went to KC, not only did he take the Chiefs to the playoffs, but he had more TDs thrown, more yards, higher passing %, and he even made the Pro Bowl.
Amazes me that Brady has done so much with so little talent around him other than Gronk and yet he doesn't get the credit. Not to mention the fact that Gronk has been injured in 3 of those Super Bowls.
www.pro-football-reference.com
