I STILL NEED YOU

Bill Belichick is making a strong case that he’s the greatest coach of all time. But to say he could have done it without Tom Brady is dumb. All of a sudden because the Patriots are 2-0 with Jimmy Garoppolo and then rookie Jacoby Brissett beat the Texans on a short week and eight years ago they were 11-5 with Matt Cassel, the Brady Bashers claim he’s nothing more than a system quarterback and owes it all to Belichick.

Would Belichick be where he is without Brady? No.

Would Brady be where he is without Belichick? No.

They have needed each other. They are perfect for each other.

But to say Belichick could have plugged any quarterback into his system and won four Super Bowls is ludicrous. Remember, Belichick was 37-45 in five years in Cleveland primarily with Bernie Kosar and Vinny Testaverde and was 5-13 with Drew Bledsoe in New England before Brady became the starter early in the 2001 season. Belichick’s 14-5 record in New England in games without Brady since he became the starter is a relatively small sample size.

Brady, who returns Oct. 9 from his fourgame Deflategate suspenion, is the greatest quarterback of all time, just a notch above Joe Montana. He’s been to six Super Bowls and won four. Montana went to four and won them all and didn’t throw an interception in any of them. Brady’s two extra Super Bowls are the tie-breaker over Montana. They are the same player, just different generations. l What has Belichick done for Brady? As Brady fell through the 2000 draft despite a 20-5 record starting at Michigan, Belichick, then in his first year with the Patriots, tossed him a sixth-round lifeline. He was the 199th player picked, the seventh quarterback taken and the seventh player selected by the Patriots.

Belichick saw enough in training camp to keep Brady as the fourth quarterback behind Bledsoe, John Friesz and Michael Bishop. The Patriots had serious cap problems and Brady didn’t take up much space. Belichick didn’t want to risk putting him through waivers to get him on the practice squad.

After Belichick was 5-11 with Bledsoe in 2000, owner Robert Kraft signed Bledsoe to a 10-year, $103 million contract in the offseason. He probably didn’t ask Belichick whether it was a good idea. Belichick was already down on Bledsoe. Belichick wanted to start Brady coming out of a strong training camp in 2001 when he clearly outplayed Bledsoe, but he was scarred from the backlash after he ran Kosar, a hometown hero, out of Cleveland, and was also well aware the owner had just committed major dollars to Bledsoe.

Mo Lewis KO’d Bledsoe late in the fourth quarter of the second game of the 2001 season — the 15-year anniversary was this past Friday. Brady couldn’t get the Patriots the tying touchdown in a game the Jets won, 103. Bledsoe suffered a sheared blood vessel in his chest and nearly died on the way to the hospital.

Would Brady have even received an opportunity with another team? He could have been one of those guys who signs as a rookie free agent, becomes a camp arm and then gets cut. Or played in the Arena League and in Europe like Kurt Warner before getting his shot. Or he could have been drafted or signed as a free agent by another team and impressed the coach as much as he impressed Belichick and still gone on to be a star. What we do know is Belichick drafted Brady and they’ve been great together. l What has Brady done for Belichick? He saved his job in New England. After the 0-2 start in 2001, Belichick and his righthand man Scott Pioli were convinced if they didn’t turn it around fast that Kraft was going to fire them at the end of the season. Brady took over in the third game, the Patriots got hot, Belichick stuck with him when Bledsoe was cleared to return two months later, and they won the first of their four Super Bowls.

Brady and Belichick are 172-51-0 in the regular season, more victories than any coach and quarterback combination. They are 22-9 in the playoffs. Brady is the all-time leader in playoff victories by a quarterback. Belichick has the most playoff victories for a coach. He is 23-10 including 1-1 in Cleveland.

Brady tore his ACL in the first quarter of the first game of the 2008 season. Cassel took over in a scoreless game the Patriots went on to win, so the victory should go to him. New England was 11-5 but lost out on division and wildcard tie breakers and didn’t make the playoffs. Add in the three victories this year and Belichick has won 14 of 19 games without Brady since he became the starter.

Brady needs 15 regular-season victories to pass Peyton Manning and Brett Favre into first place. He needs 29 to pass Manning with the most in the regular season and playoffs combined.

So, is it Belichick’s system that has produced all the QB success in New England?

“Look, we just try to go out there every week and win,” Belichick said.

Brissett hurt the thumb on his throwing hand Thursday. We might get a chance to see how well Julian Edelman or a QB off the street (T.J. Yates?) can do in the system next Sunday against the Bills.

Of course, then the Patriots get Brady back in two weeks.

Belichick gave Brady a chance. Brady then saved Belichick’s job. One wouldn’t be where they are without the other.

MINNY ME

Is there any doubt the NFL is a game of attrition and survival? Less than two weeks before the opener, the Vikings lost starting quarterback Teddy Bridgewater to a seasonending torn ACL and last week lost Adrian Peterson with his second major knee injury in the last six seasons and could be lost for the season. Minnesota is off to a 2-0 start after Shaun Hill managed to get by in the opener in Tennessee and then Sam Bradford outplaying Aaron Rodgers in the second week. Bradford, who seems to play in a different system every year, is going to benefit working with Norv Turner, who is terrific with QBs even if he was a mediocre head coach. At this point, Bradford is better than Bridgewater. Peterson was off to a terrible start before he was hurt late in the third quarter against the Packers. He had a torn meniscus and torn LCL. In nearly seven quarters, he had carried 31 times for just 50 yards. Vikings coach Mike Zimmer is a Bill Parcells disciple and he consulted with Parcells after Bridgewater was hurt. You can be sure Zimmer is working hard after all these injuries not to let any of his players feel sorry for themselves. “I expect them to perform the way I always expect them to perform,” Zimmer said... Bradford’s reunion with former Oklahoma teammates has not gone well. In Philly last season, he was reunited with DeMarco Murray and he had dismal season with 702 yards rushing after leading the NFL with a Cowboys franchise record 1,845 yards in 2014. And his reunion with Peterson lasted less than one game.

BROWN FROWN

Rookie Cody Kessler not only becomes the third starting QB for the Browns in their third game of the season, he is the 26th starting quarterback since Cleveland was granted an expansion team in 1999 after the old Browns moved to Baltimore in 1996. Kessler follows Robert Griffin and Josh McCown, who each suffered shoulder injuries. Kessler, a third-round pick from USC, is the perfect Brown. During a preseason game this summer, he took two safeties, including one in which he ran along the back of the end zone and then continued to run beyond the end line. Oops.

Now don’t forget the Browns were picking second in the draft and traded away the chance to select Carson Wentz, who is 2-0 for the Eagles. Wentz is making two teams look bad as he’s thrown for 468 yards, three TDs and has no interceptions in his 71 attempts:

l The Rams traded up and had their choice of Jared Goff or Wentz. Starter Case Keenum has led the Rams to no TDs and three field goals in two games. Goff was inactive for the first game and then switched spots with Sean Mannion as backup for the second game. Goff can’t get off the bench for a team that has yet to say hello to the end zone.

l The Browns signed RG3 to a two-year $15 million deal before the draft. They had moderate interest in Goff and no interest in Wentz. So they traded the pick to the Eagles, who then recouped part of the huge package they sent to the Browns by trading Bradford to the Vikings for a first-round pick.

Paul DePodesta left the Mets front office to become the Browns’ chief strategy officer and over the summer indicated Cleveland passed on Wentz because they didn’t feel he would be a top-20 quarterback in the NFL. How’s that working out so far? “Even though you have a desperate need for one, you have to resist the temptation of taking that guy just because you have a need if you don’t believe he’s one of those 20 guys at the end of the day,” DePodesta said. “I think that’s the hardest part, just maintaining your discipline because you have the need. That’s what we did this year.”

The Browns are the early favorite for the first pick in 2017. Will the Browns consider Clemson’s Deshaun Watson a top 20 guy?