That was then: Celebrating what was

rodderick

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Apr 24, 2009
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Your list isn't bad, but Gronk made me lol. The last time we saw Gronk before this season was when he was being held back by his QB in the SB LIII...;)

But you and @johnmd20 made fair points and while we disagree on how good he is, we all think he is very good for a 43-year-old.

I will ask can this be moved by a dope to the TompaBay thread, as it seems to fit better there.
I think Gronkowski doesn't approach his level of production in 2020 with pretty much any other QB. Their chemistry is amazing and a lot of his catches required a high dosage of trust, can't recall him generating a lot of separation or doing much damage after the catch this year.
 

Al Zarilla

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Man, that first playoff touchdown must have been 70 years ago, the telecast is so snowy. And, yet, somehow, it's in color? Brady sure has been playing a long, long time.
 
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tims4wins

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Brady now has more conference championship + SB wins (17) than Montana had total playoff wins.

If he wins 6 more playoff games he’ll have won 40. Peyton Manning threw 40 TDs in his playoff career. Teehee.
 

Deathofthebambino

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Apr 12, 2005
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I think Gronkowski doesn't approach his level of production in 2020 with pretty much any other QB. Their chemistry is amazing and a lot of his catches required a high dosage of trust, can't recall him generating a lot of separation or doing much damage after the catch this year.
If it's not for Tom Brady, Antonio Brown might very well be in jail right now, and is certainly not in the NFL.

So yeah, I'd say Brady elevated AB's game this season.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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The acquisition of AB really seemed to solidify that team. His numbers weren't off the charts but I think he's the kind of security blanket to move the chains that makes everyone else better in a Brady offense.

Their defense also got better. Clearly. But when you look back over the last couple of years and Brady's clear desire to play with Brown, he plainly has enough awareness of his own game to understand fairly clearly what enables him to be great.
 

Deathofthebambino

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Apr 12, 2005
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The acquisition of AB really seemed to solidify that team. His numbers weren't off the charts but I think he's the kind of security blanket to move the chains that makes everyone else better in a Brady offense.

Their defense also got better. Clearly. But when you look back over the last couple of years and Brady's clear desire to play with Brown, he plainly has enough awareness of his own game to understand fairly clearly what enables him to be great.
The idea that Tom Brady doesn't make his teammates better is so foreign an idea to me that I don't know how to even consider it, but here's another data point:

Coming into this season, for their careers, Mike Evans had a catch % of 55.3% and Godwin was 66.1%.

This season, Evans was 64.2% and Godwin was 77.4%.
 

BaseballJones

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The idea that Tom Brady doesn't make his teammates better is so foreign an idea to me that I don't know how to even consider it, but here's another data point:

Coming into this season, for their careers, Mike Evans had a catch % of 55.3% and Godwin was 66.1%.

This season, Evans was 64.2% and Godwin was 77.4%.
To your point...

Antonio Brown, until playing with Tom Brady: 65.6% catch rate.
Antonio Brown, playing with Tom Brady: 70.0% catch rate.
 

Hendu for Kutch

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I was bored, so I decided to see if I could remember every teammate of Brady's that threw a TD pass in the '00-'19 seasons. I thought I did pretty well, but I missed two (they're in bold). See how you do.

One of them had me kicking myself, the other one not so much.

Cassel
Garoppolo
Hoyer
Bledsoe
Edelman
Vinatieri
Testaverde
Patten
Bishop
 

Ferm Sheller

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I missed Testaverde and incorrectly added Amendola. I think Patten's came in Brady's first full game (or close to it).

EDIT: Nah, I'm wrong. Patten's TD toss came later that season.
 

tims4wins

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I missed Testaverde and incorrectly added Amendola. I think Patten's came in Brady's first full game (or close to it).

EDIT: Nah, I'm wrong. Patten's TD toss came later that season.
Both games were vs. Indy. That second Indy game Patten became the first player to ever throw, run, and catch a TD in the same game. He actually caught 2 TDs. Incredible.

Edit: first time in AFC history I think. Sweetness did it too.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh933lut-hU&ab_channel=AllHighlights
 

Ferm Sheller

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Both games were vs. Indy. That second Indy game Patten became the first player to ever throw, run, and catch a TD in the same game. He actually caught 2 TDs. Incredible.
Yes, that's the mistake I made in thinking it came in Brady's his first start. I miss very few Pats games, but I missed that second Indy game for some reason. Few players have ever had a better day than Patten had in Indy in 2001.
 

Ralphwiggum

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I took an edible last night and ended up watching most of this:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Xv7CazNzHc


Maybe it was the edible but this was a fantastic trip down memory lane in terms of tracking where he was in his career for each of the TDs. Also cool to see who his binkies were at certain points in his career, and how much I've probably under-rated certain guys like Daniel Graham and Ben Watson, and yes David Patten. I think my favorite part is Edelman flashes with two TDs in (I think) his rookie year, and then isn't heard from again for a few seasons, and then of course is back big. Lastly, there are some tantalizingly good plays in there from players who had promise and flashed briefly only to never be heard from again, I'm looking at you Brandon Tate.

Also Gronk was an absolute beast.
 

Hendu for Kutch

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I took an edible last night and ended up watching most of this:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Xv7CazNzHc


Maybe it was the edible but this was a fantastic trip down memory lane in terms of tracking where he was in his career for each of the TDs. Also cool to see who his binkies were at certain points in his career, and how much I've probably under-rated certain guys like Daniel Graham and Ben Watson, and yes David Patten. I think my favorite part is Edelman flashes with two TDs in (I think) his rookie year, and then isn't heard from again for a few seasons, and then of course is back big. Lastly, there are some tantalizingly good plays in there from players who had promise and flashed briefly only to never be heard from again, I'm looking at you Brandon Tate.

Also Gronk was an absolute beast.
Ha, I watched the same video last night, which inspired my trivia. You're right, I had renewed appreciation for Graham especially. He had some ridiculous TD plays.
 

tims4wins

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I took an edible last night and ended up watching most of this:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Xv7CazNzHc


Maybe it was the edible but this was a fantastic trip down memory lane in terms of tracking where he was in his career for each of the TDs. Also cool to see who his binkies were at certain points in his career, and how much I've probably under-rated certain guys like Daniel Graham and Ben Watson, and yes David Patten. I think my favorite part is Edelman flashes with two TDs in (I think) his rookie year, and then isn't heard from again for a few seasons, and then of course is back big. Lastly, there are some tantalizingly good plays in there from players who had promise and flashed briefly only to never be heard from again, I'm looking at you Brandon Tate.

Also Gronk was an absolute beast.
Ha, I watched the same video last night, which inspired my trivia. You're right, I had renewed appreciation for Graham especially. He had some ridiculous TD plays.
One of my favorite Graham catches was in the 2003 game at Houston - 4th and goal at the end of the game. I remember talk at the time was that (obviously) Brady could never be Montana, but that play was the closest play I have ever seen to The Catch. The way Brady rolls to his right, is pressured, throws from back foot... it's about as close as there could be.

Edit: 10:16 mark of the video
 

bigq

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Jul 15, 2005
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I didn’t watch the entire video but title references 696 career TDs. A mind bogglingly large number. It must include preseason because I come up with 581 regular season and 83 post season.
 

Erik Hanson's Hook

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Jun 20, 2013
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Given the dumpster fire that is Philadelphia, I want to hear from Lane Johnson again. I want to hear how "fun" it is to play in Philly.

One of the most satisfying parts of the whole dynasty was watching the Eagles crumble in the years after '17, thinking they had conquered the world, while Brady and the Pats go on to win another ring.

Fun. That's what it's called. Right, Lane?
 

RG33

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Nov 28, 2005
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Given the dumpster fire that is Philadelphia, I want to hear from Lane Johnson again. I want to hear how "fun" it is to play in Philly.

One of the most satisfying parts of the whole dynasty was watching the Eagles crumble in the years after '17, thinking they had conquered the world, while Brady and the Pats go on to win another ring.

Fun. That's what it's called. Right, Lane?
I bring this up at every opportunity with my Philly cousins. I added in the “I am old enough to remember when Doug Pedersen re-invented football” line even before he was canned. They have been quiet of late.
 

joe dokes

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Jul 18, 2005
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BB's willingness to do what he thinks is right regardless of what he might have done before is an overlooked quality. The post-Brady team presented different challenges than any in the previous 20 years and BB has now responded in a completely different way than he has in the past 20 years. I assume he knows the chatterheads will chatter about "desperation" or whatever "analysis" they can come up with based on their preconceived idea of what they think they know about BB ("he is sooooooo pissed about Brady that he stole Kraft's checkbook""). My guess is that somewhere in his office there's a crumpled up piece of paper from 2 years ago with a post-Brady scenario sketched out that involved "if we get lucky (nope-plague), and a few schedule breaks (nope), and the new QB can be average (nope), maybe we can back-door the playoffs (nope), but regardless have a pile a cap room for the following year anyway to help rebuild (yes).
 

Ale Xander

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Oct 31, 2013
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Don't know what thread to put this, didn't see a BC thread from 20 years ago, but I am celebrating Damien Woody today. Goes on CNBC, and in the background is a piano and a framed print of the Michelangelo Hand to God.
 

Phil Plantier

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It's not on YouTube, but Phil Perry had journeyman QB J.T. O'Sullivan on his Next Pats Podcast yesterday. O'Sullivan tells a story at 16:10 about starting for the 49ers against the Patriots in 2008 which I found hilarious and awesome. I don't think transcribing it does it justice.

I'd like to provide a link, but I'm not sure the best way to link to a podcast that's not on YouTube.
 

StupendousMan

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Jul 20, 2005
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It's not on YouTube, but Phil Perry had journeyman QB J.T. O'Sullivan on his Next Pats Podcast yesterday. O'Sullivan tells a story at 16:10 about starting for the 49ers against the Patriots in 2008 which I found hilarious and awesome. I don't think transcribing it does it justice.

I'd like to provide a link, but I'm not sure the best way to link to a podcast that's not on YouTube.
Link to the relevant episode of Next Pats Podcast
 

Phil Plantier

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Mar 7, 2002
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I'm worried that I'll have so much work next week that I'll forget to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the best Patriots draft day trade:

Eagles get 193
Pats get 194

40519
 

simplyeric

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Feb 14, 2006
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I'm worried that I'll have so much work next week that I'll forget to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the best Patriots draft day trade:

Eagles get 193
Pats get 194

I can't stop laughing at this.

Like, who came up with it? Did BB totally deadpan the whole idea, barely breaking a grin? Were he and Reid having drinks and fell into a wild laughing fit when they came up with the idea?
If they did that this year, would Goodell dock the Pat's a 1st rounder for "conduct detrimental" or something, while the rest of the NFL/media congratulate Reid on doing things "the right way"?
 

JM3

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It's a good thing the Eagles took Jason Kelce 191 instead of 193 (Brian Rolle). Otherwise we'd feel pretty silly about getting DE Markell Carter over a Center who had 4 more Pro Bowls than Carter had NFL snaps.

Rolle did have 58 NFL tackles including 1 sack, though.
 

DourDoerr

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That’s pretty cool about Slater. Having watched Steve Tasker and Bill Bates make the pro bowl seemingly every year, it’s fairly mind-blowing MS reigns supreme.
 

pappymojo

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With the news of Eric Fisher signing with the Colts, someone on some website called the 2013 draft class one of the all time worst drafts.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2013/04/25/nfl-draft-first-round-one-selections/2112739/

Belichick traded out of the first round, grabbed Jamie Collins in the 2nd and also added Duron Harmon and Logan Ryan. The Patriots originally only had five picks that year, including 2 in the 7th round. Their top pick was at 29 which they traded for Minnesota's 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 7th round picks. They also used one of their 7th round picks that year as part of a package to trade for Blount.
 

simplyeric

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The idea that Tom Brady doesn't make his teammates better is so foreign an idea to me that I don't know how to even consider it, but here's another data point:

Coming into this season, for their careers, Mike Evans had a catch % of 55.3% and Godwin was 66.1%.

This season, Evans was 64.2% and Godwin was 77.4%.
I mean, if you need to be a stats Nazi about it...