Rodney Harrison is upset.
I don’t blame him. The question, which I asked, was unfair. I even admitted as much.
‘Who deserves more credit …
Rodney Harrison is upset. I don’t blame him. The question, which I asked, was unfair. I even admitted as much. ‘Who deserves more credit for the Patriots’ success? Tom Brady or Bill Belichick?’ It’s a debate that’s raged on for a while now, but it has heated up recently. It’s easy to understand why. Brady left the Patriots and won a Super Bowl without Belichick. As soon as that happened, people declared Brady the winner. ‘Brady 1, Belichick 0.’ Now on Sunday, we have Brady returning with his reigning Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers to take on Belichick’s 1-2 Patriots squad. Hence why the topic has come up again and it’s understandable why it seems like Brady is getting the bulk of the credit. Without Brady, Belichick’s Patriots finished 7-9 in 2020. Without Brady, Belichick is 63-75 in his career. In reality, those numbers are misleading. Football isn’t about one person. It’s not about one coach. It’s about 11 players on offense and 11 players on defense. It’s about teamwork. It’s about ‘doing your job’ to accomplish higher goals. That’s why Harrison is upset. «I think it’s stupid, okay? I think it’s disrespectful,» Harrison said. «Not only is it disrespectful to Tom and Bill, but it’s disrespectful to all those great players that came along that were part of those championship teams because, at the end of the day, it wasn’t Bill and Tom versus everybody else. It was an entire team… I just think it’s dumb.» Harrison makes a fair point. The Patriots didn’t win six Super Bowls just because of Brady and/or Belichick. There are hundreds of players who helped bring those championships to New England. Where would the Pats be without Adam Vinatieri? Or Malcolm Butler? Ty Law? Julian Edelman? When the Pats won their last Super Bowl, the offense scored just 13 points. That’s the worst scoring output from a Super Bowl winner in NFL history.
