Patriots
Brian T. Smith on the Brady-Belichick dynasty and how it ranks.
New England doesn’t even need this Super Bowl.
Tom Brady still will be one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. Bill Belichick always will be one of the smartest and most accomplished coaches in NFL history. The Patriots already own four titles and have cemented their legacy as one of pro sports’ most dominating modern dynasties.
But if Brady and Belichick, who have been together for seven Super Bowls, emerge from NRG Stadium on Sunday night with five rings apiece — one for each digit on a hand — since their historic partnership began, the conversation is officially over.
You can throw Spygate and Deflategate at the Pats, and New England still can’t be touched. Commissioner Roger Goodell can put on a flimsy crown and suspend Brady for four games, and a 39-year-old drafted in the sixth round can miss 25 percent of the regular season and still end up as the greatest quarterback on earth.
So, no, New England doesn’t need this one. But if the Patriots give owner Robert Kraft his fifth Lombardi trophy since 2001, then the debate that still revolves around the best QB, coach and team of all time will end as soon as it begins. Brady. Belichick. Patriots. “They’re so consistent in what they do, year in and year out,” said Atlanta defensive end Dwight Freeney, who first started confronting the Brady-Belichick monster way back in 2002 with Indianapolis, near the start of the new millennium. “That’s a testament to what they do day in and day out — preparation. That’s why they are so good, is because they have a good foundation of how they do things.
“They don’t make stuff up. They have their system and stick by it. … And if you do that, you’re going to be more consistent at winning. And that’s why they continue to make the playoffs and have these (Super Bowl) appearances.”
Plug and play
New England was the best team in the NFL during the regular season and enters SB LI with an almost perfect 16-2 mark, despite losing Brady for a quarter of a parity-driven season and relying on three QBs (Jimmy Garoppolo, Texansbeater Jacoby Brissett, Tom Terrific) just to get back to another Super Bowl.
Could you imagine if Matt Schaub was forced to fill in for Matt Ryan for four Falcons games? Neither could Atlanta. And we would have stopped breaking down the brilliance of Kyle Shanahan’s offense in December.
The fact that Belichick has created this annual blockbuster under the strict limitations of a hard salary cap and in the freeagency era makes the Patriots’ dominance even that much more impressive.
Charlie Weis and current Texan Romeo Crennel have given way to Josh McDaniels — who’s on his second go-around with New England — and Matt Patricia. There have been more anonymous running backs and wide receivers than even fantasy nerds can remember, while everyone from Texans coach Bill O’Brien and ESPN analyst Randy Moss to convicted murderer Aaron Hernandez and new Texans defensive coordinator Mike Vrabel played critical parts in the run.
The B&B Pats have outlasted Peyton Manning, Brett Favre, Ray Lewis, Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant and Derek Jeter. And if that last name seems a little off, consider this: The soon-to-be Hall of Fame Yankees shortstop debuted in 1995, played 20 seasons and retired in 2014 at the age of 40 with five championship rings.
Brady had one of the best seasons of his career at 39 (28 touchdowns, two interceptions), has won four rings in 17 years and shows absolutely no signs of slowing down. If New England beats Atlanta on Sunday, Brady will tie Charles Haley for the most Super Bowl victories by a player, while Belichick would be one coaching championship behind Curly Lambeau and George Halas, whose legendary careers peaked before Super Bowl I was even played.
‘It’s pretty special’
“When I was a fan sitting in the seats in Foxborough … we only had one home playoff game in 35 years, which we lost in 1978 to the Houston Oilers,” said Kraft, the biggest beneficiary of the Brady-Belichick era. “I dreamed about owning the team in my hometown and dreamed about a championship. Now, to hopefully be in a position to win our fifth, would be off the charts.
“I never would have dreamed that we would have the continuity and stability that we have. We’re just lucky to have had the confluence of situations, where we wind up with the best head coach in the history of the game and the greatest quarterback. … Keeping them together and keeping a great team around them, it’s pretty special.”
Just winning one would be very special for Atlanta. In 169 combined sporting seasons, a city that somehow has worse luck than Houston only has one championship. And the Braves, Atlanta’s best “dynasty,” don’t truly deserve that word — they only captured a single World Series despite 14 consecutive division titles.
San Antonio has five NBA championships since 1999, but the Spurs have only won one during the past nine years. The Los Angeles Lakers also have five rings since 2000. But they haven’t been relevant in recent years and entered Saturday as the NBA’s third-worst team.
The Patriots’ dynasty has two real rivals in the past three decades: Jeter’s Yankees and Michael Jordan’s Bulls. And New York often outspent everyone in baseball — an impossibility in the NFL — while Chicago’s undisputed brilliance only lasted a decade.
Brady, Belichick and the Pats have been doing this since 2001. If they’re joyously lifting up another Lombardi in Goodell’s face on worldwide TV Sunday night in Houston, New England’s dynasty will become the greatest athletic superpower we’ve seen.
End of story.