The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Patriots reboot, but enough to win without Brady?
Watching Tom Brady win a Super Bowl while his own team floundered should have been enough to put a scowl on Bill Belichick’s face, assuming there wasn’t one already permanently attached.
Still, forgive Belichick if he’s tempted to crack a smile now that Patriots owner Robert Kraft seems determined to make sure he’s got a chance to win another one himself.
A spending spree in recent days has brought New England a ton of new talent. Now it’s up to Belichick to make his case in the debate over whether it was the coach or the quarterback who was most responsible for all the Super Bowls the Patriots won.
A pair of tight ends as good as any on the market. A wide receiver who has flown under the radar. Some badly needed help on the defensive side.
Who knows, if Cam Newton can find a way to regain his throwing touch maybe Patriots fans can hope the glory days return, and the road to the Super Bowl can once again run through Foxborough.
Then again, with all of Kraft’s money that Belichick has been throwing around, there might be another quarterback in New England’s future, too.
None of it is enough, of course, for the Patriots to become automatic favorites in sports books across the country to win another championship.
That ranking was lost when Patrick Mahomes broke out in Kansas City and Brady left for Tampa Bay.
There certainly won’t be another run of six Super
Bowl titles in upcoming years. Those kind of things just don’t happen in the parity-driven NFL, and they won’t happen in New England with Brady playing elsewhere.
But $60 million in salary cap space can make the difference between a 7-9 season and one that includes a trip to the playoffs. And Belichick seems to have an unusually free hand to spend this offseason as he tries to undo the damage Brady’s departure caused the franchise.
It’s enough to make even the spoiled New England fan base a bit excited. And it seems to have lit a fire under Newton, who was underwhelming as Brady’s replacement last season.
“When you realize things are already different ... the second go round!!” Newton wrote in a video he posted online of him walking out of Gillette Stadium.
Belichick and the Patriots are certainly in need of another reboot after missing the playoffs for the first time in 12 years in the wake of Brady’s departure. While the Patriots were watching at home, Brady led Tampa Bay to a Super Bowl win, picking up his seventh championship ring — and first outside of New England.
The debate when Brady decided to leave was whether the quarterback or the coach should get the credit for New England’s amazing success over the years. Exhibit No. 1 in any court of public opinion was Brady holding yet another Super Bowl trophy, this time without the frowning Belichick at his side.
For that to change, it has to happen quickly. And the Patriots are loading up like they believe the Super Bowl is their birthright, with or without Brady.