Posted by gillispie1 on 1/29/2016 6:47:00 PM (view original):
bistiza, the 2006 patriots receivers were pretty garbage, yet brady still looked good, and lead his team to a very respectable season. if he is such garbage, how is that possible? what am i missing?
A few things...
1. The receivers weren't as bad as you might think.
Troy Brown is often under rated, and is the exact type of receiver the NE system covets - an elusive guy who can get yards after the catch. A former Pro Bowler, he was incredibly versatile, even lining up on defense fairly regularly. He made a key play in the 2006 playoffs after
Brady had thrown three interceptions and he stripped the last one from the intercepting player, allowing the Patriots to recover and eventually win the game.
These are the kinds of things which
show how Brady is often carried by other players, but that gets overlooked and Brady gets the credit. Three interceptions, team should have lost, but
his receiver makes the play of the game and bails him out.
Reche Caldwell also fit the prototype for a catch and run receiver, and he ended up having a great season playing in that kind of system.
Brady also had tight end Benjamin Watson catching passes, often contributing to first downs in clutch situations (32 of his 49 receptions that season went for 1st downs). You should know Watson - he just had his best season in 2015 and was a Pro Bowl alternate.
2. Brady had a lot of other help.
He had Corey Dillon, Laurence Maroney, and Kevin Faulk in his backfield. Dillon scored a career high 13 TDs in 2006, which says something because he was a three time Pro Bowler
before that. Maroney ran for 745 yards and 6 TDs that year. The versatile Faulk caught 43 passes out of the backfield in 2006.
Brady also had a great offensive line (as was typical) featuring Pro Bowler Matt Light and defense that ranked second in points allowed behind the Baltimore Ravens.
Yeah, all in all, the Patriots 2006
team looked good. Brady once again was a game manager who didn't screw things up.
1/30/2016 9:49 AM (edited)