Bill Belichick and Tom Brady are certain Hall of Famers. This weekend they added another accolade to their already storied partnership: Belichick & Brady have tied Don Shula & Dan Marino for the most career wins for a Coach/QB combo. Shula & Marino ended with 116 wins, 68 losses and zero championships. Belichick & Brady are still plying their trade and have 116 wins, 33 losses and 3 championships. Impressively, they have accomplished this feat in 35 less games, which also gives them the best Coach/QB winning percentage of all time. Also keep in mind that Brady missed the entire 2008 season. Who knows where they would have been by now. Hell, where will they be when they decide to call it quits?
Take a look at this bar graph from a couple weeks ago. I was surprised not to see Lombardi/Starr, Landry/Staubach, Walsh/Montana, Seifert/Young, Holmgren/Favre, Shanahan/Elway or Dungy/Manning on this list. (And the fifth pair is a complete shocker.)
What’s most fascinating is that the whole is not greater than the sum of its parts; it’s equal to the sum of its parts. They have both succeeded with each other, of course, but interestingly they have also done it alone. Belichick is a defensive coach. That’s where he’s made his mark since his Giants days with LT. He doesn’t mess with the offense. People forget now but this team used to be defensive minded. The early part of this decade the Patriots were predicated on defense. 2001 doesn’t happen without the defense shutting down the Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI. Plus, let’s not forget that Brady-less season in 2008 when Belichick still managed to get the team to 11 wins.
Brady has been likewise. Belichick doesn’t tweak his performance because he works on the other side of the ball. Brady threw 50 touchdowns in a season (NFL record) and is currently on pace for well over 5,000 passing yards this year (would be another record). These aren’t marks that are matched by any QB in any offensive system. Only all time greats can touch these records and Brady is in that class.
Regardless of which one you argue is deserving of more credit, remember that it is a joint accolade. Football more than any other is a team sport and Belichick & Brady have turned the Patriots into one of the top teams in the league year after year. It is that consistency and the continued practice, studying and hardwork that has cemented their legacy as the best Coach/QB duo ever.
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