Quote:
Originally Posted by Racehorse
or until the superstar is out (see the years Brady, Manning, and now Mahomes were out; the teams could not get there without them.)
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o
Actually, when Tom Brady went down in 2008, the Patriots went 11-5 with Matt Cassel at quarterback ...... they were a bona-fide playoff team that didn't make the playoffs because the AFC was stacked that season ...... they were one of only 2 teams in history to have a record of 11-5 and not make the playoffs (the 1985 Denver Broncos were the other one.)
We were fucked when Bert Jones went down and missed more than half of the 1978 and 1979 seasons.
We were fucked when Peyton Manning missed the entire 2011 season, and the Colts went 2-14 with Kerry Collins, Curtis Painter, and Dan Orlovsky at QB.
The Chiefs lost to the lowly Titans by a score of 26-9 when Patrick Mahomes went down, and are very likely fucked if Mahomes goes down for most or all of an entire season.
In my rat's ass of an opinion, it was largely excellent teams with solid depth that were assembled and coached by Bill Belichick that kept the Patriots afloat in those days. Tom Brady put them over the top from a team that was a contender to a team that was either a conference champion (9 Super Bowl appearances) or a world champion (6 Super Bowl wins.) Brady was great, one of the greatest QB's of all-time, but I don't think that he was as great as Manning or Mahomes, whose teams completely collapsed without them.
o