When was Brady not good and when were the Patriots not good with Brady? I mean I guess they had that 9-7 year sandwiched between the first and second Super Bowl. Obviously not a great year, but I'm not sure I'd call that not good either. And that year Brady led the league in TD passes and he took fewer sacks than either SB winning team on either side of that season
The season I remember is 2014-15. They lost to KC in the 4th game, I think on a Monday night, 41-14 and the OL was horrible, had been all season. I think they ended up bringing back Dante Scarnecchia and finally got the OL stabilized and ended up winning the Super bowl. They were horrible (2-2 at the time) until the OL got stabilized.
As I said, historically, even if they had a stretch of bad OL play, they were always able to stabilize it through the course of the season. Last season they never stabilized it, the OL was bad all season. I don't think even a second year Tom Brady would have made any difference with that OL.
of course he would have. Even 2nd year Brady was accurate and money when the game was on the line. I understand no one knew how good Brady would be back then, but Brady delivered time and time again, even early on. The makings for what he'd become were there. Mac just hasn't shown that special quality. He obviously can and should be better than he was last year, but the Patriots aren't going to get elite QB play from Mac, probably ever. When guys like Trent Dilfer win SB's and Jimmy G makes 2 of them, Mac can as well, but those seasons are almost in spite of the QB, not because of the QB. The Patriots need the defense to be so good it doesn't matter and I just don't see it. They are good, but not all time good, which is what they have to be with middling play from the QB, a bad OL, a bottom 5 receiving group, and good but unspectacular RB's.
And I saw the report over the weekend that JuJu's knee is a ticking time bomb, which if true is obviously not a good sign. If ge goes down, they have without question the worst receiving group in the league (they arguablyndo with him).
No one is arguing that Mac Jones is or will be as good as Brady. But I think you said it exactly, Mac Jones can be and may already be as good as Garoppolo. I would say that Mac Jones' first couple of seasons has been better than Garoppolo's first couple of seasons. Garoppolo would not have lasted 2 games behind last season's OL. And even Brady maybe gets one or two more wins, maybe.
We will see how the season goes but I believe that if the OL can hold up, do what they are supposed to do, that Mac and the receivers are more than good enough to get the Patriots to the playoffs. They only need to be say 2 wins better than last season.
Juju's knee is a concern. I doubt it "explodes" though. If he does "go down", no doubt that hurts the WR depth, but I don't think necessarily derails the entire season. I think of all the steps needed to complete a pass, protection, receiver get open, good throw, receiver catch the ball, receiver runs after catch, the getting open part is the easiest. Better receivers get open a little more often, catch the ball more often, and get more yards after catch, but I think the Patriots receivers (and backs and TEs) will get open just fine, we'll see if the protection is there and if Mac can get the ball where it needs to be. The receivers are my least concern.
