If we could believe counterfactuals Frank Frink would have been shot in the head by Joe Blake and/or America would have won the war. Sorry, I've been rewatching "The Man in the High Castle" because I'm nostalgic from when a Nazi takeover of America was fanciful fiction. Point is, and this goes for all of us, maddening as it is, we
just don't know. Even worse, we
can't know. The moving finger and all that.
That said, now I'll do it.
TFB is famously motivated by the perception that he is underestimated. Being drafted at 199 is arguably the best thing that could have happened. Brian Griese's backup all over again. So maybe the need to be
that exceptional is born in his reaction to adversity.
So while we're playing, let's hypothesize that the chip-on-shoulder injury that Brady suffered as he watched 6 rounds worth of QBs go before him was softened. Let's say he went in the 3rd round. All the tools, living the dream, if he's good enough one day he'll be a star. Then suddenly, nothing happens. No amazing opportunity courtesy Mo Lewis, because TFB isn't backing up a motionless throwback (hard to believe there was a guy that made Brady look mobile. I know I know, he move the pocket etc., but in today's game there have been calls every year to get a trendy mobile QB.)
He carries a clipboard, he gets a dose of reality, and he's really good, and once he gets his shot he's mature. He surprises everybody by coming through, but accepts that just one SB is more than most guys get, etc. He gets however may rings in whatever proximity... let's even say 3 out of 4, just delayed, although zero is also a possibility. We don't know what weight to give the chip-on-shoulder injury.
But maybe he "learned" the "mature" way to deal with the Ws and Ls. Maybe there's no first dynasty at all.
And let's talk second dynasty. With the media and fans bought in to his greatness (later, his GOATness,) the chafing with BB could well have been the goad he needed from the drafting of JG onward. You could certainly argue that his self-perception of having years of football left vs. BB's evaluation of him as not the same player had a chip-on-shoulder effect. Without the early success, what kind of hapless egomaniac would TFB have been to think he'd better play to 45, because history?
So yeah, we can argue both sides of woulda coulda shoulda until the cows come home, or preferably the Lombardis. The main thing is that in the world that did happen, things lined up just right for us, as Pats fans, to have had an unsurpassed ride. Here's to it. We won't likely see its like again.
"likely."
Oh yeah in case nobody made this joke, for the Krafts, BB makes a
handy scapegoat. Get it? Get it?