PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

tom brady

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One night earlier this year, I ran into friends in New York who happened to be with Julian Edelman. After a breakout season, Edelman had been debating whether to re-sign or leave for a bigger offer … which meant he’d be leaving Tom Brady. And his friends were busting his balls about it. Go ahead, leave Brady — see what happens. It was actually pretty funny.

Edelman knew what I did for a living. He had a couple of drinks in him. He was feeling emotional about Brady — again, it was unclear whether they were done as teammates — and launched into an endearingly genuine monologue about Brady’s brilliance. What an unbelievable teammate Brady was. What an unbelievable quarterback he was. How he worked harder, day in and day out, than any teammate Edelman had ever had. How he owed everything to the guy. We joked that Edelman almost sounded like a religious fanatic discussing the Cult of Brady or something. But that’s how he felt.

I asked him how long Brady could keep playing, and without hesitation, Edelman said, “As long as he wants.”

“Like, 43?”

Edelman nodded. He described Brady as a “football machine,” adding, “He’s in bed by eight thirty every night!” He had never seen anything like Tom Brady. He couldn’t imagine Brady NOT playing football. Six more years, at least. That’s what he believed.

(And yes, Edelman re-signed with the Patriots just a few weeks later. Let’s just say I wasn’t surprised.)

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/tom-brady-peyton-manning-cheating/ (via brainbows)

https://www.patspropaganda.com/one-night-earlier-this-year-i-ran-into-friends-in/

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https://www.patspropaganda.com/4478/

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jimmygaroppolo:

You can have your Manning. I’ll take my Brady. It’s on.

https://www.patspropaganda.com/jimmygaroppolo-you-can-have-your-manning-ill/

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larsbender:

Tom Brady is in the Halloween spirit as he gets prepared for the Denver Broncos (x)

https://www.patspropaganda.com/larsbender-tom-brady-is-in-the-halloween-spirit/

My take on Brady-Manning

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It’s Brady-Manning this week which means it will be non-stop “who’s the better quarterback” takes. At least we’re off the “Is Brady declining” discussion now.

I had to give my “hot take” on Brady-Manning last year when I was writing for Bleacher Report. How I really feel is far too simple to warrant an entire article trying antagonize people into clicking and commenting.

Here are my two takes on the current Brady items now.

1. Tom Brady is still good enough to lead his team to a Super Bowl.

2. If given the retroactive choice on whose career I’d want to watch and root for, I would pick Tom Brady’s over Peyton Manning’s.

Is Brady declining? Can Manning play in weather? Who’s the best QB of all-time? What matters more, stats or playoff wins? Who had more weapons? Who had a better defense? Who had better coaching?

You can throw all those arbitrary questions out the window as far as I’m concerned. Football is a team sport and extracting a single player out of the equation and judging how good they really are will never be an exact science, nor will there ever be a definitive answer, so I don’t really care to engage in pointless conversation trying to convince those who will never be convinced.

Being a Manning fan is now divided by two teams and really the story of his career isn’t all that new or interesting to me – bred to be a QB, drafted first, lived up to the hype, lit it up with the same small group of weapons during the regular seasons, but almost always got shut down in the playoffs.

Brady’s career, from a story standpoint, is just far more fascinating to me. We all know the specifics by now – drafted 199th overall, got one chance to be a starting quarterback and never let go of that chance and has developed into one of the best quarterbacks of all-time.

He’s had complete turnover around him multiple times, lost his “favorite” receiver multiple times. Somehow he’s always kept it going no matter what the pieces around him were. And his playoff flameouts were rarely as disappointing as Manning’s.

Both Brady and Manning’s careers are filled with ups and downs and I have a ton of respect for both players. Regardless of the specifics, the majority of their seasons have ended in disappointment, but I’d choose Brady’s disappointments over Manning’s. Along with his three Super Bowl wins of course.

It’s as simple as the underachiever vs. the overacheiver, and the overachiever is just a more interesting and fun story to follow.