Tom Brady to Tampa? Just what I needed to get me through the lockdown

ndleo

OK, how does Brady leaving the Patriots impact his collecting legacy. I was hoping for a John Elway style send off, but it looks like a Peyton Manning.

Better stock up on the Mike Evans and OJ Howard RCs, Brady is about to make them superstars.

DBesse27

Brady is washed up. This isn’t Peyton in Denver. This is Johnny U as a Charger.

erba

@DBesse27 said:
Brady is washed up. This isn’t Peyton in Denver. This is Johnny U as a Charger.

He's old, but I wouldn't call him washed up. He's a better option than half of the starters in the league.

erikthredd

I think his card prices are pretty much locked at this point meaning outside of extraneous circumstances (murdering someone/Corona crashing the entire sportscard market) his cards won't be seeing any major dips.

If he ends up in Tampa Bay we'll get to see Brady vs Brees twice a year which would be cool.

DBesse27

@erba said:

@DBesse27 said:
Brady is washed up. This isn’t Peyton in Denver. This is Johnny U as a Charger.

He's old, but I wouldn't call him washed up. He's a better option than half of the starters in the league.

I watched every game and his pinpoint accuracy, which was his calling card, is mostly gone. Better than 16 starting QBs? I’d honestly say “maybe” to that. His new team might make the playoffs, Depending on supporting cast, but they won’t make the super bowl.

doubledragon

Oh come on, he isn't washed up. He won two Super Bowls in the last four years. Most players spend their entire careers hoping to win one Super Bowl. If winning two Super Bowls in the last four years is being washed up, then Drew Brees just flat out sucks.

baz518

Brady can go to any team in the league right now and make them better than the Patriots will be next year. It will continue that way until big Bill can regain some kind of balance with his team.

Kep13

Doesn't look like a QB who can't throw any more, to me anyways:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=BaTejC5RXsw

DBesse27

I’m not interested in a prolonged debate. I just know that I saw Brady miss multiple passes every game that he used to make a year or two prior. All I wanted to do is go on record that he’s not the player he used to be. If I’m proven wrong, I’ll eat crow.

lahmejoon

Hard to get excited about a quarterback who is 42 and near the end of the rope.

Kep13

I just feel like if he goes to Tampa, Godwin and Evans are going to be much more valuable than with Infamous Jameis at the helm...Tom can still hit guys in stride, etc...time will tell I guess...I would rather see him go to Tampa than Chargers...both teams have good weapons, but you would think he wouldn't want to go to a division with Mahomes in it

erikthredd

It's official,he's definitely going to the Bucs.

MikeyP

Good riddance. I was beginning to long for the old days, and Tony Eason. He is no Derek Jeter, and he is no Don Mattingly. He will be remembered as an athlete who did not know when to call it quits. He will look foolish in any other uniform.

daltex

@MikeyP said:
Good riddance. I was beginning to long for the old days, and Tony Eason. He is no Derek Jeter, and he is no Don Mattingly. He will be remembered as an athlete who did not know when to call it quits. He will look foolish in any other uniform.

Mattingly? I'd say rather Mike Schmidt.

History abounds: Willie Mays the Met, Hank Aaron the Brewer, Babe Ruth the Brave, Ty Cobb in Philadelphia. None of them got anywhere near what Brady is going to get. If someone were offering me $60 million for a job I wasn't capable of doing at a high level anymore, it would be hard for me to say no, so I totally get it. Ty Cobb got $85,000 for his two years with the A's. It may not seem like a lot but it's more than he got for any two years in Detroit.

erba

@MikeyP said:
Good riddance. I was beginning to long for the old days, and Tony Eason.

Am I crazy with some of the comments I'm reading? He went to the Super Bowl 3 out of the last 4 seasons wining 2 of them. I realize last year's record was a little deceiving, but he still went 12-4.

Estil

At least he wasn't stupid like Brett Favre and went to one of the Patriots' rivals. But yes as daltex pointed out, he wouldn't be the first HOFer to spend their twilight years with a "weird" team. Look at how miserable Steve Carton looks as a washed up player on his 1988 Fleer card as a Minnesota Twin.

And here's a special treat for you guys, the Babe in his next to last game at the equality washed up Baker Bowl (yes pun intended regarding the "Life Buoy Monster")...in color!

https://youtu.be/iaRWR-y0BuQ

JoeBanzai

@Estil said:
At least he wasn't stupid like Brett Favre and went to one of the Patriots' rivals. But yes as daltex pointed out, he wouldn't be the first HOFer to spend their twilight years with a "weird" team. Look at how miserable Steve Carton looks as a washed up player on his 1988 Fleer card as a Minnesota Twin.

Carlton was done when he played for the Twins, but Favre had one great year here and should have gone to the SB.

Favre was also escorted out of Green Bay, NE hung on to Tom when they had JG.

Still don't like to see Brady play for a new team.

Kep13

will seem weird seeing Brady in a Bucs uni, but man -- with Evans, Godwin and OJ Howard, he is going to have the weapons he desired his last couple years in NE...these guys get open and he will get the ball to them when they are open....should be fun to watch

doubledragon

It's funny, because if he would have had one more really good weapon and that weapon being Gronk, we would probably be talking about Tom Brady a little bit differently right now. He didn't have much to work with last season, and yet still managed to get them to the playoffs.

MikeyP

Erba, my point is simply that it is time to move on. Perhaps I was a little too harsh.

ndleo

I watched a lot of Patriots game last year. Yes it is clear that Tom has declined physically since his peak. I think he bailed and did the Manning turtle move a little too quickly at times. He is 42, so he has to play different than the young guys.

However I watched the Jameis Winston Interception highlight reel on Youtube. If you watch it, it will be crystal clear to you that Brady will be able to lead those weapons to the playoffs. There is no way Brady, even at his old age, will throw some of those awful INTs.

The NFC South is Atlanta, Carolina, New Orleans, and Tampa. Brady's only real competition is a 41 year old Drew Brees.

DBesse27

Why are a couple of you talking about what Brady did 2 or 3 or 4 years ago?? All that matters is what he’ll do this fall and the greatest predictor of that is what he did last season, minus probably a slight further decline.

erba

@MikeyP said:
Erba, my point is simply that it is time to move on. Perhaps I was a little too harsh.

I agree it was probably time for him to move on. I just wish the Pats had a little something better than Stidham to put behind center.

chaz43

Who cares about Tom Brady...I don't.

chaz

MikeyP

@erba said:
I agree it was probably time for him to move on. I just wish the Pats had a little something better than Stidham to put behind center.

It will be fun.

doubledragon

Yes, Tom had a 12-4 season and made the playoffs. He stinks.

doubledragon

Tom threw for 4,057 yards and 24 touchdowns in 2019, and had a 12-4 record and made the playoffs, and all without Gronkowski. Yep, el sucko.😂

miwlvrn

@baz518 said:
Brady can go to any team in the league right now and make them better than the Patriots will be next year. It will continue that way until big Bill can regain some kind of balance with his team.

Not sure about any team; definitely not the Lions.

saucywombat

Kind of like Joe Montana finishing up with the Chiefs

gemint

His dropoff seems to have accelerated. He's stretched his career longer than just about everyone else. It's inevitable that at age 43, he's going to be a shell of his former self.

erikthredd

It's easy to just say he was crap/done/old/washed up after last season without looking at the bigger overall picture. Sure Brady's accuracy has definitely declined a bit but it's tough to point to his accuracy issues without taking into consideration that the offensive line play was by far the worst that it has ever been during the BB/Brady era. Their starting LT missed half of the season and their Center for the entire season and had a journeyman G/T in Marshall Newhouse starting at Left Tackle just days after he was traded to NE when this guy should have been the 4th/5th Tackle on the depth chart at best.

How many passes were either rushed,thrown away or thrown to far ahead of the WR to keep the ball away from the defender? How many times did we see his passing targets not named Julian Edelman or James White run the wrong route where Brady threw the ball where the receiver should have been? How many times did we see him try to force it to one of the two players I just mentioned because he didn't trust any of the three rookie WRs that were eventually forced to get major snaps after the Brown/Gordon departures?
The TE position was an absolute joke,I couldn't find any nfl rankings for total recptions caught by the TE position but I'd bet that NE's 37 total TE receptions would rank near the bottom of the league.

I watched every single Pats game as well and for the most part I watched a very good defense and an anemic offense outside of the two names mentioned above and they still managed 12 wins,that doesn't hapen without Brady.
It's easy to just say he was crap/done/old/washed up without looking at the bigger overall picture instead of just his completion percentage & INTs thrown.

DBesse27

I actually wasn’t looking at stats at all. Purely eyeball test. The number of passes he threw at Edelman’s heels. Making a LB turned FB make a leaping fingertip catch when there was nobody within 8 yards of him. Your points about the o-line are fair and it’s fine for us to disagree. Just know that I wasn’t basing my opinion on stats. In fact, his 24-8 TD-int ratio doesn’t support my argument at all. I just felt like he missed a lot of throws he used to make even the year prior. Maybe it was the line, maybe it wasn’t. If he has a terrific year and Tampa makes a deep playoff run I’ll eat my words.

erikthredd

Dan,even with Edelman you gotta look at those passes deeper. For years one of Brady's bread & butter plays with Edelman was to purposelly put the ball low where only 5-10 Edelman would go and get it. The only time I'd have ever worried about the accuracy on those type of passes is if Tom's basically bouncing them there,which has happened plenty of times, or if he's late on the throw airing it a bit behind Julian where the DB has a play on the ball. There's also Edelman's crossing route where Brady tries to lead him by airing it where Edelman will be with the DB running side by side with Jules but Brady placed where only Edelman has a real shot at it. If the DB bumps Edelman at the line and it turns into being a second longer behind on the play then that incompletion falls on Brady even though he was putting it where Edelman should have been.

Gone are the days where Brady could throw at Gronk's backshoulder 40yds downfield knowing that Gronk will get that. Same with that seam route where Brady puts it over the top of the defender and Rob will put his two huge mitts up and pull it down. Gone are the days where Danny Amendola was money on 3rd/4th down or back of the endzone. Gone are the days where guys like Chris Hogan & Brandin Cooks(and Josh Gordan too after 6 games) can fly downfield and Brady hits them in stride.

Brady went from some of the clutchest players I've honestly ever seen in football named above to guys like Matt Laccose/Ryan Izzo at TE and Jakobi Meyers/N'Keal Harry at WR who outside of a random play every few games never had any continuity with Brady.

I already mentioned how bad the OL was on passing downs for a large portion of the year but factor in their run blocking as well. Their run game was pretty anemic all season which leads to less carries and more passing attempts. More passing attempts with those unproven passing targets led to more incompletions than the previous year which makes it look like its all Brady's fault in the end.

Let's go back these past three seasons to see his completions/attempts/comp% per game averages to see how great this decline really is:
2017: 24cmp/g...36att/g 66.3% completion percentage(his third highest of career)
2018: 23cmp/g...35att/g 65.8% completion percentage(5th highest of career)

at this point Gronk,Hogan,Amendola,Cooks,Bennett,Lewis & Patterson are all gone and all were better options than what NE put on the field in 2019 outside of Edelman & White.

2019: 23cmp/g...38att/g 60.8% completion percentage
His attempts go up because their run game isn't working and he's forced to throw more. You can even then breakdown those 15 incompletions a game that eventually lowered his completion percentage.
Now we see exactly where his decline was felt most but how much of that was Brady's fault,or the OL's where Tom might have either rushed throws or just plain threw them away before the defender had him, or the crappy weapons that weren't reliable in any way so he pretty much stuck with his trusted guys,Edelman & White,maybe to the point where he'd rather force the ball to them for an incompletion instead of some rookie that isn't doing what he's supposed to be doing?

The only point I'm trying to make with this novel lol is you just can't look at Brady and say it's all his declining skills when close to the entire offense let him down last season. If you've watched & followed his work ethic in recent years as he got older then you know he's a self improving fanatic doing everything possible to stay on that edge. His new team has some great passing weapons and there's already legit talk that TB may go after both Antonio Brown & Todd Gurley. Adding one puts that offense in top 3-4 in football,adding both and I honestly think we see an All-Time type of passing offense season from them.

Kep13

I completely agree Erik...I'm not a NE fanatic, being in the Midwest, but I do appreciate Brady, and if you look at the 2019 Brady video clip I put in this thread yesterday, you will see him make some pinpoint passes 30-40 yards downfield....passes just over the outstretched fingertips of the d-backs...I can't wait to see him throwing to Evans, Godwin, their 2 TEs, etc...crossing my fingers the NFL season gets played...

GreenSneakers

Tampa signed a replacement level veteran. Usually when you do that, it’s not at $30m per.