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Monday, January 15, 2007
Belichick-Brady among NFL’s top duos
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
In the moments following San Francisco’s first Super Bowl 25 years ago, coach Bill Walsh said of Joe Montana, “[He] will be the great quarterback of the future.”
As prophetic as that proved to be, it would have been even more accurate to project Walsh-Montana as the greatest coach-quarterback combination the NFL would ever see. Walsh’s scheme and Montana’s cool were the perfect marriage. They won three Super Bowls together over an eight-season span with different supporting casts. And their greatness was balanced by a seeming dependence on each other.
Nobody could match them. Until now.
New England is in the NFL’s final four again. That’s because of coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady, and only Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. They already have won three titles. They are 12-1 in playoff games.
A fourth Super Bowl would be the most improbable of all. The Patriots’ defense is largely a continually mutating collection of spare parts. Their offense is a 15-watt bulb on the Las Vegas strip. Win it again, and Walsh and Montana fall into second place.
The problem with Belichick and Brady is they render every excuse meaningless. Other coaches lament injuries or players lost to free agency. OK. So how does Belichick do it? No team has been dented more than the Patriots over the past six seasons.
Other quarterbacks complain about junk-pile receiving corps, or losing a longtime offensive coordinator (like, say, to Notre Dame). OK. So how does Brady do it? He is throwing to Reche Caldwell, Troy Brown and Jabar Gaffney. Jabar Gaffney?
As scientific improbabilities go, how does Gaffney going from being dumped by the Houston Texans to 18 receptions, 207 yards and a touchdown in two playoff games with the Pats rank?
Having covered Walsh and Montana up close in the 1980s, I never believed the two would be matched. Neither did Randy Cross, who played for one and blocked for the other.
“You would have to say they compare favorably,” Cross, now a commentator with CBS, said of Belichick and Brady. “I’m still sort of prejudiced. But I never thought I would see another quarterback that was as money and solid [as Montana]. Now I have. It’s not about stats and that other stuff.”
It’s just about winning. The San Diego Chargers had a better offense this season. They had a better defense. They had the home field Sunday. They had nine players going to the Pro Bowl (to the Patriots’ one: Richard Seymour).
They had the best player in football (LaDainian Tomlinson).
But you looked at Belichick-Brady vs. Marty Schottenheimer-Philip Rivers, and thought, “Hmmm.”
Teams are a reflection of their leaders. The Falcons were inconsistent and prone to emotional ups and downs this season in part because of Jim Mora and Michael Vick.
The Patriots are Belichick and Brady. They are physically and mentally tough. They don’t waver. They are clutch. They are mirror images of their leaders, much like the 49ers were precision and cool with Walsh and Montana.
New England has been like this since early in the 2001 season, when Drew Bledsoe suffered internal bleeding following a hit against the New York Jets and had to be replaced. Belichick, in his second year, called on Brady, an obscure sixth-round pick from the Bay Area. He attended the 1981 NFC title game between San Francisco and Dallas that jump-started Montana’s legacy.
The 49ers won their first Super Bowl with a roster of relative no-names. Most of the stars, particularly on offense, came later. Conversely, the Patriots have lost many of their top players: Ty Law, Lawyer Milloy, Willie McGinest, Deion Branch, Adam Vinatieri, et al. What Belichick and Brady have accomplished in the salary-cap era is remarkable.
Brady wasn’t great in San Diego — only when he had to be. He threw a game-tying touchdown with less than five minutes left. On New England’s next possession, Brady and Belichick noticed the Chargers were in “press” coverage and, on third-and-10, Brady hit Caldwell down the right sideline for 49 yards, setting up the winning field goal.
Now the Patriots travel to Indianapolis. They are three-point underdogs. The Colts have five Pro Bowl players on offense.
But coach Tony Dungy and Peyton Manning have reached the AFC title game only once. That was three years ago, and they lost to New England.
So whom do you like?
TWO GOOD Columnist Jeff Schultz ranks the five best coach-quarterback combos in NFL history:
1. (tie) Bill Walsh-Joe Montana (San Francisco). There has never been a more perfect match between a coach’s offensive system and a quarterback. They won three Super Bowls in eight seasons (1981, ‘84, ‘88) with a varying cast.
1. (tie) Bill Belichick-Tom Brady (New England). Their specialties are on opposite sides of the ball. But their intelligence, toughness and resolve have been unequaled over the past six seasons.
3. Tom Landry-Roger Staubach (Dallas). Like the duos above them, they couldn’t be shaken by any situation or opponent. They went to four Super Bowls over eight years and won two, in an era that was otherwise dominated by the Steelers and Dolphins.
4. Chuck Noll-Terry Bradshaw (Pittsburgh). The blue-collar answer to Landry-Staubach. The Steelers had great defenses, but they needed somebody to run the show — and somebody to throw to John Stallworth and Lynn Swann.
5. Vince Lombardi-Bart Starr (Green Bay). They won the first two Super Bowls and five NFL titles together. The Packers built a machine when others were playing with Legos.
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