Tom Brady or Bill Belichick? Who was the driving force behind the New England Patriots‘ 20-year dynasty? The Pats are taking a beating this season. Today, the team finds themselves at a less-than-impressive 3-11 record. A far cry from their golden days of NFL domination.

Even the stoic maestro Bill Belichick himself had a moment of vulnerability, tipping his cap to TB12. Admitting that without Brady, the Patriots’ trophy cabinet might be collecting more dust than playoff wins. Yet, the question echoes in the air: Did Brady carry the Pats, or was it a tag-team effort that put the New England Patriots on the NFL map for two glorious decades?

Belichick’s numbers revealed: Did Tom Brady carry the Pats?

NFL detective Dov Kleiman hit up ‘X’ to drop a major bombshell on the debate. Captioned, ” The FOX broadcast just showed this graphic about Bill Belichick on the same week that reports about Belichick said the team is moving on from him. Tom Brady carried Bill Belichick?” The photo featured Belichick in action as the graphic read, ‘266-75 With Brady’. No heir to the Brady throne? No problem, right? Wrong.

The Pats thought they had it all figured out, that is until their prodigal son, the one who once sailed the Gillette seas, returned in the bold black and red of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The gridiron chess master saw it coming. During Brady’s last offseason, Belichick threw everything at maximizing Brady’s final chapters with the Pats. They rolled out the red carpet, but somewhere along the line, the roster started showing its age, and the team’s wallet cinched up.

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Enter Mac Jones, the fresh face tasked with carrying the offensive load. Unlike the Brady era where the running game was a well-oiled machine, Jones had to be the one-man show, carrying the pigskin and the hopes of Patriots Nation.

Post-Brady blues: Belichick’s coaching mojo takes a hit

Although Tom Brady and Belichick stepped onto the New England Patriots’ turf together, Brady was the QB1 until 2021. But oh boy, did the football gods bless that union. Under the Belichick-Brady tag team, the Patriots boasted five AFC championships and three Super Bowls. Fast-forward to the post-Brady era and things get a bit rocky. Without TB12, Belichick’s coaching mojo took a hit, landing at a 51-65 record.

But when it comes to giving credit where it’s due, let’s not forget the man holding the purse strings—Robert Kraft. With both Belichick and Brady on the payroll, Kraft’s Patriots turned into a gridiron powerhouse. So, as we dissect the playbook of success, maybe the easiest call is to tip our hats to the man who signed both the maestro and the quarterback.

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