What BB did without Brady was impressive last year, but he ain;t the greatest ever. If they ever rename it the "Belichick Trophy" then maybe we can throw BB into the argument. I don;t see it happening and, to be honest, I would bet money on BB not winning another Superbowl in his coaching career. Also... Chuck Noll has 4 Superbowl titles. But forget them... there is also the initmitable George Halas: I would also suggest Curly Lambeau: One of the amazing things is looking at how many of the league's most storied teams, and legandary coaches came out of what is now the NFC North (Halas - Chicago, Lambeau and Lombardi - Breen Bay)
I think we also have to remember that it took several games for Cassel to get his bearings. Remember, there was talk of benching him and going to Connell. Once Cassel hit his stride, they were among the best offenses in the NFL. To lose the best QB in the game Week 1 and go 11-5 with a guy who hasn't started since high school is simply tremendous. They were a better team than us when the season ended. And it's really a shame that they didn't make the playoffs under the current system. I think Belichick is easily one of the greatest ever. Yes, Noll won four titles in the '70s. Lombardi, Walsh, etc. But one difference is that before the salary cap era, you could keep a team together. Could the Steelers of the '70s have kept that front seven together for all four titles? Now days the roster is a constant churn. The system is setup for parity. It's setup to ensure that the Steelers don't keep that front seven for a decade. You have to keep finding good players. And you have to have the coaching in place to prepare those guys and not miss a beat. OT: Belichick could win the next 10 Super Bowls. That trophy will always be name after Lombardi. It's not like they're playing for the Sears National Championship.
Well, I've got to dispute that a bit Muck, Jim Harbaugh took a Rookie Qb to 11-5 and the AFC Championship Game, in context last season's pats team should have done better. Flacco had a Training Camp to preapare for the season Cassel had 4 years and a HoF wr to throw to.
Flacco had the benefit of actually playing the last two years at Delaware though. Cassel hadn't started a game since 2000. Remember when he got in against us in 2007, and we started coming back on them? Then they put Brady back in? Not for nothing, but Flacco (and Matt Ryan) were also first round picks. I'd argue that Baltimore's running game and defense were more responsible for them going to the AFC Championship game than the passing game. Flacco did pretty darn well, but when else is 2971 yards and 14 TD's good enough for the cusp of a Super Bowl? Stats are very similar to the 2000 team. They finished with identical 11-5 records, and both lost only to good teams. But NE didn't get to go to the playoffs. Who knows what would have happened. I'd put money down that they'd have fared better against Baltimore than us though.
And I'd say Cassel had the benefit of taking the helm of a team whose Oline was intact and had experience as well as Welker and Moss. And the thing about Cassel was, he knew the system, he had been in it for years and he had the weaponry as well, why would he fail in that situation? Well, Ck ran the stats and we were 4 yrs younger on average then the Pats are, the Pats are who they are, we are much younger and hungrier team.
They played against Pit and Indi last year... losing both... They beat Arizona, which we lost to... Now they lost to SD and split with the Jets... They lost to both tougher teams that we did not play against... So we beat SD and lost to Ariz...they did the opposite... not much better record really... now if you want to say that they did it without TB...that is another story...
Everyone you mentioned were great for their eras, but the game and the business were different. The standard of excellence in the present salary cap era is the Patriots. They've had their coordinates poached for nearly a decade, yet they still come out on top, principally by mastering the draft and having brilliant schemes. That's BB.
Hasn't helped them win squat the last few years....their team had their 15 minutes....now they are old.
