Which Was Tom Brady’s Best Team?
October 10th, 2021
Bucs best supporting cast?
Now this is a way cool story.
It’s a fantastic bar argument that could last deep into the night through many Big Storm Brewing beers.
(Hey, wherever you are today, whether it is tailgating or hosting at your house, or the backyard or the garage/mancave, or listening to the game on your boat out in the Gulf, if you are drinking Big Storm beers [and why wouldn’t you be?], Joe wants to know. Please tag or mention Joe on Twitter with a photo at @JoeBucsFan. Joe will highlight you!)
So what team was the best quarterbacked by salad-bar-hating, park-violating, home-invading, NFLPA-ignoring, down-forgetting, handshake-stiffing, jet-ski-losing, biscuit-baking, tequila-shooting, smartphone-phobic, waffle-grilling, trophy-throwing, roller-coaster-scared, numbers-rules-peeved, helmet-tossing, football-punting-Bucs-Super-Bowl-winning Tom Brady?
The head cheese of Football Outsiders, Aaron Schatz, typing for BSPN, did a really cool research project to answer to this riddle.
It came down to the 2020 Bucs and the 2007 Belicheats, a team that lost one game and that was to the Giants in the Super Bowl.
(Joe greatly favors Football Outsiders over the PFF Tribe because Football Outsiders has an open mind about things and just doesn’t parrot goofy alphabet soup stats. They try to use reason and logic — with a lot of stats mixed in. In typing this piece, Schatz notes you cannot just rely on stats in this top-Brady-team exercise. See why Joe likes these guys so much?)
Just a couple of observations:
* In breaking down Brady’s targets between the 2007 Belicheats and the 2020 Bucs, Schatz was stuck. He seemed to favor the Belicheats mainly because Randy Moss was that good (“with all due respect to Mike Evans”) and Playoff Lenny and RoJo can’t consistently catch but Kevin Faulk could. However, Schatz noted the Bucs’ No. 3 receiver (Antonio Brown) and tight ends compared to the 2007 Belicheats aren’t even close — Bucs big time, baby.
* Detailing the offensive lines, Schatz noted that it was a push between left guards Logan Mankins and Ali Marpet. Joe found this very interesting as many considered Mankins the best in the game when he played (before he got to the Bucs). He made seven Pro Bowls and once was named All-Pro. Marpet still hasn’t made a Pro Bowl. Joe knows in many circles, people love Marpet, but apparently not enough Pro Bowl voters do.
This is a fun debate and you can read Schatz’s conclusion in the BSPN article Joe linked to above (it is behind a paywall).
October 10th, 2021 at 2:51 am
Watching TB12 hurl bombs to Randy Moss was amazing to watch. Will never happen w/ Mike Evans smh
October 10th, 2021 at 2:53 am
Medicated Pete’s continued hating on the best WR in Bucs history leads me to assume that his medication is not legal in the state of Florida
October 10th, 2021 at 7:06 am
Since Joe does not watch the Pats it would be difficult for Joe to say anything worthwhile on this subject. He may or may not listen to PFF but he has shown little understanding of what they say. I on the other hand watched all the 2007 Pats games several times. It was not that close. They changed the game that year. They had a difficult schedule that year facing several undefeated teams and still steamrolled teams. They were accused of running up the score to embarrass several coaches.
The 2020 Bucs were exceptionally good down the stretch and way better in the Superbowl. No lucky catch was going to sink them. Still, they did not change the game like the 07 team did. Mike Evans is a great player, and it looks like an even better person from what I hear, but Randy Moss is the best ever. Mike Evans can be stopped and frequently is, Randy struck fear into DBs. They expected to be embarrassed (or I guess you could say “Mossed”) every game. I would say AB was closer to Randy, but still a long way behind. Listen to the PFF retrospective on his career, he too changed everything.
October 10th, 2021 at 8:22 am
Even though they didn’t win the S.B., their undefeated regular season obviously. I think that is actually harder to accomplish than winning the S.B..
October 10th, 2021 at 10:57 am
Wes Welker was his #2 in 2007, I would give him the nob over Godwin. The Pat’s defense was really good probably better than Bucs with the likes of Richard Seymore, Vince Wilfork, Teddy Bruscchi, Rodney Harrison, Junior Seau, Asante Harrison, Mike Vrabal, Merriweather etc. A pretty good cast of characters.
October 10th, 2021 at 11:47 am
The 2007 Pats did not have Gronk, the WRs of the 2020 Bucs are better except only Moss. Seller was good but not clutched. If Welker was replaced by AB, the Pats would won that SB.
October 10th, 2021 at 12:00 pm
Welker was clutch in that game, he did have a huge drop in 2010 against Giants that may of cost them that game. In that era Welker may have been best #2 in the league.
October 10th, 2021 at 4:20 pm
If Welker was that good, TB did not have to rely on Moss too much. He was not at AB level.
October 10th, 2021 at 8:23 pm
Wes Welker played 6 years in NE and averaged 112 receptions a season.
October 11th, 2021 at 12:58 am
The only offensive player from the 2007 Patriots that would start for us would be Moss. Their defense was better than ours though and it would be a cool game to watch if it were possible.
October 11th, 2021 at 1:34 pm
Welker would start over Evan’s and Godwin and Faulk would start over Gio, the oline was pretty good to. If you disagree you never watched Welker play. I will even go out on a limb and say Welker had more receptions than Moss that year.