The Buccaneers are 5-2, in first place in the NFC South, with Tom Brady as their starting quarterback. The Patriots are 2-4, in third place in the AFC East, with Bill Belichick still as their head coach.That's pretty good evidence that Brady has gotten the much better end of their breakup from a 20-year relationship. But Brady's edge in Tampa Bay vs. Belichick operating without him in New England goes beyond the current team records and overall succe s.Brady isn't just playing and winning like he usually does while Belichick has seen his team go through the motions during its first three-game losing streak since 2002. He's also been the stronger personnel influencer and leader, lifting the Bucs up while the Patriots seem to be well, deflated, without Brady.MORE: Since Brady decided to leave the Patriots and sign with the Buccaneers in March, he has been in complete control of his situation. Most every move since then by coach Bruce Arians and Jason Licht has been made to cater to Brady.The Bucs acquired his former go-to tight end Rob Gronkowski during the draft and the team
Adrian Beltre Jersey also drafted aright tackle (Tristan Wirfs), extra wide receiver (Tyler Johnson) and promising running back (Ke'Shawn Vaughn). Then after seeing some questions about running back depth and effectivene s with Vaughn and Ronald Jones during the summer, you can bet Brady had something to do with the Bucs bringingLeSean McCoy and Leonard Fournette in the fold.Brady's biggest, latestcoup was forcing Arians to do a 180 on wide receiver Antonio Brown. BA repeatedly said during the offseason thathe wanted to no part of AB's diva nature, but they still signed
Shawn Kelley Jersey him, thanks to TB12 pushing for it. The Bucs are dealing with wideout injuries, but with Mike Evans still playing while hurt and both Chris Godwin and Scotty Miller coming back strong from their ailments and Johnson also contributing, Brady pretty much got the Bucs to add Brown on a whim,using hispower to convince them that Brown would fall in line because of him.MORE: In e sence, Brady is responsible for seven more additions to the offense. He's also operating more of histype of his offense vs. Arians' "no risk it, no biscuit" approach that led to Jameis Winston leading the league in interceptions last season, bringing "what could have been"to a 7-9 team in 2019.Brady has gone back to the short-to-intermediate focus with calculated 20-30 yard shotsthat have made him the GOAT for all these years. Compared with what he had around him during his final days with the Patriots, he's hit the mother lode of backs and receivers who can run allhis desired routes inside and outside, a versatile mix of size, hands, speed and quickne s for every situation. He knew what kind of car he wanted to drive and totally tricked it out. The Patriots had been doing that for him for a long time, but didn't deliver afterGronkowski's "retirement" after Super Bowl 53.Brady picked the Bucs because it's clear that they were willing to give in and bend over backward 10 times over to make him happy and trust him to know what he needed tobring back his elite play.The only player who has that level of power to a semble his ideal team doesn't play in the NFL and his name is LeBron James.After a few early hiccups with the virtual offseason not doing himany favors, Brady is in a groove with all the Buccaneers, on and off the field. He wasn't afraid to get into their faces during that ugly Thursday night lo s at the
Brett Martin Jersey Bears in Week 5.The Bucs were an undisciplined me s then. In just two weeks, they've eliminated the penalties and mistakes in total domination of two good teams, the Packers and theRaiders.With the Seahawks, Packers and Saints all having defensive i sues, the Bucs look like the new team to beat in the NFC because they are doing Patriots-like things that involvea lot of players "doing their jobs" to play ideal complementary football.As for the actual Patriots with Belichick, first there was the i sue of the COVID-19 outbreak that forced them to limp into a key early
Kyle Bird Jersey matchup with the Chiefs and then have a forced early bye week. They were given some excuses for poor play in their shocking home lo s to the Broncos because of practice layoff and Cam Newton just returning. But you would have thought they would have shown more fight with Jimmy Garoppolo returning to New England in a must-win game after two straight lo ses with a trip to strong division-leading Buffalo looming. Instead, the Patriots seemed lost from the opening kickoff against the 49ers, something one just doesn't seein games during the Belichick era.The Patriots' two wins are against the Dolphins and the Raiders. Those seem like forever ago, as was the competitive shootout with the Seahawks when Newton was able to duel surefire NFL MVP Ru sell Wilson until the end. New England is getting burned by its lack of viable supporting cast for Newton, moreso at wide receiver and the other skill positions than an injury-altered line.Defensively, Belichick let much of his pa s-rush production walk and took a hit from two of the players inthe team's league-high eightopt-outs, linebacker Dont'a HIghtower and safety Patrick Chung, irreplaceable seasoned leaders and playmakers. Belichick has loaded up nicely with young defensive players, led by second-year outside linebackerChase Winovich. But because of injuries and ineffectivene s, rookies Anfernee Jennings, Josh Uche and Kyle Dugger are non-factors withthe Patriots needing more immediate-impact players.The Patriotshave failed to overcome thelo ses of Hightower, Kyle Van Noy, Jamie Collins and Elandon Robertswithout adequate replacements at linebacker.Adrian Phillips has struggled replacing Chung. There's also been a rapid age-related deterioration of 33-year old cornerback Jason McCourty, and with a lot more on Stephon Gilmore, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year isn't the same shutdown type. New England has dropped to No. 25 in the NFL in sacks, further exposing the secondary.The word genius is often a sociated with Belichick, but in a
Adolis García Jersey stunning development, he's been off with his personnel workand motivational tactics in 2020. The smart scheming for thedefense has been there, responsible for the Patriots looking good in that regard against le ser teams, but the Seahawks, Chiefs and 49ers all could get creative enough in the end to exploit its weakne ses with their strengths.The contrarian would say thatBelichick is turning to some other master plan of not worrying too much about this season with Newton and beingfine with positioning the Patriots to tap into one of the three franchise pa sers in the first round of the 2021 draft, Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields and Trey Lance. Or at this point, Kyle Trask and Mac Jones are starting to have appeal in the 10-20 range, too. It's hard to believe, however, given Belichick's competitive nature, that he iswilling to tolerate this kind
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