Who Deserves More Credit for the Patriots’ Success?
This week in The Junction, we’re debating who’s driving the Patriots’ Bus, how to fix officiating follies and what’s eating (Dan) Gilbert Grapes.
Thanks for coming on down to the Junction! This week, our talking heads opine on who of Brady & Belichick is really behind the Patriots’ dynasty, how to fix the optics problem with professional officiating, our two cents on the shocking success of the Vegas Golden Knights, and the main culprit for the Cavs’ recent struggles. To the table!
The New England Patriots advanced to their 3rd Super Bowl in the past 4 seasons, and the 8th overall during the Belichick/Brady era. This season has likely erased any lingering doubts or arguments against both Belichick and Brady as the greatest of all-time at their position. With two unquestionable greats at the helm, it begs the question: which of the two men has been more responsible for the unprecedented run of success?
Brandon Anderson: It’s pretty clear to me that Belichick is the answer. Brady isn’t designing devastating defensive game plans that take away the opponent’s best go-to option each week. Brady isn’t the one with the eye for routinely taking guys off the scrap heap and turning them into usable players and stars. Brady didn’t make Rob Gronkowski a freak of a talent or find him in the draft, didn’t give Randy Moss another chance, didn’t turn a lacrosse player into a go-to receiver. Brady’s really good. His durability and longevity is impressive and he comes up big when needed. Bill Belichick is the real GOAT.
Gord Randall: I often come across as a Tom Brady hater, which I’m not…I just don’t think he’s more than a very good, battle-tested quarterback. Bill Belichick, on the other hand? An absolute legend. Now, there are good arguments on both sides of this debate…for example, name the second best Patriot from the Brady-Belichick era. Is it Gronk? Wes Welker? Willie McGinest? Rodney Harrison? One could definitely argue that Brady has elevated average talent throughout his career.
On the Belichick side…he’s gone through a total of ten different coordinators (including himself on multiple occasions) during his 17 year Patriots career and never taken a step back. Multiple times in Brady’s career he’s been unable to play for the Patriots, and they’ve never regressed. Remember the Matt Cassel year? That alone should make Belichick a hall-of-famer. They went 3–1 with Jimmy G and Jacoby Brissett in each of their first two career starts. Belichick always finds the right talent to surround his star quarterback with, and identifies and develops talent at the key positions better than anybody (Garoppolo being a great case in point). Brady deserves his credit, Belichick is unquestionably the GOAT. Hell, he’s the guy Nick Saban calls his mentor.
Parker Goss: This is tough to answer, because I don’t want to imply that either of them could have done it without the other. I subscribe to the belief that they really are the best of all-time in their respective roles, and it would stand to reason that this kind of combination of greats would produce the kinds of great results we’ve seen. With that being said, I still think it’s Belichick. The previously unheard of players that always achieve under the Belichick reign aren’t only limited to the offensive side of the ball (James Harrison anyone?), so it’s tough to say it is Brady making everyone better. Whether his former coordinators necessarily succeed or not — it seems to be a mixed bag — his schemes and gadgets do. Disclaimer, it is harder to evaluate the greatest quarterback of all-time when he’s also coached by the best coach of all-time, and it’s harder to evaluate the greatest coach of all-time when his quarterback is someone like Tom Brady.
Dan Szczepanek: This isn’t a knock on Brady (although it will undoubtedly be taken as one, because, Boston), but Bill gets the nod here. Belichick is responsible for the gameplan, Brady the execution, so those factors would put them in a draw. What gives Belichick the edge is personnel decisions. Nobody (possibly in the history of football) treats football players less like humans than Belichick, and time after time, that’s allowed the Patriots to replenish the system and infuse the team with new, controllable talent. That cold-bloodedness consistently gives the Patriots the tools to win.
As always seems to be the case, the Conference Championships were not without some level of controversy about the officiating. The Patriots were called for just one penalty (and it was a special teams penalty…no offensive or defensive ones) all game, and benefited from at least one marginal call in coming back from 14–3 and 20–10. To make matters worse, officials were pictured grinning widely in the middle of a Pats’ TD celebration, and being the first to pat Brady on the back at the end of the game. It seems to be a theme across all pro sports that officials inevitably are the subject of controversy during all the biggest games, but the question is: Which sport has the biggest officiating issues, and what is your brilliant fix for them?
Anderson: The officials grinning means nothing to me. I’m sure they do that with other teams too, happy to see players succeed. The officiating was dubious in their favor, as usual. The drive before halftime had a terrible pass interference call, and there was a second one later. And the one play no one seems to remember was the Pats trick play that worked before turning into an incredible strip and recovery by Myles Jack — who was not down and should have gone into the end zone to put the Jags up 27–10. NFL refs are the biggest problem of any sport by far. The problem is any close game always comes down to 5–10 big swing plays, and the refs are almost certain to be involved on a couple. The catch rule is absurd. No one has any idea what will happen in officiating anymore. Fans, analysts, and even the refs seem to be making it up as they go, and it’s ruined the integrity of the game. I don’t have a brilliant fix, but some simplification and common sense would be a good place to start.
Randall: I mean, the picture is hilarious because it perfectly reinforced everything that we were already thinking about the NFL and the Patriots, even though it really doesn’t mean anything. As for the game itself, it’s just assumed at this point that in every major Patriots game they’re going to get a ticky-tack call at a key time…problem being that that happens for every team in every game. I don’t know that the NFL is the worst, but the fix for ALL of these sports is to admit one simple thing…sports have grown beyond where a bunch of middle aged men have the ability to accurately evaluate them live. I’m not calling for more painstaking replay, I’m calling for more automation.
Ball spots and downs markers in football should be done automatically. The strike zone in baseball should be done automatically. Goal/no-goal calls and offsides in the NHL should be done automatically. These are just easy fixes that we have the technology for already. Hell, PROFESSIONAL CURLING has used sensors embedded in the rocks and in the ice to automatically judge whether a player has delivered their rock legally for almost a decade. When your sport is less evolved than frickin’ curling (no offense to fans, I love the game)…you really need to reconsider what your priorities are. In general, officials will screw up less when we give them simpler jobs to do…so let’s simplify!
Goss: I first just want to mention that an incredible amount of shit would have to be perfectly in place, and an incredible amount of people would have to be on board for any substantial amount of systemic collusion in favor of the Patriots on the part of the officials to exist. That’s another topic for another day. As far as the worst officiated sport, I do think it’s football. While in a sport like basketball, a wrong call could be made at the worst possible time and it could change the tide of the game, it can still result in, at worst, 2 points or a loss of possession. There could be 200 possessions in an NBA game. In the NFL, a bad pass interference call could result in something like a wrongly levied 60 yard penalty and completely change the tide of the possession, and in the end, the game, because there are fewer possessions on which to blow it as a ref. In short, NFL refs have what seems like too much power over the outcome of a game, when ideally any official would have minimal impact on the actual outcome. How to fix this issue exactly? Fuck if I know.
Szczepanek: Robots. And I’m only half-kidding. I believe we’re about a decade away from removing the human element from officiating sports, and the debates around officiating will disappear, and fans will complain and pine for the days when these conversations even took place. So enjoy them while they last.
The first year Vegas Golden Knights currently sit second overall in the NHL, and as recently as last Monday led the entire league. The Knights have so far bucked the “expansion team” trend of being a pushover in spectacular fashion, drawing the interest of much of the NHL community. What are your thoughts on their success (where is it coming from?), and what effect do you think this will have on a likely expansion to Seattle in a couple of seasons? (I.E. will this affect the expansion draft structure? Expansion fees? Other things?)
Anderson: It’s just variance, and it was bound to happen for an expansion team at some point in a sporting era where parity reigns supreme and where the standings change greatly from year to year. Vegas is one of six teams between 60 and 66 points. A few unlucky puck deflections and they’re not as much a story. Still, it’s fun to see them successful so quickly. I don’t see it affecting future expansion plans much.
Randall: Coach Gerrard Gallant has done a fantastic job with this team. It’s really making the Florida Panthers look dumb for firing him a couple years ago, coming off a division winning season, because he was too old-school for them. After somehow staying afloat through a crazy calamitous rash of goalie injuries early on, Marc-Andre Fleury has been fantastic ever since (outplaying the man who usurped him in Pittsburgh, Matt Murray, by a longshot as well) and is the leading candidate for the Vezina at this point. George McPhee also did an outstanding team-building job by building from the back out, swiping Fleury and then using a very favorable expansion draft format to pick and trade for no fewer than 15 defensemen, at least 8 of which were bonafide NHLers. Add into that an established sniper on a big ticket who has thrived being the guy (James Neal), an up and coming elite young scorer that seemingly everyone but his former team saw blowing up (Jonathan Marchessault), and a guy that came at the price of David Clarkson’s contract (William Karlsson), and you have a formula for a winner. As for the effect on Seattle, I would be surprised if they didn’t tweak the expansion draft a little, though major changes would be a pretty big overreaction to this one example. One thing I do know…with every VGK win, the price tag on Seattle’s expansion fee is climbing.
Goss: Getting a goalie like Marc-Andre in the expansion draft certainly didn’t hurt. It’s hard to say how it will affect future expansion teams because I can’t think of any real comparison to the Golden Knights successes as an expansion team. I don’t think the process seems particularly flawed in a way that would give the expansion team a sizeable advantage. After all, maybe this is just reflective of franchises protecting the wrong players, or just sheer dumb luck. With that being said, I don’t necessarily think instant success is a bad thing in this scenario.
Szczepanek: Give the Golden Knights credit — nobody was looking at this roster and thinking ‘Wow Vegas really swindled the league in the expansion draft’. Sure there were nice-ish pieces, but even the most optimistic of fans probably figured that meant ‘hopefully not the basement’. Naturally there’ll be an overreaction by the league, and they’ll try and punish the Seattle franchise for Vegas’ success, but these expansion rules weren’t exactly generous and could have easily led to a bottom-feeder. McPhee and his team deserve a ton of credit for pulling this off.
The Cleveland Cavaliers are in freefall, having lost 9 of 12 since Christmas day and seemingly reaching rock bottom in allowing 148 points (and subsequently being chirped by ex-coach David Blatt for it) in a loss to the Thunder. The team’s defense has come under particular fire and appears to be a clear issue, but if you’re the Cavs GM, what’s your approach to right the ship? (or do you look to move pending FA LeBron and jump full-on into a rebuild?)
Anderson: If I learned anything from Walter White, it’s that there are no half measures. The Cavs have two options. Either they’re all in on LeBron or they’re out. If they’re in, they need to make every move possible to get to the Finals and give him a shot at winning this year. New coach? Sure. Big trade? Definitely. Move the Brooklyn pick? If that’s what it takes, of course. A pick in the 5 to 8 range isn’t worth possibly losing the best player of the generation for the twilight (still prime?) of his career. If they’re out on LeBron, then they shouldn’t just ride out this old broken roster; they should trade everyone they can and kick-start the rebuild. Keeping the Brooklyn pick — as if some mid-lottery draft pick is going to keep this franchise out of a decade of misery if LeBron leaves — is a ludicrous in-between, non-solution.
Randall: I mean, is anyone surprised that 4-foot-9 Isaiah Thomas can’t play defense? The big thing with this team is that the perception was that LeBron is good enough to call the shots and carry whatever talent is around him to the top…and that just hasn’t happened, despite his best efforts. The Cavs really miss the dynamic skill of Kyrie Irving, and Thomas, like Kevin Love before him, has shown that he functions best when he is the focal point of his team. If I’m the Cavs, I’m aggressively shopping everyone, looking to get multiple first round picks, because there’s no way he re-signs with the way this is going. Oh…and by the way, David Blatt’s team gave up 152 after he made those comments, which serves the dickhead right.
Goss: Oh man. I will say I was a skeptic of the Cavs ability to just “turn it on” in big games/the playoffs when it comes to defense. It was never too early to be worried for the Cavs considering their route to a title runs through a Celtics team that was better than anyone would have thought post-Hayward leg snap, and you know, the Warriors. I find it hard to believe that Lebron would willingly ride out into the sunset with the current Cavs shitshow, so I think he walks. But you can’t just fast track the tank with their current roster, so you really just have to wait this year out, and if and when he does walk, you do what you can to shed the contracts, namely Love, Smith, and Thompson, and move on. I really see that as the only option that doesn’t involve moving the Brooklyn pick. If they were to trade the Brooklyn pick, that would definitely be putting all their cards on the table, which probably is not well-advised given how much that would speed up their post-Lebron rebuild. Is this season proof that being the destination for veterans trying to get that ring may not be so incentivized after all? I think so, but that’s easy to say right now.
Szczepanek: First, let’s take a moment to congratulate David Blatt for re-entering the NBA conversation, even if it was only for a hot second. That pettiness was top-notch.
As for the Cavs, this seems like an annual rite of passage. Everyone says the sky is falling, that their defence is lagging, that it’s finally their year to fall apart, and then they go out and devour the Eastern Conference in the playoffs. Until they’re down 3–1 in the first round to Milwaukee, assume LeBron and co. will be fine eventually. If I wanted to make a move to right the ship, I’d do something crazy — trade or release Wade. Throughout this lull, the one constant has been the James-Wade commiseration session, and that needs to stop. Sure it might piss off LeBron, but stewing in mopiness with a sidekick in mopiness isn’t helping. Turf Wade, keep the Brooklyn pick unless you can get LeBron’s signature on an extension, and see if you can add some spare parts after the buyout period ends for one more run.
