None of this was my point, which I’ve clearly stated, and seen misinterpreted, enough, and I doubt I can clear the hagiography around Brady that exists, but I took another look at the respective 2002 seasons of the two QBs. I know more than my share of Pats fans, and none of them was predicted Hall of Fame for Brady as 2002 wore on. By 2007 the 2002 truth has largely and somewhat understandably been forgotten.

(Incidentally, in the 2003 preseason, Pennington severely broke his wrist in a pre-season game against the Giants, ending the Jets Super Bowl chances. In 2004, he had his first rotator cuff rupture in the 8th game of the season (the Jets were 6 and 1 at the time); in 2005 his second rupture occured in week 3. In 2006 he came back again, the Jets went 10-6 and shockingly made the playoffs. I’m not comparing his career, or the shell of his old self he’s become, but where objective football fans’ heads were at the close of 2002.)

Brady had a non-factor 2000, then a year with a Super Bowl trophy under his belt at the time, while Pennington was a non-factor for those same two seasons – essentially a rookie. Brady played and started all 16 games, compared to Pennington who started 12 games (played in 15). Brady threw for 28 TD’s, 27% more than Pennington’s 22. He threw for 235 yards per game, 13% more than Pennington did on the season – but in the 13 games that Pennington played a role other than mop up in, he also threw for 235 yards per game – a push.

Pennington threw for 7.8 yards per completion in 2002 compared to 6.3 for Brady, a 24% advantage. (Someone above said all young QBs are kept under wraps. Not so.) Pennington’s QB rating was 104.2 compared to Brady’s 85.7, a 22% advantage. Pennington threw for 3.7 TD’s per interception compared to Brady’s 2.0, an 85% advantage.

Pennington’s completion percentage was 68.9% compared to 62.1% for Brady, an 11% advantage. He threw TD passes in 8.0% of his completions, and 5.5% of his attempts; Brady respectively threw TD passes in 7.5% of his completions, and 4.7% of his attempts, advantages for Chad of 7% and 17% respectively.

All of this is conclusive. Pennington was a significantly better QB as a virtual rookie than Brady was as a virtual second year reigning Super Bowl MVP.

As a Jet fan, things were looking up, if ever so briefly. Maybe we had a franchise-type QB, even daring to think – the next Montana! It seems like a long time ago. Now Brady is odds on favorite to win his 3rd Super Bowl MVP.

Giants 28 Pats 27

As I recall, there was some serious discussion leading up to the Super Bowl of whether Bledsoe should start even if Brady could play. Kind of seems ridiculous in hindsight.

Greg, Tom Brady was injured in the first half of the AFC Championship in Pittsburgh and did NOT come back for the second half. Bledose finished the entire game.

My thoughts:

~ As stated in Charlie Pierce’s book “Moving the Chains” on Tom Brady, the Patriots were looking to draft a BACKUP QB in the second day of the 2000 draft. The brass was torn between Tim Rattay and Tom Brady, and Dick Rehbein, the late QB coach for New England, loved Brady. The Pats chose Brady and kept him as their fourth-string QB in 2000 (instead of putting him on the practice squad where he was free to sign with another team). Not many teams keep four QBs – the Patriots only kept two in 2006.

~ Brady worked his way up to the #2 QB, beating out Damon Huard in 2001.

~ For Dan S. to say that the Patriots made Brady a dink-and-dunk passer to start his career is correct but it’s also “master of the obvious.” How many rookie QBs do you see slinging 35 passes a game in their first season? Did you see JaMarcus Russell this year? Peyton Manning may have thrown a lot as a rookie QB but the Colts were 3-13. Belichick used Brady’s strengths in creating each game plan.

For everyone that thinks that Tom Brady being the 199th selection in the 2000 draft was sheer brilliance by the Patriots, know this: Scott Pioli keeps a picture frame on his desk with two football cards. One is Tom Brady. The other is Dave Stachelski, a 5th-round pick (one round ahead of Brady) from 2000. Stachelski was a tight end that never saw the field for the Patriots. Pioli keeps this on his desk to remind himself, if he was so brilliant in drafting Brady, how come he drafted Dave Stachelski ahead of him?

So yes, in the beginning, the Patriots were very lucky in drafting Brady (and have admitted as much). But Brady himself worked his way up the depth chart, became better each offseason and was impressing the coaching staff and front office far before Bledsoe got destroyed by Mo Lewis on the sidelines. Any book on the recent history of the Patriots indicates that Belichick was considering making a move to bench Bledsoe and bring in Brady at some point in the year. Mo Lewis just forced his hand.