I've always thought that 2001 would go down in history as Bill Belichick's greatest coaching job, whatever else he did. After this season, I'm not sure that 2016 wasn't better. We argued this well into the night (well, into the morning) after the game last night. Split opinion. Some thoughts either way:
2001-For
Raw, untested QB
Very little in the way of contributors from 97, 98 and 99 drafts (Faulk, Woody and Tebucky)
Very little talent on offense
Terry Glenn Fiasco
Road AFCCG in Pittsburgh, with Brady getting hurt
Super Bowl opponent was absolutely stacked, with tons of playoff experience
2001-Against
Easy Schedule (Pre-expansion and realignment, so their OOC games included the falcons, panthers and saints, all of whom had losing records, plus 4 against the colts and bills, who were a combined 9-23).
Decent to very good talent on D-Guys like Law and Seymour (rookie, I know) went on to HoF caliber careers, plus solid guys in McGinest, Bruschi, Ted Johnson, Milloy, Vrable.
Coaching Staff-Crennel, Weis, Dante, Brad Seely (one of the best ST coaches ever, according to BB) plus Mangini, Brian Daboll, Rob Ryan-a ton of coaching talent, leadership and experience.
Adam V. (meaning he made BB's job easier)
2016-For
No GOAT for the first four games, plus Jimmy G injury, plus the whole circus atmosphere
Turnover on D-Hicks, Chandler and Collins
No Gronk for playoffs
Very unlikely that anyone else other than Brady or Gronk sniffs HoF-maybe not even Patriots Hall of Fame (Edelman?)
2016-Against
Very Easy Schedule
2 playoff games at home
Super Bowl opponent with no SB experience for players (Quinn was there with Seattle)
GOAT GOAT GOAT-mitigated to a small degree by the results with Jimmy G and healthy Jacoby, but that 4th quarter last night was something that no substitute QB pulls off.
Bottom line to me-if you dropped a league average QB onto the 2001 Pats, I think they would have still done really well, and had a deep playoff run. Maybe not a SB win, but a solid season. I think a league average QB on this year's team goes somewhere between 8-8 and 10-6, and maybe wins a home playoff game at most. I think BB did as good a coaching job, under enormous pressure, as I have ever seen in sports this season.
2001-For
Raw, untested QB
Very little in the way of contributors from 97, 98 and 99 drafts (Faulk, Woody and Tebucky)
Very little talent on offense
Terry Glenn Fiasco
Road AFCCG in Pittsburgh, with Brady getting hurt
Super Bowl opponent was absolutely stacked, with tons of playoff experience
2001-Against
Easy Schedule (Pre-expansion and realignment, so their OOC games included the falcons, panthers and saints, all of whom had losing records, plus 4 against the colts and bills, who were a combined 9-23).
Decent to very good talent on D-Guys like Law and Seymour (rookie, I know) went on to HoF caliber careers, plus solid guys in McGinest, Bruschi, Ted Johnson, Milloy, Vrable.
Coaching Staff-Crennel, Weis, Dante, Brad Seely (one of the best ST coaches ever, according to BB) plus Mangini, Brian Daboll, Rob Ryan-a ton of coaching talent, leadership and experience.
Adam V. (meaning he made BB's job easier)
2016-For
No GOAT for the first four games, plus Jimmy G injury, plus the whole circus atmosphere
Turnover on D-Hicks, Chandler and Collins
No Gronk for playoffs
Very unlikely that anyone else other than Brady or Gronk sniffs HoF-maybe not even Patriots Hall of Fame (Edelman?)
2016-Against
Very Easy Schedule
2 playoff games at home
Super Bowl opponent with no SB experience for players (Quinn was there with Seattle)
GOAT GOAT GOAT-mitigated to a small degree by the results with Jimmy G and healthy Jacoby, but that 4th quarter last night was something that no substitute QB pulls off.
Bottom line to me-if you dropped a league average QB onto the 2001 Pats, I think they would have still done really well, and had a deep playoff run. Maybe not a SB win, but a solid season. I think a league average QB on this year's team goes somewhere between 8-8 and 10-6, and maybe wins a home playoff game at most. I think BB did as good a coaching job, under enormous pressure, as I have ever seen in sports this season.