Did....did the Green Bay Packers just lose to Washington? Am I taking crazy pills, or did A-A-Ron Rod-Gurs lose to Tailor Heinecke?? Worse, on the weird little scramble play at the end, he threw it to the OL's feet??
I mean, it's a weird season. The Buccaneers lost to the Panthers. Brady has destroyed his marriage for a last shit season apparently.
I only watched the last 10 minutes or so. Pack receivers dropped a lot of balls. Gee, Davante Adams might have been important. Also, I don't think this is Brady's last season. And, if his wife leaves him he will have a lot of young replacement hotties waiting in line. (As the old joke goes, it doesn't matter how hot she is, somebody somewhere is sick of her shit)
Despite being a Bills fan, I have no hate for Brady. I have a lot of respect for him. I think it's a little sad, though, to see someone who is unable to detach themselves like this. You've won everything there is to win. The sole remaining question of your career - "is he a product of Belichick's coaching?" - has been triumphantly dismissed as the Patriots hover around mediocrity while you won a Superbowl. Go ride off into the sunset with your family and your supermodel wife instead of fighting through more months of shitty football and hiring divorce attorneys. I know he wouldn't be the GOAT without this mentality, but it's always been a little pitiful to me, to see people who simply have no identity outside of their job or some other Big Thing in their life.
The thing is he's still playing at a high level. Its not unreasonable for him to win another one, to the extent that it wouldn't surprise me to see him traded to an SB worthy team. I think we are seeing defensive talent finally catch up to the pass-happy offenses, and scheming that simply hasn't forced the defenses back on their heels (yet). Along those lines, we are seeing offenses who focus on a passing game struggle, especially ones who rely on YAC (Brady and Rodgers) and with receivers who can make separation look easy (Adam's, Evans, etc.,). It's not as consistent as it used to be, nor will it be. If I am Brady, going out like this hurts worse than anything, because he's had so much control that no other player could have, and that it didn't work.
The defensive adaptation has been interesting; they're basically just structured to force the dink-and-dunk strategy that was (ironically) the hallmark of many of the Patriots offenses. The difference is that the defenses are forcing the issue; dink-and-dunk works fine as long as you get the occasional big strike off play action, but if you prevent those big plays, you're forcing offenses to execute dozens of plays in succession without any mistakes. But regardless, I'm not suggesting Brady has disintegrated, just ... what is left to add to his legacy? Nothing except tallying up more numbers. He's got the best/most/highest/longest of everything. It's not that he's incapable of playing, just that there is so little left to play for, and his age means he can't wait around through the inevitable rebuilds that every team goes through. Sure, he could get traded to a SB-ready team, but that usually requires a pretty good confluence of events - a team that's really just a QB away, without a promising QB that's currently starting, with enough draft assets that they can execute the trade, and enough cap space to pay. Who would be that team this year?
Miami, TN and SF come to mind, with teams like NO as wild but not that wild. I think he's trying to pave the way for coaching or ownership, and using his time as a player to do so. That's the only thing I can think of, because no way do his records ever really get touched. His time in the booth will be short, if for no other reason than he's worth at least $300m, hawking Chevys would be pointless as compared to coaching.
Miami is automatically out because they're invested in Tua. SF would have been the ideal landing spot but I think they started the season thinking they might have their future QB in Trey Lance and what amounted to an extremely expensive backup in Jimmy. That's what's tricky; you can't have a rookie/young starter that you want to groom for the franchise's future, but then trade for Brady. NO's coaching and defense both suck, they're in no position to win now, and I find it hard to believe the Bucs would trade a HOF QB within their own division. They may not even be interested in trading within the conference, which would eliminate the 49ers too. I haven't watched TN play this year, they're definitely a possibility. Taking a quick look, they're 31st in passing yards given up so that's not great, and they have zero cap space so I'm not sure how they'd pay for it. But I think my point still stands; the number of teams who are even in a position to make this trade is small, the number of teams the Bucs would trade to is even smaller, and the number of teams Brady would play for is smaller still. After all, it's not like any team has leverage over him with an open $300m booth job waiting in the wings.
One of the better write-ups on the CMC deal: https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id...lly-perfect-fit-answering-lingering-questions In that article, Barnwell hints that SF might be done with Lance, and/or he might be trade-bait. I can see Brady's ring-chasing as a distinctly different offer to that of any one else. If your QB goes down, and you've got the pieces to make a run....I'd think about it about as long and hard as boning his wife. I could see just about any team dealing with an injured QB (again, Miami, SF, NO, hell even Dallas or Indy) and a semi-decent defense with a divison they can run the table on as a distant possibility. Why? Because Brady can make a more believable case that he's what stands between your team and a Super Bowl. Just put him and with some of those teams, a choice free agent receiver (OBJ, for example) in charge, and let the magic happen. The Bucs have 2 weeks before the trade deadline, and their schedule on the back half looks pretty brutal: the only "gimme" games are against a Panthers team that just starched him, and an Atlanta team that they only beat by 6....I think they even play the Browns with Watson returning. The next two games are a Ravens team madder than a set of menstruating hornets and a defending SB champion Rams team. If TB ends up looking at 3-6, you think they will keep Brady in for a losing season and not try and at least work out a shot for the GOAT, while he's still got some value? What kind of trade market do you think he'll have next year? What do you think coming to work will be like with Tom Brady knowing he's out of the playoffs? Fuck. That. Your career would be over as a coach, GM, etc. The other thing Brady can legitimately claim is that he won't be around next year. One more run, and he's out. No cap space issues next year. No leverage, sure, but no point. I think the team reads his desperation differently....it's not about getting paid in anything but rings, baby. TB would be happy to get rid of him once they know they are out of the hunt, he'll never be more valuable. I can see a team like SF shipping Lance off to TB with a bunch of 2024 1st round picks in exchange for the GOAT good and pissed off for a playoff run. I could weirdly see it happening in Dallas (trade Dak to TB, keep Rush, and give the GOAT a go...that's just Jerrah's style). If TB doesn't right the ship with the next two games, you get NOTHING for the GOAT: no playoff run, no picks, nothing.
Jerry loves Dak almost as much as he loves hearing himself talk. I wish they'd do something like that, but as the saying goes... wish in one hand and shit in the other, and see which one fill up faster.
I think Brady was really going to retire before this season started. Then the divorce proceedings began and he decided to come back to football as a distraction to that.
Spoiler: Spoiler for size The Antonio Brown trolling of Tom Brady has been pretty amusing I must say https://twitter.com/AB84/status/1584721575827283968
I do agree with that, I just think you're underestimating the kind of long term effect this type of trade can have, and Brady can't single-handedly will you to a championship - there are just too many variables like team health and the random luck events that sometimes separate out a win from a loss. There are definitely some circumstances that lend themselves to a one year rental. The Rams just did it with Von Miller - but I'm not sure a 2nd and a 3rd are going to get it done for Brady, and adding a QB is pretty different from adding a pass rusher. SF is probably the best case scenario here - a group of stellar play makers, a good defense and a highly regarded coach, and you don't have to bench someone you might want to start for you next year. But the 49ers have already lost 4 games, two of them to the Broncos and Bears of all teams, and Mahomes just hung 44 points on their defense. Their division sucks so there's still a good shot at the playoffs, which is all that really matters, and they're set up reasonably like the Bucs were, but are they really going to pay a couple of first round picks for a mid-season trade? God only knows what they'll do to their cap in the process since they don't have the space for it this year. I'm with you on the theory; any great team without a top-10 QB probably gets better if they add Brady. I just don't buy that trading Dak Prescott for a half year rental of Brady is a worthwhile endeavor, given the randomness inherent in any given season, and the kind of hole it's going to put the team in if their running back fumbles in a key moment of the divisional round or something.
lol, the Falcons in first place in the NFC South after TB loss. Maybe they'll make the playoffs with a 7-10 record!
It would be even funnier if the Panthers completely flipped that division, in two weekends, last to first. Winner takes first this weekend.