What else does Tom Brady have to achieve, as he enters his age-43 season with the (come on LOL this can’t be real get out of here) Tampa Bay Buccaneers? How about the chance to show what he can do without Bill Belichick.
The Brady-Belichick partnership, it’s safe to say, was the greatest player-coach pairing in sports history. But it couldn’t last forever. It’s nice to imagine a happier ending was possible – Brady coming back on one last team-friendly contract to guide the Patriots to one more title – but, in hindsight, it was never going to work out that way. Consider who we’re talking about here.
Brady believes he can play forever (or at least until he’s 45), while Belichick never allows nostalgia to dictate his bargaining position. After months of speculation, the deadline for the two sides to get something done finally arrived this week and … not much happened.
One report said there wasn’t really a negotiation, while another said the Pats simply made an offer and Brady refused it. So here we are, with Brady headed to the Gulf Coast of Florida, where at least he’ll be spared from having to wear those awful digital clock uniforms, while Belichick, who turns 68 in April, is tasked with the most difficult personnel decision in the sport: finding a replacement at the game’s most consequential position. For the rest of us, it’s going to take some getting used to.
To be fair, Brady had no more challenges in New England. You know the story by now: Brady was a sixth-round pick in 2000 who took over for Drew Bledsoe in Week 2 of his second season and wound up winning the Super Bowl. All told, he’s won three NFL MVP awards, four Super Bowl MVPs, and six Super Bowl rings. He’s also been to the Super Bowl nine times.
In Brady’s 19 seasons as a starter, the Pats won the AFC East an astounding 17 times. Granted, the Bills, Dolphins, and Jets have largely spent this century jamming fingers into one another’s eyes like helmeted versions of Moe, Larry, and Curly. But still: The last time the Pats didn’t win the division was the season Brady tore his ACL in the opener. That was 12 years ago.
All the while, Brady had Belichick to master the art of roster-building by maximizing the salary cap and emphasizing depth; to set the trend of using the entire field in the passing game, particularly with the interchangeable deployment of slot receivers, multiple running backs, and tight ends; to dramatically adapt the game plan from week-to-week to keep opponents off guard. Also, Belichick coaches hard, and Brady accepts hard coaching. They were a perfect tandem.
The Pats won their first three Super Bowls in Brady’s first four seasons as a starter; they won their next three after he had turned 37 years old. But how does he now fit with the Bucs, a woebegone franchise whose lone Super Bowl title 17 years ago is completely anomalous to their 40-plus-year history of shit-brained futility?
Icon Sportswire / Getty Images
Bucs head coach Bruce Arians has long prized big-armed quarterbacks who can take deep drops in the pocket while also being capable of heaving the ball downfield. Some of his most famous charges include Ben Roethlisberger, from his time as the offensive coordinator of the Steelers; late-stage Carson Palmer, from his years as head coach of the Cardinals; and Jameis Winston, who last year was the first NFL QB to throw 30 touchdowns and 30 interceptions in the same season.
At first glance, this style would seem to be a poor match for Brady, who owes his career longevity in part to Belichick’s and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels’ understanding that it was necessary to limit the punishment he’d take as he got older. A hallmark of Brady’s game as he aged was his ability to frequently get rid of the ball quickly, before he’d have to take so many hits. But that never meant Brady was simply a check-down artist.
As Timo Riske noted at PFF, Brady “has proven multiple times during his career he will adjust his style to the weapons at his disposal.” Yes, per Riske, Brady’s adjusted depth of target last season was just 8.4 yards. But as recently as 2017, when he had a burner like Brandin Cooks at his disposal, Brady’s aDoT was 10.2 yards.
Remember: Last year, Brady certainly seemed to be a bit washed. But after Rob Gronkowski retired and Belichick’s experiments with Josh Gordon and Antonio Brown blew up, Brady also had no proven pass-catchers other than Julian Edelman. With the Bucs, Brady will have the chance to throw to Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, two of the game’s best young receivers, plus O.J. Howard, one of its top tight ends. The Bucs also have an up-and-coming defense.
Still, it’s not a given that Brady and the Bucs will thrive together. After all, Brady will be in a new setting, with a different group of coaches and teammates, with what for him will be an unknown set of standards and responses to adversity. He also can’t outrun the realities of age forever.
The Brady-Belichick partnership was renowned for its ability to adjust, to move on, to keep winning with clinical precision. Brady is now removed from that dynamic. Can he succeed without Belichick? It’s pretty much the only thing in the NFL he hasn’t accomplished.
Dom Cosentino is a senior features writer at theScore.
EDMONTON – The Edmonton Oilers signed defenceman Travis Dermott to a professional tryout on Friday.
Dermott, a 27-year-old from Newmarket, Ont., produced two goals, five assists and 26 penalty minutes in 50 games with the Arizona Coyotes last season.
The six-foot, 202-pound blueliner has also played for the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Toronto drafted him in the second round, 34th overall, of the 2015 NHL draft.
Over seven NHL seasons, Dermott has 16 goals and 46 assists in 329 games while averaging 16:03 in ice time.
Before the NHL, Dermott played two seasons with Oilers captain Connor McDavid for the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters. The team was coached by current Edmonton head coach Kris Knoblauch.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) — Maria Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam singles champion, led the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan vote her first year on the ballot — an important part to possible selection to the hall’s next class.
The organization released the voting results on Friday. American doubles team Bob and Mike Bryan finished second with Canada’s Daniel Nestor third.
The Hall of Fame said tens of thousands of fans from 120 countries cast ballots. Fan voting is one of two steps in the hall’s selection process. The second is an official group of journalists, historians, and Hall of Famers from the sport who vote on the ballot for the hall’s class of 2025.
“I am incredibly grateful to the fans all around the world who supported me during the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan votes,” Sharapova said in a statement. “It is a tremendous honor to be considered for the Hall of Fame, and having the fans’ support makes it all the more special.”
Sharapova became the first Russian woman to reach No. 1 in the world. She won Wimbledon in 2004, the U.S. Open in 2006 and the Australian Open in 2008. She also won the French Open twice, in 2012 and 2014.
Sharapova was also part of Russia’s championship Fed Cup team in 2008 and won a silver medal at the London Olympics in 2012.
To make the hall, candidates must receive 75% or higher on combined results of the official voting group and additional percentage from the fan vote. Sharapova will have an additional three percentage points from winning the fan vote.
The Bryans, who won 16 Grand Slam doubles titles, will have two additional percentage points and Nestor, who won eight Grand Slam doubles titles, will get one extra percentage point.
The hall’s next class will be announced late next month.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The driver charged with killing NHL hockey player Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew as they bicycled on a rural road had a blood-alcohol level of .087, above the .08 legal limit in New Jersey, a prosecutor said Friday.
Gaudreau, 31, and brother Matthew, 29, were killed in Carneys Point, New Jersey, on Aug. 29, the evening before they were set to serve as groomsmen at their sister Katie’s wedding.
The driver, 43-year-old Sean M. Higgins of nearby Woodstown, New Jersey, is charged with two counts of death by auto, along with reckless driving, possession of an open container and consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle. At a virtual court hearing Friday, a judge ordered that he be held for trial after prosecutors described a history of alleged road rage and aggressive driving.
“’You were probably driving like a nut like I always tell you you do. And you don’t listen to me, instead you just yell at me,’” his wife told Higgins when he called her from jail after his arrest, according to First Assistant Prosecutor Jonathan Flynn of Salem County.
The defense described Higgins as a married father and law-abiding citizen before the crash.
“He’s an empathetic individual and he’s a loving father of two daughters,” said defense lawyer Matthew Portella. “He’s a good person and he made a horrible decision that night.”
Higgins told police he had five or six beers that day and admitted to consuming alcohol while driving, according to the criminal complaint. He also failed a field sobriety test, the complaint said. A prosecutor on Friday said he had been drinking at home after finishing a work call at about 3 p.m., and having an upsetting conversation with his mother about a family matter.
He then had a two-hour phone call with a friend while he drove around in his Jeep with an open container, Flynn said. He had been driving aggressively behind a sedan going just above the 50 mph speed limit, sometimes tailgating, the female driver told police.
When she and the vehicle ahead of her slowed down and veered left to go around the cyclists, Higgins sped up and veered right, striking the Gaudreas, the two other drivers told police.
“He indicated he didn’t even see them,” said Superior Court Judge Michael J. Silvanio, who said Higgins’ admitted “impatience” caused two deaths.
Higgins faces up to 20 years, a sentence that the judge said made him a flight risk.
Higgins has a master’s degree, works in finance for an addiction treatment company, and served in combat in Iraq, his lawyers said. However, his wife said he had been drinking regularly since working from home, Flynn said.
Johnny Gaudreau, known as “Johnny Hockey,” played 10 full seasons in the league and was set to enter his third with the Columbus Blue Jackets after signing a seven-year, $68 million deal in 2022. He played his first eight seasons with the Calgary Flames, a tenure that included becoming one of the sport’s top players and a fan favorite across North America.
Widows Meredith and Madeline Gaudreau described their husbands as attached at the hip throughout their lives. Both women are expecting, and both gave moving eulogies at the double funeral on Monday.
