2021 prediction: pats vs 49ers
1
Makes my fillings hurt just thinking about taking a big hit at TB's age.
How anybody sits through the superbowl is beyond me. Five minutes of very expensive and very stupid ads between each 30-seconds of actual play on the field. Yeah, that's an exaggeration but not by much. Very happy to have missed all the Brady and Belichick brouhaha. Cheers.
1
With Brady and the (Pats), a dull Super Bowl. Two under-performing QBs, a bad referee call that turned the game, and (another) 4Q collapse with a Shanahan-led offense.
I was jonesing for the Pats to be in this year's Super Bowl. Habits die hard, and not seeing them hurt a bit. Greatest sports franchise in any sport: Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, with a case of wonderful supporting actors, who played team ball. Indeed, part of the Pats' legacy is that the ethic was team ball, not individual stats. And then picking up marginal players to fit into BB's system was great to watch. I'm 66 and a life-long sports fan, and I've never witnessed anything like that before. Read David Halberstam's book on Belichick, written way back when. It's prescient.
1
Belichick and Brady were everywhere but....ON THE FIELD. *mike drop*
3
Did anyone watch Tom and the Pats the second half of the season? They stunk. It's clear Tom's body can no longer do what his brain wants it to do. Tom, you had a good run. Better to go out on a pick 6 than on a mediocre team or, worse, like Alex Smith or Joe Theisman.
1
Antonio Brown is the true face of the NFL, no matter how loudly the PR machines says otherwise.
Great for football. Mahomes is amazing but he’s out of the pocket more than most QBs. He’s got to stay healthy. Brady is probably the most disciplined player to ever play the game. Of course, we have Burrows et al coming on the scene soon.
Buckle your seatbelts; it’s going to be a fabulous ride!
5 out of the last six Super Bowl games have had quarterbacks trained under Belechick. As long as Bill is walking the side line with Ernie Adams in his ear piece expect the Pats dynasty to continue with or without Brady
1
If the Patriots aren't playing, is it really a Super Bowl?
2
Long time Patriots Fan. The first football I every remember watching was the Patriots losing to the Bears in '85 at a Superbowl party my parents threw when we lived just outside of Boston. Truth be told, it took a bit for me to warm up to Brady as I was a big Bledsoe fan. But warm up I did. He is the GOAT. While Brady has certainly earned the right to go out on his own terms, I hope for the sake of the Patriots he moves on to another team if he insists on one more year.
Long-time Patriots fan here (I still remember when they finished 1-15!) As much as I like Brady, I seriously hope that the Pats are thinking about his successor. He'll be 43 and that's just too old to play football. I don't care if Gronk comes back or not. 2020 will be one season too many. The clock ticks for everybody, even for the GOAT.
2
Very, very difficult to win 2 SB's in a row. The hunger just isn't there anymore. Expect the Pats to be contenders next year.
Let's save talking about the Patriots till they make it to the Super Bowl again.
The victory and its aftermath are about the Chiefs, Mahomes and their remarkable fight back.
I don't think anyone missed or thought about the Patriots, Brady or Belichick, other than in passing (where such thoughts belong).
7
The great thing about the Super Bowl is that once it is over, pitchers and catchers will soon report to Spring Training.
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@Emile deVere Well said !
Who cares about the Pats? They’re yesterday’s news.
8
@G Pats: Cheaters gotta cheat. I didn't think of them one time during the playing of the Super Bowl and Brady's commercial made me dislike him even more. His arrogance is so blatant.
2
Wow, time flies by. Looking at that photo of Roger Staubach makes me realize were all getting older. Roger Staubach is the sole reason the Dallas Cowboys are Americas team.
7
If not for the AB fiasco, they would have been in the AFC championship game; and maybe they lose to the Chiefs, but it would have been close. They'll be back.
3
@J That week 2 game started their downward spiral?
Their attendance only says one thing: they live, breathe, and bleed football.
They read the book on 10,000 hours about one million hours ago.
Tom Brady, Coach Bill Belichick and the entire Patriots ball club built an amazing and incredible dynasty over the years.
It will be a long time for any team to match, much less surpass, what they did for so many years.
That being said, THIS Super Bowl was NOT about them. And yet, like the headline read, Brady and Belichick were everywhere.
They reminded me of party crashes. Neither Sunday nor the Super Bowl were about them, but neither could seem to let that go.
I found them more of a distraction than anything else and almost embarrassed for them because they lost to the Miami Dolphins, who had one of the worse records in the NFL (5-11).
3
@Marge Keller
The league invited them as part of it's 100th anniversary, so they weren't exactly crashing the party. And you're not going to like this, but the "where will Brady play next year" story line is going to dominate NFL coverage for the next few weeks...
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@Jeff P
Actually, no, I'm glad that Brady will play next year. He's too good to NOT play.
It was just a breath of fresh air that the Patriots were not in one Super Bowl for a change, much less the playoffs.
And I do realize that the league invited them both. But does that mean they should dominate everything around them? Frankly, I would have loved to have seen more of the old timers than the younger bucks like Brady and Belichick.
2
Brady et al had a presence at LIV for the simple reason that the sports press have fed off that teat for so many years that they can't see the future of the game even when it's staring them in the face. Time to stop going with the easy story and actually look forward rather than backward.
Of course, I'm a bit biased...
3
For next year go Jets and I ll take any one else but the Pats. Brady will be 43 and I believe the torch has been passed to Mahomes.
3
Roethlisberger was young with a long shelf life too. That means absolutely nothing. Mahomes' threat at this stage in his career appears to be athleticism, which actually has a very short shelf life. We shall see, I wish him the best. He seems like a great young man with deep loyalties to those around him.
3
The worst two parts of yesterdays broadcast were the Tom Brady ad and the Hyundai ad featuring Boston born stars (which was actually pretty funny)...
I didn't want any reminders of Boston...those two felt like unwanted, uninvited wedding guests.
It goes without saying that I'm a New Yorker and, unfortunately, a lifelong Jets fan.
7
@GCT Being a Jets fan is unfortunate.
Ken, I think you're all but "taunting" Bill and Tom with this column...I certainly hope you sat back and enjoyed the game. Get over the Patriots, the rest of Patriot Nation has...trust me.
@BP interesting take.....most reporters are pretty neutral especially if they're actually reporting. sounds like you're projecting.
2
No Gronk no SB.
Patriots are the least favorite team in the league, it’s so deflating to see them on film at NFL game.
16
Wicked good trolling by Brady.
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The Patriots will surely be back. Do you think that spygate, deflategate, and more recently the video taping of another team practicing are all they have?No sir, they surely have many more ways to cheat.
Their record will always be stained.
29
Hilarious
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@InMn lame take. Every team has scandals. They’re the only being caught because they’re the best and need to be handicapped
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Wow, that's some spin there Pete.
1
"After the game, Chiefs defensive end Frank Clark declared the Patriots dynasty dead."
They've been declared dead again and again. The best way to incur the wrath of the football gods is to say they're done.
Nobody in NE knows what will happen, whether Brady will stay in our region, perhaps armed with far better weapons (including a health offensive line, and one good kicker for the entire season) that would allow him to compete in a way he didn't this year.
But call him done with football? Nah, not for a second.
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@ChristineMcM You can tell Mr. Clark that he has to win at least another 2-3 Super Bowls before he can even say the word Patriots.
Only for sports reporters that somehow have the idea they really are journalists and that we should care about what they write. Almost everyone of them are people that never could cut it in the game or got too old for the game. Spare me.
1
Memo to Brady: Get off the stage. Now, please.
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Who, wha, huh? i don't think so...
3
Actually, it is so great that the Patriots are no longer the AFC champs. Let's see what happens next year. As for the NFC, nice to see the 49ers get back to the Super Bowl this year.
To remind, the Patriots do hold the all-time record for number of Super Bowl appearances and are 6-5 overall. SF is 5-2 and Dallas is 5-3 if I am not mistaken. Pittsburg is 6-2 and has bragging right as the best team historically assuming we look for at least seven Super Bowl appearances.
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@C.L.S. Being 6-2 in the super bowl vs the patriots’ 6-5 just means you lost in the afc championship game or earlier on 3 additional occasions.
13
Tom who? Oh ... was he in the Brady Bunch, too.
2
Cue P. Diddy's "Bad Boy for Life " -we ain't going no where , we can't be stopped... Bad Boy for Life". We will see if Tom Terrific and company to do it one more time--I have truly enjoyed their 20 yrs reign over the haters.
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@EPMD
In New England, if you're not cheatin' you're not tryin'!
Old Brady to QB Chargers in 2020. Will be nearly as lame as Favre's cup of coffee w/ the Jets.
5
@EPMD Did you mean to say "cheaters"? Everyone has a typo now and then
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@EPMD There is only one Tom Terrific, and it ain't Tom Brady.
Who can answer the following question? In my analysis the Patriots biggest weakness was their receiving corps.
Can they make another attempt at Antonio Brown? What are the chances of the league reactivating him for the coming season?
Can anyone help me out here?
3
Brady smoked the crowd and made more money passing by than the entire Chief's payday. Brady rules.
17
Belichick actually has eight Super Bowl rings. Terrifying, I know. I would be in favor of a jewelry tax to redistribute some of those rings.
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@Locho
Doesn’t Putin have one he stole?
3
Putin has one of (Pat’s owner) Robert Kraft’s rings. Don’t think Belichick would have let Vladimir take his too easily.
2
It’s too bad the Patriots were less visible. Interviews with Robert Kraft about his preferred massage routines and Tom Brady about whether his buddy’s withholding neatly $400 million is abuse of power would have made great television.
46
If Brady does nothing else which I think he will, he's set a bar that will be hard to beat.
13
Here's hoping Mr. Brady's contract is not picked up by the Patriots, and he decides to retire. Let someone else soak up all of the oxygen in the Stadium. Bring on the new generation of deserving players and coaches who are deserving of the spotlight. Ironic that Mr. Garoppolo withered in Brady's shadow prior to becoming a 49er...
6
Good grief. Does everything NFL have to revolve around the Patriots? They weren't there. They weren't even close this season. They have an aging quarterback that might not even be on their roster next season.
The Chiefs won and were the best team this season. Kudos to the Chiefs. Period.
72
@Aaron Yes. Yes, it does...the legacy endures. The GOAT casts a long shadow. And he'll be back.
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@Aaron
I was very happy for the Chiefs, especially Andy Reid. But I'm a diehard Patriots fan and I really need to see Tom Brady for one more season, as a Patriot.
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@jeanne maiden
Buy tickets to Las Vegas' San Diego Chargers to see Brady as their temporary QB this year.
2
All good runs come to an end eventually. Brady and Belichick really milked it for almost two decades, bookending three championships in 2002-2003-2005 with three in 2015, 2017, and 2019, around a decade-log gap. It's almost like they had two dynasties, not one.
The new "face" of the NFL isn't just Patrick Mahomes. It's also DeShaun Watson, Lamar Jackson, and Russell Wilson. Wilson gave the 49ers fits in their two games, beating San Fran in the 1st and almost (by inches) winning the rematch. The 49ers had no answer for him.
The same applied yesterday. San Francisco has a great defense, but Mahomes just rose above it, like Wilson did earlier in the season. Having such mobile QBs who can improvise on the fly makes for some pretty exciting games. (And no, Andy Reid didn't win the Super Bowl - Patrick Mahomes did.)
The Patriots are a strong organization. They'll be back and will contend next year (and probably be favored to win their division again), although who will play QB is anyone's guess at this point. Don't write them off just yet...
21
If Tom Brady returns to the Patriots, the team will have to handle the loss of other free agents and plug holes from this past season, a financial commitment, for sure. The Pats weren't as weak as many think, but obviously not as strong as needed to beat the Chiefs, Ravens and even Titans. Brady, Bill Belichick and maybe even Gronk will be hungry and hopefully healthy next season. Don't count them out. But, given the cruelness of sports, also don't be surprised for the armchair quarterbacks to say, "I told you so." Here's hoping Brady and crew defy time one last time.
17
@Albert Tom's washed up. Told you so.
1