What does an ideal team for Tom Brady look like moving forward? | You Pod to Win the Game
Yahoo Sports’ Charles Robinson and Frank Schwab discuss what a team would need to feature in order for a 46-year old Tom Brady to succeed next season. Hear the full conversation on the You Pod to Win the Game podcast. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you listen.
Video transcript
[AUDIO LOGO]
CHARLES ROBINSON: If you look outward in terms of Brady and what are the options? Well first off, you better be able to protect him. What does your offensive line look like, right? Here's the thing about that, though Frank, the best offensive line might be in Tampa for him, it might. I mean, if everybody's healthy.
FRANK SCHWAB: If everybody comes back, yeah.
CHARLES ROBINSON: If everybody's healthy and comes back and they can invest again in the offensive line this season, that might actually be his best shot to stick around. It's just the totality of that team. The defense, all those parts that kind of came back and we're like, oh great, keeping the band back together.
Mm, it wasn't. It was a shadow. It was a Xerox of itself.
FRANK SCHWAB: Yeah, absolutely.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
I'm getting this, Charles, I don't know if you agree. I don't think like everybody's during a game, Brady's washed, Brady's washed. He's not washed. He's not terrible. He's not 2015 Manning or final year Ben Roethlisberger.
CHARLES ROBINSON: He's just not living up to himself. That's it.
FRANK SCHWAB: Right.
CHARLES ROBINSON: He's not living up to himself.
FRANK SCHWAB: He's gone from Great to average. And I don't think it goes back to great at age 46.
CHARLES ROBINSON: No.
FRANK SCHWAB: That's the problem. He's an average quarterback. And to be an average quarterback at age 45 is unbelievable. It's legitimately unbelievable that he's even an average NFL starter at age 45.
But he's not going to be better next year. The milk doesn't turn good after it turns bad. It's going South. That's a Scott Pianowski line. I'll give him credit.
It's diminishing for him. We can all see it. And maybe he has another year of being an average quarterback left, but maybe he has a really, really bad year in a new circumstance with a worse offensive line. I just, I don't know.
But again, he wasn't horrible. I think he ended up with 300 yards in this game. A lot of that was cosmetic at the end, I get it. But he's not a zero, but he's just, this isn't the Tom Brady we're used to. And again, in a different uniform, especially, it's going to look like Namath with what the Rams and Unitas with the Chargers. And it's just going to look really-- I think it's going to look really, honestly, I hate to say it, but I have a fear that it looks really, really bad for him if the 2023 Raiders have Tom Brady throwing for 17 picks and 9 touchdowns or whatever.
CHARLES ROBINSON: This was the year he became the quarterback that does not pull you to the Super Bowl. He doesn't will you to it. Which is fine, because you know in every other year he was.
FRANK SCHWAB: Nobody else has had 21 years doing it. Yeah, right.
CHARLES ROBINSON: His last year in New England, OK, I would say was he had to change venue, he had to change coaches, he had to change teammates. He had to bring along a couple of guys that he knew could help him get where he needed to go. We kind of saw it start to transition last year, especially after he lost to Antonio Brown, was not there. Would have made a huge difference, I think, in that Rams game.
Maybe they're in another Super Bowl last year. And but this was the one where you're like, yeah, he just-- Even when the pieces got around him, at least skill position pieces got healthy, and I said, uh-oh, we're just waiting. Let's wait and see. Then they came and you're like, hmm, it still doesn't seem right, nothing about this team. Just like this game, you're just like, yeah, it's flat. It's flat.
FRANK SCHWAB: Yeah, it's been flat all season. There's been no [INAUDIBLE].
CHARLES ROBINSON: Yeah, so I mean, look, if he goes somewhere, it has to be a situation. And again, I don't know what this is, where the surrounding talent is stellar, OK? Great defense, OK? A good offensive line. Like, I would say top five, six offensive line in the league, a good running game, good skill position players. Maybe he gets--
FRANK SCHWAB: Probably not in the cold.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
CHARLES ROBINSON: Maybe not. I mean, honestly, maybe not. Well, he went to Tampa, right?
He left New England and goes to a warm weather city. Maybe gets Gronk back so he can have the security blanket. Let's just put it this way, there's a lot that's got to go into the batter this time, right, to get it right.
FRANK SCHWAB: Yeah, I agree.
CHARLES ROBINSON: And it's just it's a lot. But either way, however he goes out, even if this was the one where he went out on a shield earlier than we expected and not looking as great as we expected, you're right, it doesn't tarnish anything. It is what it is. He came back.
He took a shot. I tend to believe, though, that I think he is the type of personality that if he's like, hey, if my only shot is remaining with Tampa, are you going to fire some guys? We're going to fire some guys then we can talk and try to take one more shot at this.