Missing The Method

My first favorite New England Patriot was Drew Bledsoe. From the earliest moment I can remember, that was my guy. So, naturally, when Bledsoe was injured on that fateful day in late September of 2001, I was distraught. When Bill Belichick, in a then shocking move decided to stick with the hot hand (some second year QB named Tom Brady) over re-inserting Bledsoe into the starting lineup later that season, I was furious. I had my moment of triumph when Bledsoe saved the day in the AFC Championship Game against the Steelers in January, and couldn’t fathom why Belichick wouldn’t give the only QB I had ever known the chance to lead the underdog Pats against the heavily favored Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI.

I was young. I was naive. I was 8 years old, and didn’t know any better. By the end of that game, I had to admit (and not all that begrudgingly) that I might have been wrong about that Brady guy after all. When Bledsoe was shipped out to Buffalo that offseason, I was faced with a small crisis of conscience. Ultimately, with the help of my dad, I decided on a gameplan for any impending Patriots/Bills divisional grudge matches: We’d root for the Patriots to win, but for Bledsoe to still play well.

The rest is history. Bledsoe spent three seasons with the Bills and another two with the Cowboys. I had both jerseys to show for it. Meanwhile, probably sometime between the second and third Super Bowl victory, Brady officially won me over.

For the next decade and half, he became my guy.

I won’t bore you with the details of that period. As plenty of my non-Pats fan friends ceaselessly remind me, us New Englanders are a spoiled bunch. For so long one of the league’s laughingstocks, the Patriots ascended to a level of sustained excellence unmatched in NFL history. Such is life when you have the greatest coach and greatest quarterback ever to do it, both doing their thing for the same franchise at the same time.

Of course, that last sentence was the crucible that forged takes hotter than the fires of Mount Doom and stronger than adamantium. Who was more responsible for the Patriots’ success, Brady or Belichick? Was Brady a “system quarterback” who only thrived because of his coach’s genius and Spartan-like infrastructure? Was Belichick, who had gone 36-44 in his first coaching stint in Cleveland and had lost 13 of his first 18 games in New England before Brady became the starter, effectively a figurehead propped up by his QB’s constant brilliance? Was the main ingredient in Foxboro’s secret sauce The Patriot Way? Or was it the TB12 Method?

For the longest time, the Pats answered those questions by piling up wins. After all, who has time to worry about imaginary, moving goalposts like that when a Super Bowl is at stake?

That was the case, at least, until last season. The Patriots went 12-4 on the strength of the league’s best defense, but only mustered a 3-3 record against teams above .500. They stumbled down the stretch too, losing three of their last five games. Brady sulked through much of the year, snapped at his receivers even more vigorously than usual, and even seemed despondent after a win in Philadelphia. It was clear Brady was frustrated with a weakened skill position group after the retirement of Rob Gronkowski, a group decimated even further after Antonio Brown and Josh Gordon didn’t pan out, Julian Edelman battled through a litany of injuries, and rookie N’Keal Harry never took off.

The Pats bowed out with a relative whimper against the Titans in the Wild Card round, and Brady bolted for Tampa Bay. Obituaries, some more salacious than others, for the Brady/Belichick dynasty abounded. Nearly all asked a new, yet familiar question: Who was responsible? The piece offering the most answers was ESPN’s Seth Wickersham’s victory lap sequel to his 2018 report, the latter of which had raised the first red flags about the crumbling state of the relationship at the head of the Patriots franchise. Wickersham’s story laid almost all of the cards on the table: Brady felt unappreciated, Belichick wouldn’t budge, and in the end both parties had to move on.

For just the second time in my life, the Pats were making a drastic change at the most important position on the field, though this time it felt a lot more like a final chapter than a new beginning.

I have struggled seeing Brady wear a new uniform this year a lot more than I did watching Bledsoe in new threads in 2002. Part of it was that Bledsoe was forced out by a superior player, while Brady had chosen to leave. Part of it was the way things ended, with a sullen Brady moping towards the finish line and throwing a pick six with his last Patriots pass. Part of it was that the Buccaneers, after a slow start, eventually figured it out like all Brady teams inevitably do, en route to an 11-5 record and a playoff birth while the Patriots fumbled away (literally, in some cases) a handful of winnable games in their first losing season since 2000. What hurt most, though, was that Brady was probably right to leave, and that left Pats fans with nothing but memories of a glorious past while facing a dark, uncertain future.

On Sunday, fresh off a sparkling performance against a statistically elite Washington pass defense, Brady waltzed into the Superdome and calmly led the Bucs to a hard fought 30-20 victory over Drew Brees and a Saints team that had outscored Tampa 72-27 in their two regular season meetings. TB12’s numbers weren’t eye-popping (18-33, 199 yards, 2 TDs), but he refused to make any mistakes. Better than that, he made all of the plays he needed to make against one of the best defenses in the league to ensure victory. It was vintage, age-defying Brady, all the way down to him getting left hanging on a high five. Meanwhile, Brees, 18 months Brady’s junior, looked exactly how a 40+ year old QB should look (which is to say, he looked like Lady Melisandre without her necklace). It was a stark reminder of just how incredible this run has been, and continues to be.

When Brady ran off the field, and into the tunnel, cameras captured him looking nothing short of elated. In that moment, any misgivings I felt towards him melted away. Regardless of how things between him and Belichick ended, it’s impossible not to get fired up for Brady telling the naysayers and doubters to get bent yet again. If nothing else, he’s proven that his success isn’t defined by a coach or a scheme. Brady’s greatness is because of Brady, end of discussion.

The stage is now set. After sending Brees golfing forever, Brady must outduel Aaron Rodgers in Lambeau, and then potentially face off against Patrick Mahomes, the heir apparent to the GOAT title, for the chance at an unprecedented 7th Lombardi trophy. The only thing missing would be a tag-team cage match involving Gronk and the Manning brothers. It’d be a run for the ages, maybe his best ever. That’s saying something for someone who has made 9 trips to the Super Bowl already. How could you not want to see this dude pull it off again?

“Root for the Patriots to win, but for Brady to still play well.”

It’s not ideal, but it turns out there’s nothing wrong with letting yourself miss “your guy”. Sometimes it’s best to sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride, for however long it lasts. Because once this ends, I promise we’ll never see anything quite like it again.