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I agree Foles is one of the most underrated QBs in the league. Philly fans have always acted like a great QB will win with a not so great team. But the truth is almost any pro QB will win with a great o-line, a strong running threat and a few of talented targets to spread the ball around to. A great defense is also a big help. The Philly fans never wanted to talk about the issues that put a ceiling on whoever was at QB, no matter how good the QB is. Too many teams look for a great QB and get one but don't put together a team that will let that QB be great. Last year Philly had a great team. After winning the SB the salary cap dance gets tricky and few teams are good enough to field as good a team the next year.
This is something the Patriots were always good at and is very impressive about their team. You can give the Patriots dynasty credit mostly to the office staff that accomplished this and give Brady a small amount of credit, not for his play on the field, but for being smart enough to realize he should not demand to be the top paid QB despite his results. If he had not taken less pay to allow the Pats to field a perennially strong offense around him the dynasty would not have existed. I don't think you see many other QBs doing that. All the best QBs demand a salary that cripples the team when it comes to the salary cap. The Eagles were in pretty good shape to weather the SB win salary cap hit with a rookie starting QB. But all the veterans that were up for a new contract wanted to get paid, as they should and the front office didn't do the kind of job the Patriots front office has done with the post SB win salary cap dance. Of course all the injuries to the Eagles star players this year didn't help, nor did having a SB winners schedule.
The Patriots were also very impressive when it came to dealing with injuries. The next man up always did the job. When Brady went down they still won. But when Gronk went down they tended more to lose or at least look bad when winning. They also had to deal with injuries all over the field throughout the dynasty. Impressively, except for Gronk, the next man up didn't seem to hurt the team, and never seemed to leave a weakness for the opponents to exploit. That is very impressive. That just shows how good a team the Patriots have fielded throughout the Belichk/Brady dynasty. Belichick earns the great coach tag to get the credit he deserves. I just think Brady gets way too much credit for the dynasty that is clearly about the front office, and coaching. Brady deserves credit for knowing he and the team are better off with him taking less money when required. But his play, while impressive, isn't the key to this dynasty.
Gronk was a key. Not so much anymore. I suspect Gronk and Brady will retire in the same year and the front office will have big issues to deal with. If the front office finally fails to be prepared for the next year Brady's retirement will be blamed for the teams weakness. It will likely be more about Gronk. But Gronk already looks to be less of an impact player so maybe this weaker Patriots team that can't seem to win on the road is more about the decline of Gronk than anything else. Gronk's biggest impact this year has been to draw double coverage so other targets can get open easier. The first half of the year they weren't even targeting Gronk in the red zone. That is a huge statement about how they were using Gronk. If the Pats can't beat quality teams on the road, as has been the case this year, they won't make it far in the playoffs. They will most likely have just one home game. The Pats still are almost a sure win at home.
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