Tom never needed studs around him to win in New England.
And no disrespect, Avocado, but although Godwin is a very solid receiver, Julian Edelman was in a rarified space all his own. You had to watch him play week in and week out over the years to know that though. Gutsiest receiver I ever saw with mostly short middle of the field routes where the opposing headhunters roam in numbers. And clutch big time. Over and over again.
Back to Tom and his weapons. With Evans, Gronk and Brate and some guys waiting in the wings of some pretty damned good receivers he has just as much talent right now as he ever had in New England (OK I'll give you the Randy Moss year).
The X factor is..... the coach. No way Bruce Arians can shine Belichick's shoes.
So I agree that they will likely fall short this year without all the healthy studs they had last year but if they do, it's not Brady, and it's not his weapons, the difference will be the coach.
PS I'm not yet throwing in the towel on them getting to the Big Game. I think the NFC is very weak compared to the AFC.
And no disrespect, Avocado, but although Godwin is a very solid receiver, Julian Edelman was in a rarified space all his own. You had to watch him play week in and week out over the years to know that though. Gutsiest receiver I ever saw with mostly short middle of the field routes where the opposing headhunters roam in numbers. And clutch big time. Over and over again.
Back to Tom and his weapons. With Evans, Gronk and Brate and some guys waiting in the wings of some pretty damned good receivers he has just as much talent right now as he ever had in New England (OK I'll give you the Randy Moss year).
The X factor is..... the coach. No way Bruce Arians can shine Belichick's shoes.
So I agree that they will likely fall short this year without all the healthy studs they had last year but if they do, it's not Brady, and it's not his weapons, the difference will be the coach.
PS I'm not yet throwing in the towel on them getting to the Big Game. I think the NFC is very weak compared to the AFC.
PEDs? The link is there, Edelman-Guerrero-Brady. Balco-Anderson-Bonds, destroyed Bonds. I'm not saying he's using, but he's the first athlete in the history of humanity to have better numbers in his forties than in his twenties. Back to back 40td seasons at 43 and 44. He's only done that once before in his entire career, and that was with Moss, the Goat of WR. Manning, Brees couldn't throw past 30 yards in their forties/late thirties. Big Ben is even struggling with the deep ball, and he hasn't hit forty yet. Let's see how Rodgers, probably the strongest arm ever, throws in his forties.
If there is a PED out there that allows you to maintain arm strength that’s quite a breakthrough, seems like a reach though. Can’t compare his 20s #s to 40s tho, cmon, that’s not remotely apples to apples. His receivers were average then for the most part and it was a different league. 4000-30 was the gold standard back then and it’s basically the floor for a quality starter now.
I think whatever he is on mainly helps him with injury recovery thus he’s just always close to optimal health and never beaten up like the other guys.
That's what they used to say about Bonds, "steroids' can't make you hit the ball" etc etc... It's not just his 20's, he's never thrown 40td passes in a season without the GOAT Moss in his 20's or 30's! He's leading the league in tds and passing yards at age 44! Twice in his forties he's lead the league in passing yards! Only once prior to that without the GOAT! It's insane especially when you compare him to his contemporaries. Manning, Brees, Ben, can't/couldn't throw deep anymore. Brees' last game he couldn't throw beyond 30 yards!
I agree with you that if I had to bet on it I'd guess he is doing more than drinking protein shakes, but I think you're overrating the stats thing. Don't see it is as any canary in the coal mine. It is a different league (2002 he led the NFL in TD passes with 28, 2005 he led the league in yards 4100, 2007 with Moss he led the league in everything) and he is playing on a different team. You know how hard it is to throw 40 TD's playing in the northeast when it gets colder in Nov/Jan? You're going to run into some bad weather games. Even his year with Moss, his #'s faded the final month. That was 1 of the main things that people underrated when comparing him and Manning, when every game your throwing the ball it is in pristine conditions, it is going to do a lot for your raw stats.
There were very few years where everyone was healthy all at same time for the entire duration as well. Gronk missed a ton of 2012, 2013, OL was decimated in 2015 after hot start, Gronk missed a lot of time in 2016, Edelman 2017 ACL. He threw for 36 in 2010 and 39 in 2011. NE also ran for a lot of TD's inside the 5, guys like LeGarrette Blount, Stevan Ridley had double digit TD years.
Agreed. I haven't looked into any numbers closely. I was just made aware by StevieRay that he has more td's in his forties than his twenties. That's where PED's came to mind. The weather is a factor in his numbers, but it also adds credence to deflategate, in that it's much harder to hold on to balls in the cold northeast, in Nov/Jan. A lot of bad weather games, but we've already went through that. Gronk only started 25 out of a possible 48 games when Brady was in his 40's in New England. He played a larger percentage of games without Gronk in his 40's than his 30's. Brady 140 games with Gronk more everything except ints rating 103.6. 48 games without Gronk more ints rating 89.6.
Tom Brady career playoff Qb rating in his 30's 91.16
Career playoff Qb rating in his 40's 94.67
The reason I looked at his playoff career numbers is less numbers to crunch, it's his play in the playoffs "awarded championships" that make him the "goat," but more importantly you cannot use the weather as an excuse to justify his better numbers in his forties than his thirties, as the Bucs played all their games on the road. Only athlete in human history to have better numbers in his forties than his thirties!!
Career playoff Qb rating in his 40's 94.67
The reason I looked at his playoff career numbers is less numbers to crunch, it's his play in the playoffs "awarded championships" that make him the "goat," but more importantly you cannot use the weather as an excuse to justify his better numbers in his forties than his thirties, as the Bucs played all their games on the road. Only athlete in human history to have better numbers in his forties than his thirties!!
