10 Reasons Browns backup Jacoby Brissett can win it all

3. Tom Brady, Patriots

Young football fans have grown up hearing about Tom Brady all their lives, but us old guys remember when he was a punk from That School Up North. My best friend is a Patriots fan, so I watch a lot of Patriots games with him and his sons, and I lived in Cambridge, Mass, for a short time during the Dead Zone after the Browns left town when there was no football at all in Cleveland.

So that’s my apology for being tuned into the fan buzz around the Patriots, especially in the 1990s when Drew Bledsoe was the quarterback and Bill Parcells was the coach, followed by former Browns coach Bill Belichick, of course. I didn’t like Belichick at the time. I was still resentful that he had cut Bernie Kosar. I felt at the time that Belichick was too risk-averse and too timid to go for the touchdown rather than the field goal, unlike Parcells, who always presented the offense with the opportunity to win the game, rather than counting on the other team making mistakes.

Circa 2001, Brady was kind of an off-beat California kid who threw a nice spiral ball. He seemed friendly during interviews, perhaps even too friendly (was he tough enough for the NFL?), but you could imagine that if the offensive line could protect him he could deliver a forward pass to an open receiver.

However, the Patriots had Drew Bledsoe, who had been the first overall pick in 1993. He was a tremendous passer, poised, and did everything well, although he was susceptible to the occasional bonehead miscue.

In 2001, the Patriots lost their first two games. Bledsoe went down after a jarring hit by Mo Lewis of the Jets and suffered a collapsed lung and other complications that would keep him out for several games.

Brady came in and ran the offense effectively and the team won, eventually finishing 11-5. Just as was the case with Kosar in 1993, Belichick wanted to make a move, but this time he kept both quarterbacks engaged. Brady had an ankle injury in the playoffs versus Oakland, the so-called “tuck rule” game, in which it was ruled that Brady did not fumble. It turned out that Brady was also injured in that game with a sprained ankle.

Hence Bledsoe got the start for the AFC Championship versus the Steelers and eked out a win, 24-17. Rather, the Patriots were saved by their defense, which came up with a game-saving interception by Lawyer Milloy that killed a potential Steeler comeback.

The Patriots somehow survived the Greatest Show on Turf in the Super Bowl. Belichick presented Warner with as many as eight defensive backs, and the storyline was that Warner was totally baffled.

Baffled or not, Warner threw for 28 completions out of 44 attempts for 365 yards. However, he connected for only one touchdown and two interceptions. Brady was a bit more tame, on 16 for 27 for 145 yards, one TD, and zero INTs, but nevertheless was awarded the Super Bowl MVP trophy.

I think we can agree Brady is starting material by now, although, throughout his career, there were advocates for Matt Cassell and Jimmy Garoppolo on the grounds that they were cheaper, and it was better to invest in defense.

The consensus view is that Brady is the “GOAT” based on his career. However at the beginning of most seasons including this one, Brady is usually ranked about 10th or so on the quarterback rankings, so it is appropriate to question what people mean when they say he is the GOAT.

He’s the longest-lived quarterback of all time and has more shiny hardware in his trophy case than anyone else, but throughout most of his career, most people didn’t believe he was that good at any particular moment in time. Other than the years he was paired with Randy Moss, he wasn’t perceived as the top quarterback in the NFL.

In Super Bowl LI, Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan had absolutely no fear of Brady, pouring it on with risky pass plays in the second half, ahead by 28-3. However, head coach Dan Quinn was peeing his pants seeing his team put the ball back in the hands of number 12. Ultimately, of course, poor Shanahan decisions and audacious plays by Brady and the Patriots got them another Super Bowl victory.

We saw the same pattern in Tampa Bay in 2020. The offense struggled and coach Bruce Arians wanted to run the offense his way and did not want to give young whippersnapper Brady too much authority. He finally relented and it worked out okay.

However, in 2021, Arians reasserted himself and kicked Brady’s favorite receiver off the team for allegedly faking an injury. Guess he showed Brady who’s boss.

This season, you can refer to any quarterback ranking you want. For example, Chris Simms is one of the best in the business. He ranks Brady eighth this season, behind Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert, Joe Burrow, Aaron Rodgers, Matthew Stafford, and Russell Wilson.

That’s pretty much where Brady has been his entire career. It’s only when you step back and look at his career, or when it is the fourth quarter in the Super Bowl, that he separates himself from the other quarterbacks.