End of the Patriots Dynasty?
Two days ago, Seth Wickersham published an article on ESPN entitled, “For Kraft, Brady and Belichick, is this the beginning of the end?” I want to make it clear upfront that I do not believe this is an intended hit job from ESPN. Instead, it reads much more to me like Wickersham was interested in Bill Belichick’s ban of Alex Guerrero from all Patriots players sans Tom Brady. And he tried to explain why this happened.
The article makes a lot of claims. According to the language and implication of the article, Tom Brady lashed out at Josh McDaniels after missing a pass to Brandin Cooks because he is fed up with his coaches and their criticism (especially Belichick’s), the TB12 method has become something of a cult, the receiving core was competing for Brady’s affections after Julian Edelman tore his ACL, Brady has changed his style of play because he is nervous of injury, Brady has not been named Patriot of the Week all year, owner Robert Kraft is friends with Roger Goodell again, and Brady resented Jimmy Garoppolo because Belichick viewed the backup quarterback as the succession plan for the Patriots and the key to his legacy so he forced Kraft to force Belichick to move Garoppolo.
First of all, Kraft being friends with Goodell again is just something I didn’t know. I have no idea what the larger implications of that are, but it’s interesting nonetheless.
Second of all, the only named source to come to light in the article so far seems to be Alex Guerrero. Could it be an attempt at Guerrero to get back at Belichick? Until another source is named, that’s kind of what it seems like to me. The Ringer’s Bill Simmons speculated on his January 5 podcast that Jonathan Kraft could have been a source for the article. Often seen as Belichick’s heir apparent for running the Patriots, he seems to have a lot to gain from the coach’s ousting. Just something to think about.
Third of all, the thing I believe the least in this article is that Tom Brady was upset that he was not named Patriot of the Week once during the season. That just sounds stupid. He’s going to be the MVP so, you know, relax.
As for yelling at the coaches, Brady has done this throughout his entire career. If you have watched the Patriots at all over the past eighteen years, when Brady yells at others, it’s because he’s frustrated with himself. You can tell because Gronk gets all worried and retreats to the warm embrace of Dont’a Hightower, who explains to Gronk that Tom still loves him and everything’s going to be okay.
There’s been a lot to be frustrated about with this season, too. With Edelman gone before the season even began, the Patriots offense just seems to operate differently than it did last season. And how could it not? Not having the trusty slot receiver is something Brady has never dealt with perfectly. It’s not like Danny Amendola can just become Edelman either. There is no replacement for Jules. The offense just had to change.
And it changed in ways that prioritized the long term health of the key players, Brady and Gronk, over scoring a shit ton of touchdowns. Quick check passes to running backs and keeping Gronk to the outside may not be the best way to light up the scoreboard, but it is highly effective for keeping your stars healthy come postseason time. Tom Brady’s not playing nervous, he’s playing smarter. Seeing as how the Patriots got the number one seed in the playoffs, I would say the plan worked out for them.
That’s sort of where the TB12 method comes into play. Yes, Brady’s quick passes and willingness to accept hits (and fall down in the best way possible) have been crucial for keeping him healthy, but so have his new workout and diet regimen. He wants to play until he is forty-five, but he knows that is hard to do, especially when maintaining his current level. This TB12 thing is scientifically engineered to keep him as healthy and as productive as possible. And I did notice that it seemed like other players were starting to follow Brady’s methods towards the beginning of the season. Whether or not it became a cult thing, I probably will never truly know. I can only know that it seems to be working for Brady. Oh, and also, Gisele Bundchen would probably kill him if he ever found himself inadvertently part of a cult.
I’m not going to question Brady’s methods, but I know nothing about the way TB12 operates so to blindly defend it as not being a cult would be silly. Who can really know except Brady, Guerrero, and probably Belichick?
As for Belichick, his main action in the article is one I definitely have trouble believing. The notion that Tom Brady, through Robert Kraft, could ever influence a personnel decision for Belichick is absurd. Knowing Belichick’s job history, if he ever got a whiff of a notion that Kraft was going to force him to do something, that would be curtains for his tenure as head coach of the Patriots.
I kind of ride with Simmons’ theory on this issue. He thinks Belichick just pulled a Jamie Collins with Garoppolo. Not in the sense that Jimmy G was going to become a problem in the clubhouse like Collins was on the verge of becoming, but rather in the sense that Jimmy G was going to start making national headlines and it was going to be a distraction.
Do I think trading Jimmy G for a second round draft pick was the right decision? I do not. I think he was the heir apparent. He was the successor. He was going to be the one who sustained the Patriots dynasty for years to come. And he was worth more than a second round draft pick. But I’m not in charge of a football team. Nor should I be. Belichick is smarter than I am. And much like Voldemort said to Neville, I put my faith in him now.
Another thing I don’t buy is that Brady resented Jimmy. Obviously, I’m not in the locker room, but it really did seem like Tom, Jimmy, and Jacoby Brissett were all really good friends. They dubbed themselves the Wolf Pack and they seemed to love hanging out with each other. Now, Brady likely did not see himself as responsible for Jimmy’s development as a quarterback, but if you watch that golden child play, there is so much of Brady in the way he plays. He may not have been solely responsible for Jimmy’s development, but he had an effect. He was a presence in Jimmy’s growth.
It’s just hard for me to reconcile that Garoppolo trade, though. Obviously, Brady has delivered us five Super Bowl wins and he deserves to decide how he goes out. But in the back of my head, I know this isn’t going to last forever. And maybe that’s my problem. I’m too wrapped in worrying about the past that I’m ignoring the present. I should be enjoying the final chapters of Brady’s storied career instead of worrying about what comes next.
In all honesty, too, I mean, Brady is forty and he’s going to be MVP and he led us to the one seed. It wasn’t always pretty, but he did it. So if he wants to play five more years, maybe he will. There’s been no reason to doubt it so far. And we couldn’t keep Jimmy if that’s what Brady is going to do. Not when Jimmy wants to play and would cost more to keep than Brady does. It just wouldn’t make sense to pour all that money into a succession plan when we might not even need one. (And no, Brian Hoyer is not the succession plan. Perhaps it will be a quarterback in this very draft.)
But the succession plan. I keep coming back to that. One of the main points of the article is that Bill Belichick has spent this entire season trying desperately to simultaneously cement his legacy and keep the team together. I’ve read some people’s thoughts that this seems to be hardly believable because Belichick either only cares about himself or would cut anyone who threatened his team’s chemistry. I would counter with this: Belichick trying to juggle both concepts at the same time is the part of the article that seems the most believable to me. I know it might seem hard to believe, but Belichick has emotions. And he’s not a dick. He might be an asshole, but he’s not a dick. He loves football and he loves sharing that love with other people. He just has no tolerance for stupidity or incompetence. There’s a difference.
And when you’re the greatest coach in the history of the NFL, how can you not be obsessed with legacy? To go eighteen years with essentially the same quarterback, pulling all sorts of various magic tricks to win five Super Bowls out of the seven you played in and then suddenly see a quarterback who is the next phase, the next step, the next fifteen years of your legacy? How can that not be tempting? Can’t you just see Bill Belichick standing on a rotating platform proclaiming, “I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory”? I can see Belichick wanting that. I just cannot see Brady fighting it or Kraft enabling it.
My take on the article is that Wickersham knew Jimmy had been traded for less than he was worth and he knew Guerrero had been banned from access to the Patriots and he tried to connect the two stories with way more conclusions drawn than he needed. But again, I’m just an observer. Maybe Brady, Bill, and Bob stand united. Maybe Bill is sick of Brady’s descent into a cult and Kraft’s impenetrable defense of his golden boy quarterback and now he wants out of the whole mess before the franchise collapses into disarray.
It might be true, for all I know. I doubt it, if I’m being quite honest. But if it is true, and the Patriots dynasty comes to a close this year, Super Bowl be damned, then we should enjoy the ride. Because we’re never going to see anything like this again. No team has taken their fans higher. I’m ready to go with this trio, whether it’s one last ride or not.
