thanks for the stats... interestingly enough, Kiper called Brady a 3rd round pick that year because his frame was a little thin. Those combine videos of Brady running are hysterical because he looks like a teenager. If he was a 3rd round pick, it would make his story a lot less special.
There are always special players found in the later rounds, it takes nothing away from Brady but he isn't the only late round guy or undrafted QB to have success... Mark Bulger, Matt Hassleback, Jake Delhomme and Kurt Warner have all had productive careers as did Jeff Blake (Jets baby) and Dave Kreig. It's just none of them have had careers like Brady. Of course if any of those guys knew what the defense was going to run they may have won some SBs too. History just shows you have more success with a highly drafted QB then a lower round or UDFA. History also shows no USC QB has started and won the SB......
Well we absolutely do not need a center, a LG and RT I would agree, Faneca and Woody did well, but they lacked in pass protection, which is actually something I've been worried about, especially if Sanchez ends up starting right away. Our OL is sturdy and dependable, but it still needs work.
We definitely don't have the best line in NFL history, but it's certainly sturdy by most analyst's standards. Our line was better than the stats say they were last year, we had a lot of sacks (against us) but how long was Favre holding on to the ball? There were a lot of sacks last year where Favre didn't see the open receiver, or could have safely thrown it away with plenty of time. Next off-season we should definitely seek some new prospects for the aforementioned positions. Faneca definitely can't play forever, and Woody isn't a tremendous pass blocker.
Our line improved immensely in run blocking last year but they still didn't look all that great in pass protection and almost got Favre killed a few times. I think that's why some of those ints were so badly thrown..he just seemed to not want to take any more hits.
The Raiders game was the worst, but I thought they pulled it together when we were on the 5 game winning streak.
fact remains that brady could very well have ridden into the sunset with an ass full of splinters if not for the jet defense. how many more brady's never got their chance? teams that draft a qb in the first round are DETERMINED to make it work out at the risk of keeping the next brady on the bench his whole career
It seems everyone forgets Brady was moving up the depth chart. He had already passed Damon Huard on the depth chart in Training Camp that year and had Bledsoe continued his downward trend, I'm almost certain Tom Brady would have had an opportunity by the end of the 2001 season.
