Brady all day. Bill even admits after winning Super Bowls that the players play the game.
If we have to make a choice, I'm going with Tom Brady. I still think Belichick is a great coach, but I don't see him winning a Super Bowl this year with Mac. If he does, I think we can re-open this discussion.
What if Bill goes on to win 2-3 more Super Bowls with Mac over the next say 5-7 years? Does that change things?
As I said earlier, it's a chicken and egg conundrum. Both are the best ever at what they do and neither would have had the success over the last 20 years without the other.
Nick, do you think Bill win A championship with Mac before he retires? Feel like at best he has a 50/50 shot to win one over the next 5-7 years. I would probably bet against it if I had to. First year without Brady and the Pats were a disaster. This year they Look like a 10-7 team, maybe?
Brady went to Tampa with no training camp, no preseason games and won a Super Bowl his first year. He would have had success On a team with a good(not great)coach and defense, IMO.
Lots of looking at things last year without context and with a bit of salesmanship type slant on the facts.
1. Bruce Arians is not just a great coach, he is a pretty amazing coach. He's won a SB as a head coach and twice as an assistant coach. He is a 2 time NFL Coach of the Year and yet, his best coaching job was last year, as he had to meld Brady's needs to be successful with his system and doing it all around Covid restrictions and protocols. This helped Brady get that title.
2. By year's end Arians had his defense playing at an elite level. It was a great defense. This helped Brady get that title.
3. That title wasn't all because of Tom and, quite honestly, there wasn't a better situation Tom could have stepped into because that team, especially offensive, was STACKED with stars and talent. So Brady could have gone elsewhere, but I don't remember any other team he was rumored to be looking at that would have resulted in Tom winning a title.
4. The Pats were able to spin off 3 titles in 5 years and maintain a dynasty because they used the NFL salary cap rules in such a way as to keep pushing off dead salary money until the following year. That bill came due last year. There was no money to refit the club and their best talent kept going elsewhere because NE couldn't pay them. Add that to losing more players to Covid opt outs than any other team and only being able to afford a dirt cheap Can Newton as a QB that came in last second, got Covid and showed his arm was shot and 7-9 looks like a good coaching job to me.
Tom is the greatest. But so is Belichick. It's okay to admit that they both wouldn't have been as great without the other.