None. Matt Cassell hadn't started a game since high school. He stepped in for Brady in his third year as a pro. Threw for 3700 yards and won 11 games. Since leaving the Pats, he's had one season where he eclipsed 2000 yards since and one season where he was above .500. The year prior to Cassell's year as QB was Brady's monster season, where he broke the TD record and went 16-0. Other than that year, Cassell's season wasn't that far off from what Brady was doing. There aren't a lot of all-universe guys that see so little dropoff when they're sidelined. Edit: Well actually they do have some rings, although none of them started in the Super Bowl. Garropolo went 2-0 as a starter in a Super Bowl season, and Jacoby Brissett went 1-1 the same year.
I notice when he got healthy, they put him back in. I also notice that the year he didn't play was the only time they've missed the playoffs in 71 years. He's the quarterback of the team that has been one of the top 4 in the NFL for almost 20 years. Saying he isn't among the greatest there have ever been doesn't pass the laugh test.
Then what's the knock? You guys just kibitzing around the edges of on one of, if not the, greatest player of all time? Seems like a waste of effort.
The notion I was getting at was his status as "the Greatest". He's one of the greatest, but not the best, in my opinion. I believe there are about 5-10 QBs in history who could've done what he did in a similar situation, having Belichek as a killer defensive coach, perhaps the best ever, and a stout OL year after year (New England's ability to run and protect the QB is underrated). Brady under pressure looks very ordinary, which is why, even in his best year of 2007, he was pedestrian against a solid NY Giants rush.
I dont like Brady but when it doesnt matter who the RB or wr is, its hard to argue he isn't. And Belichek is doing nothing offensively. Brady has free reign, finds the best mismatch and picks it apart, better than anyone has.
What QB isn't ordinary or plain shitty with pressure on them? The rule change to favor the offense has helped him a lot but still I find it silly to undersell what he's done in his career.
Cassel was a Pro Bowler in KC after he left. His best season wasn’t even in New England. And 21 TDs, 11 picks and no playoffs is pretty far off from Brady, who threw 36 TDs and 4 picks in 2010. Brissett didn’t play well at all, and got shut out by Houston IIRC. Garoppolo was good, and continued to be good in San Fran until he got hurt.
Yardage and win totals were about the same with Cassell as many of Brady's seasons. And that was in his debut season. He probably gets them multiple playoff appearances if Brady's career had ended instead of been set back a year. He had one good season in KC and has been nothing ever since. The guy's been in the league 10 years and his second best season was his first.
He's very good at what he's asked to do for the Patriots. He's worked with an innovative coaching staff that has maximized his ability to hit quick routes very accurately. Put him on a team with poor defenses and ask him to throw downfield like a lot of other offenses demand and I think the narrative on him is different.
Also, 21 TDs and 11 picks is not that far off from Brady prior to the 2007 season. In fact, in his first 3 Super Bowl seasons, he averaged 23 TDs and 12.6 INTs. Yardage-wise he averaged 3656 yards in the two full Super Bowl seasons he played. (Threw for around 2500 in 15 games in his first Super Bowl season).
It wasn’t his debut season at all, it was like year 4 for him. In DVOA, their pass offense went from #1 in 2007 to #15 in ‘08, then back to #2. Yardage is a dumb way to measure QB quality unless you’re ready to be a huge Matthew Stafford fan
It was his first season as a starter. A guy seeing that little action over the past 10 years is going to be a lot better in year 2 as a starter than year 1.
Come on. You’re just making up narratives now. He was solid in Year 4 (Year 1 as a starter), bad in Year 5 (2 as a starter), and then had his best season in Year 6 (3rd as a starter). Have fun weaving that into a storyline about how he had to “adjust to a new offense” or something and then the “league figured him out” after 6 years
He'd thrown about 50 passes in live action since high school, which was around 8 years prior. Sorry it's so mind-bending to accept that coming off the bench to be a starter for an NFL team might be a bit of a learning curve for him. He got worse in year 2 because he went to a team that just went 2-14.
