All signs point toward Bill Belichick and Tom Brady going for broke this season.
The six Super Bowl rings are fine and dandy, but the ultimate glory in pro football has yet to be achieved by the greatest head coach and greatest QB of all-time.
The perfect season remains Belichick and Brady’s albatross, and what transpired in the Super Bowl against the Giants 4,245 days ago still stings. The 18-1 jokes still sting.
It was the one that got away, and it should be regarded as the most brutal loss in Boston sports history. Never was the Holy Grail in professional sports so close to being captured, and surely there will never be another chance for that level of glory. That was the thought for every Pats fan back on Feb. 4, 2008 – the day after Eli Manning and David Tyree spoiled the soup.
The undefeated season is the trump card in any sports bar argument about which franchise is the best of all-time, and going 19-0 would separate Belichick and Brady for eternity.
Belichick, a noted football historian, knows this. Brady knows this.
It’s easy to say that neither of them have anything left to prove, but that’s not giving their competitive spirit enough credit. They crave challenges … they live for them … and 19-0 is the ultimate challenge.
So, in 2019 – with both Belichick and Brady nearing the end of their careers, they’re shooting for the moon again.
The Antonio Brown signing was what put this theory over the top for me.
When do the Patriots ever welcome THAT big of a distraction? When do the Pats jeopardize their salary cap situation for the rest of the year in September? And why do they suddenly care so much about running up the score in these September games? Haven’t we been trained over the years to believe that September is nothing more than an extended pre-season and that the real Patriots won’t find their groove until sometime after Thanksgiving?
Belichick called time outs late in the fourth quarter of the past two blowout wins in order to secure the Pats defense’s no touchdown streak. Something is up.
The Brady contractual stuff also screams that something is up, as it’s easy to envision Belichick and Brady talking before the season and agreeing to take one more crack at it.
Truth be told, this might be Belichick’s last season as well.
Going back to his original “Football Life” documentary 10 years ago, Belichick said: “I’m not going to be coaching into my 70s like Marv Levy. That’s not happening.”
Well, Belichick is now knocking on the door of 70 at 67 years of age.
There’s also the odd circumstances surrounding Josh McDaniels, who had to have been promised something a year and a half ago when he abruptly backed out of the Colts job.
McDaniels is now 43 years old, and has to want his own crack at this thing at some point.
The timing of everything is just too curious, including the fact that Belichick picked this season to build the most talented roster he’s had since 2007.
Belichick knows damn well that the Patriots have a cupcake regular season schedule this year.
Everything breaks well for them.
They essentially have two bye weeks this year, as they have a Thursday night home game against the pathetic Giants on Oct. 10. Their next game is the following week on a Monday night, giving the team 11 days of rest.
They also have their real bye in Week 10, right after their first real test (a Sunday nighter at Baltimore) and right before a showdown in Philly against the Eagles.
It’s all a perfect storm for a perfect season.
Belichick and Brady are going for it.
