While I am not a New England Patriots fan, I find books about their recent dynasty very interesting and this one is certainly one that fit the bill. Here is my review of a book that answers the debate of who was more responsible for their success, the quarterback or the coach.
Title/Author: “Brady vs. Belichik: The Dynasty Debate” by Gary Myers
Rating: 5 of 5 stars (excellent)
Review: The New England Patriots are the most recent example of a sports dynasty, having won six Super Bowls in 18 seasons between 2002 and 2019. They had the same quarterback and head coach for all of those championships, Tom Brady and Bill Belichick respectively. Most football fans have an opinion on who was more responsible of these two for the Patriots’ success and this book by noted pro football author Gary Myers is his attempt to settle the debate.
One of the best aspects of the book for me came right at the very beginning. Myers made it clear that his opinions were formed only for the time the two men were with the Patriots. Therefore, the Super Bowl that Brady won with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn’t factor into his beliefs, nor did Belichick’s five years of coaching the Cleveland Browns before joining New England. That made this a true discussion on who was more important to the team during their time together.
Myers covered the Patriots a lot during this stretch so he was privy to a lot of information on the Patriots that many others would not have. This made some of the topics covered quite interesting even if a reader thought they already knew plenty about the two men and the team. The two scandals involving the Patriots, “Deflategate” and “Spygate” are great examples of the extensive coverage Myers did. It shouldn’t go unnoticed that Belichick was judged far more harshly by fans, the press and his peers for spying on other teams’ defensive signals than Brady was for allegedly deflating football below specifications before an AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts.
While the events are not covered in strict chronological order, it still is an easy book to follow if one is a football fan, especially a Patriots fan. The time both men spent in New Englad tigers leaves nothing unturned and owner Robert Kraft also plays a prominent role in the book. By the end, after all is said and done, Myers does pick one of them to be more important to the Patriots dynasty and his reasoning is sound. Of course, this review won’t give that away, but no matter which side a reader takes on this debate, they will come away well informed about the team and the two key men of that dynasty.
I wish to thank St. Martin’s Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own.
Link: https://www.amazon.com/Brady-vs-Belichick-Dynasty-Debate/dp/1250381193/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0
Interesting book idea. Although I have not read this book, I do know that Myers has a way of regurgitating his material from one book to another.
ReplyDeleteBtw, spelling error or typo in the 2nd sentence of the penultimate paragraph.