We don’t need to give an introduction to these two legends because they already speak for themselves. The Super Bowl victories, numerous accolades, and wins make it hard to find a greater duo or even a greater individual coach and QB as these two.
And yet, this could easily change this year. As after all, Belichick and Brady’s successes have come together.
Belichick’s coaching record without Brady (before the 2020 season) was 54-63. That’s a 46% win percentage. That’s pretty mediocre. He went 11-5 with Matt Cassell, but given that Matt Cassel went to Kansas City the next year and went 10-6 with Todd Haley, this doesn’t really say anything about Belichick.
And Tom Brady has never played without Belichick until the 2020 season. Although the idea of him being a system quarterback can easily be disputed, it will be interesting to see how Brady fairs long term without a coach that has the smarts, awareness, gameplanning, and attention to detail that Belichick does. After all, some of Brady’s great comebacks still relied on the Pats defense being to able to contain the opponent.
This season is almost a match made in heaven for those who want the answer to the question: who is more important to the Patriots: Tom Brady or Bill Belichick?
If Brady and the Buccaneers were to win the Super Bowl this season, it would be a pretty remarkable feat; Brady would have won a Super Bowl at age 43, making him the oldest QB to win (and beating his own record at that), while also breaking his own record for most Super Bowl wins by any player at a staggering 7. Additionally, this would be for a Buccaneers team that hasn’t been to the playoffs since 2007, and that hasn’t even won a playoff game since their Super Bowl victory in 2002. Finally, Bruce Arians as a coach is solid. He’s definitely not a great head coach. Most would agree that Brady is going to a worse coach. So Brady winning a ring with Tampa Bay would be a legendary accomplishment, as although Tampa isn’t a bad team, they are certainly not a well-oiled machine.
What makes things interesting is that Belichick actually might have more pressure on him; this is because no matter how well the Patriots do, if the Buccaneers finish better, it will look like Belichick made a mistake getting rid of Tom Brady. Brady doing mediocre in Tampa can easily be explained away by him simply being old – especially since he looked rough his last year in New England.
Belichick’s main excuse would be that key defensive players like Hightower opting out for the season hurt the team, but this won’t fly for many, given that one of Belichick’s strength is him being able to win with any guy, being able to pull any guy off the streets and put them to work in “Belichick’s system”.
