People love to make this “Tom Brady vs Bill Belichick” but in the span of time they were together, the Patriots literally were the most dominant force in football. And the second closest wasn’t even close. I don’t think it’s fair to force you to choose one. It really was both of them.

The Patriots missed the playoffs by a total of 1.0 games from 2001 to 2019 (lost out on tie breaks in 2002 and 2008… 0.5 for each). They played in almost a full season of AFC Championship Games (13). The next QB is Joe Montana… with 7. In 2019 there was a stat that only three teams had not played in a wildcard game since 2010. It was Bucs, Browns, and Patriots. (you might want to re-read that…)

“It’s just Brady” … (close your ears, Browns fans) prior to their playoff win in 2020, the Cleveland Browns’ last win was in 1994. Their coach? Bill Belichick. The opponent? The New England Patriots.

No one is close to the Patriots dominance in the era of the NFL Draft, Salary Cap, and Free Agency. While many credit Brady with the success on the field, part of the reason why he was successful was because he wasn’t saddled by bad contracts and players who were passed their prime but were team legends. He might have been wrong some of the time, but no one spent the salary cap money more effectively than Bill Belichick. It’s what makes the deals like Adalius Thomas stand out so much.

I think we could go on for hours (days?) highlighting stats of how insanely dominant the Patriots were for almost 2 decades. Would they have been without Tom Brady? No. Definitely not. Would they have been without Bill Belichick? I don’t think so. Peyton Manning doesn’t either. I also think there were other supporting cast members that were critical. I give him a shoutout literally every chance I get, but Dante Scarnecchia could (should) be in the Hall of Fame for what he did with the Patriots OL during this era. We haven’t had anything close to the level of talent development on the OL since he left. I feel bad for the coaches that follow him because he set an impossible bar. Tom Brady might have had a quick release, but he had an hour to throw the ball a lot of times, too.

I could go on.

Is it time for Belichick to move on? Unfortunately, probably. I think some of his greatness has entrenched him in places where maybe he shouldn’t be. He’s getting older, so stretching him thin might not be the best. Nor might it be good for him to have control of the offense - something Brady hid well. He’s an abysmal evaluator of offensive skill players.

I’m just worried what will happen when he moves on. I know I’ll be mad watching him take a new team to the playoffs again.

Tom Brady… what do you mean he retired??? What kind of fool do you take me for?