That Time BB Was Wrong
- Thread starter tims4wins
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- bill belichick patriots
One of the things that makes Belichick great is that he is not afraid to make tough decisions. And then he sticks to them. Sometimes they don't work but in the long run this method and instinct has led to incredible success.
The team was in absolute cap jail last year. They had less than $1m. They already had deferred about $14 million of Brady's salary and while they could have done some structuring tricks to smooth it out for one year, eventually you pay the piper. Even if Brady had been free they just didn't have the talent this year to get past the incredible talent in the AFC. To go another $50 million in the hole when you're not going to win a championship and for a player that is not a long-term option was a hard decision.
You could make a list of arguments for and against, I suppose. But the fact that the Bucs won the Super Bowl barely even makes that list, to me.
The team was in absolute cap jail last year. They had less than $1m. They already had deferred about $14 million of Brady's salary and while they could have done some structuring tricks to smooth it out for one year, eventually you pay the piper. Even if Brady had been free they just didn't have the talent this year to get past the incredible talent in the AFC. To go another $50 million in the hole when you're not going to win a championship and for a player that is not a long-term option was a hard decision.
You could make a list of arguments for and against, I suppose. But the fact that the Bucs won the Super Bowl barely even makes that list, to me.
Just for completeness, since he earned all of his incentives his contract for this year will end up paying him 28,750,000 and since he has the same incentives next year they are all LTBE and will count on next year's cap. So, his contract turns out to 2/57.5 for now.
It is. I accidentally forgot to include him and added him. Must have been while you were replying to me. So it makes sense what you said...thinking that I didn't even include him on the list.
The EPL has nothing that even approaches a salary cap. Closer to a luxury tax (like MLB) which the rich clubs like Man U wank to. Revenue sharing is the only real control. But similar to the NEP "In Bill we trust" motto, no one really felt comfortable second guessing Fergie. And he definitely let a lot of stars walk for the right transfer fee
I would also add in Brown's column that he won a division in the expansion Bengals' 3rd season (their 1st in the merged NFL). Given that he modernized the game in ways that remain relevant today, I think he is the only real contender.
This was the last place we were discussing all time NFL coaches that I can remember. I think we agree on BB @1 so let me ask this: What does Andy Reid need to do to get to second place? Let’s say he wins this year. That’s 2 SBs and he has been to 4 conference Championships in a row with 2 different teams.
That’s not enough to get to second but that puts him in some rare air.
That’s not enough to get to second but that puts him in some rare air.
I have a hard enough time trying to think about the 1970s. Football is so hard to compare eras which makes for good discussions if not fruitful ones.
What’s the top ten? Is he already better than Shula? Lombardi? Noll? He’s only won one SB but been to three.. it would seem that winning two puts him onto the next tier with a number of other greats that won two. Noll won four. How does his winning percentage stack up?
I have him in my top 10 for sure. I’m wondering what he has to do to approach someone like Walsh.
Actually, it feels timely that this thread was bumped. As the thread starter, it's an interesting thing to talk about two years later. If Brady ends up retiring this offseason, then I become more at peace with the decision (made by both sides!). If he decides to keep playing and had 1-2 more MVP caliber years, it will be a tougher pill to swallow. The 2020 Pats weren't likely to win a damn thing, and if Brady was around in 2020, then it would have had downstream effects on the cap, who they signed as FA, the draft, etc. Maybe they would have been a contender in 2021, maybe not.
All true but it’s not like this franchise is in materially better shape now. We might have a solid QB in Mac. We have a couple of good young RBs but those are generally fungible. Our WR/TE talent remains meh. Defense has a few nice pieces but one of those is a RFA. Still plenty of holes.
I’m at peace with all this because I think this team was headed for mediocrity no matter what Brady decided. And it was kind of neat to see him add #7, especially when you consider where things stood after the Kearse catch only 7 years ago.
