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Would Brady have won another SB/MVP if he hadn’t gotten injured in 2008?


Slingin' Sammy

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I laugh when people say Cassel "proved" Brady was just a product of the team.

We went from greatest offense of all time to barely top ten for the season. Went from one freak catch from going 19-0 to out of the playoffs entirely. Moss barely cracked 1000 yards. Had Brady not gotten injured, we beat Indy, Pittsburgh and San Diego.

Edited by biggie.
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Certainly possible. 2008 was probably the year the Colts sucked the most under Manning, outside of that 6-10 year and 3-13 rookie year. 

Steelers and Cardinals were good but nothing to write home about. 

Ravens D is the question mark though. They have always given the Pats some problems, and match up very well with them. 

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Going into that season I expected a SB win. Without Brady they went 11-5, with a one score loss to the Colts and blowouts to the Steelers and Chargers. With Brady you’d pick them to win at least 2 of those, which is enough for at least the second seed.

They had the easiest schedule I’ve ever seen, and beat the SB runner up by 40 points. It’s at least a slot in the AFCCG with Brady fit.

….that season was a chore to get through for Pats fans.

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You can never say anything with certainty. But there was probably never a year the Patriots were more poised to win a Super Bowl than that year. They pretty much retained the core of the 07 team, they had a significantly weaker schedule. They still got double digit wins with a QB who was midtier at best.

The only team that really stood in their way was the Steelers who had a monster defense. But realistically, the Patriots almost always had the Steelers number, and they already beat the Cardinals with Cassel. 

The league got a huge break that year. A better question is, what would have happened without that injury in 09 and 10. Because Brady came back pretty shaky in 09 and that contributed to the dissapointment. Then by 10 I think the 06 Colts loss, the 07 Giants loss, the injury year and the beatdown with the Ravens in 09 kinda got them a bit snakebitten. If they rebound in 08, and Brady isn't hampered with an injury you could probably have seen a mini run in that era with 1 or 2 titles. Even 11 they needed one pass to seal the deal and couldn't do it.

Realistically it took drafting Jimmy G and the slow start in 2014 plus the Chiefs beatdown that lit a fire under Brady and really propelled them back on track to win that year and then he basically won every other year since.

I know people sometimes like to think it's more tangible than that, but losing and experiencing loss and having a break in dominance has an effect. There's a reason we so many SB losers struggle to get back. And 06-08 were 3 very big consectutive blows where golden Super Bowl opportunities were lost and there's a reason they experienced a drought and needed to get back over the hump again before they could go back to business as usual

 

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16 hours ago, lancerman said:

You can never say anything with certainty. But there was probably never a year the Patriots were more poised to win a Super Bowl than that year. They pretty much retained the core of the 07 team, they had a significantly weaker schedule. They still got double digit wins with a QB who was midtier at best.

The only team that really stood in their way was the Steelers who had a monster defense. But realistically, the Patriots almost always had the Steelers number, and they already beat the Cardinals with Cassel. 

The league got a huge break that year. A better question is, what would have happened without that injury in 09 and 10. Because Brady came back pretty shaky in 09 and that contributed to the dissapointment. Then by 10 I think the 06 Colts loss, the 07 Giants loss, the injury year and the beatdown with the Ravens in 09 kinda got them a bit snakebitten. If they rebound in 08, and Brady isn't hampered with an injury you could probably have seen a mini run in that era with 1 or 2 titles. Even 11 they needed one pass to seal the deal and couldn't do it.

Realistically it took drafting Jimmy G and the slow start in 2014 plus the Chiefs beatdown that lit a fire under Brady and really propelled them back on track to win that year and then he basically won every other year since.

I know people sometimes like to think it's more tangible than that, but losing and experiencing loss and having a break in dominance has an effect. There's a reason we so many SB losers struggle to get back. And 06-08 were 3 very big consectutive blows where golden Super Bowl opportunities were lost and there's a reason they experienced a drought and needed to get back over the hump again before they could go back to business as usual

 

...but for Reche Caldwell, Asante Samuel and Bernard Pollard, we could easily be looking at 12-13 superbowl appearances and 8/9/10 titles. As crazy as the Pats/Brady run was it was a few coin flip-plays from being even crazier.

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10 hours ago, ChazStandard said:

...but for Reche Caldwell, Asante Samuel and Bernard Pollard, we could easily be looking at 12-13 superbowl appearances and 8/9/10 titles. As crazy as the Pats/Brady run was it was a few coin flip-plays from being even crazier.

I've heard Brady would have retired sooner if we went 19-0.

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