And yet, in addition to the fan reaction, by the time Belichick probably pulled the trigger on Brady the team would’ve been further in the hole that season. So no SB.
After 20 years of total domination, people forget (including me) how much Belichick in 2001 was simply seen as a another failed head football coach to that point in his career. No one was making excuses for him in Cleveland bc of Art Modell. He was known to be poor at managing people. And the media absolutely loathed him. Meanwhile, Kraft had just given Bledsoe a $100M contract and was in full “he’s like a son to me” mode.
All of which is to say it almost only could have happened the way it did: Bledsoe getting injured, Brady playing extremely efficiently, the team winning a bunch of games in a row. Even the roster construction stuff ended up playing out to their benefit: Patten and Brown being dynamic and reliable on short game stuff, Smith being a minor bell cow back, their defense carrying him. Of course it’s to both Brady and Belichick’s credit that they took the ball and ran with it. But any one of those factors doesn’t happen, Brady doesn’t probably get the leash he gets.