Yeah, but you are a definite "In Bill We Trust" guy.
I really appreciate the way he approaches the game, and I think he's a far, far better coach than most teams can dig up. True enough. I also think that the Patriots fans that are turning on him are fools. Who are you going to get that's better? That goes for GM, too. You want to roll the dice on a new guy?
Bill was not willing to give Brady the Drew Brees contract. That's what Brady wanted. Brady also held the Malcolm Butler SB benching against Bill. In Brady's mind, Bill put himself above the team. It was only after that that Brady started to be more selfish.
Brady held a helluva lot of things against him. Here's the thing, though. Bill and TB were both always team first guys from the very beginning. By all accounts TB 12 was thoroughly vested in what we call the Patriot Way. And yet after 15 years of success he decided he wanted more and more. He didn't like the salaries. He didn't like his receivers (and therefore wouldn't try to utilize them). He didn't like being treated like he wasn't the MVP. All things contrary to the way the organization had been running for so long. Yeah, fuck that guy. I won't say I'm glad he's gone, obviously, but I don't blame Bill for not selling his soul to keep him there, either.
Remember when Brady and his wife went to Kraft to try and get Bill fired and replaced with O'Brien? Yeah, real team player. That's why I think he's a whiny little bitch, and frankly, he's earned the hell he's stuck in right now.
But people not named Cam Newton stopped taking discounts to play here once Brady left.
Absolutely. On this we agree. This might be a bigger loss to the Patriots than Brady himself, I think. Not just his ability to attract aging veterans looking for a ring, but maintaining the team culture that Brady used to buy into. I don't blame Bill for that, though.
As for the coaching staff (your and Kev's discussion) that's part and parcel with losing Brady and the culture buy in. Bill hired/kept/promoted from within to maintain that culture and way of doing things. It's getting harder and harder to maintain, which is why (I think) we're seeing missed tackles. Stupid penalties. Sloppy special teams. Still, he's trying to keep the right guys around, and bringing back former players to try and maintain that, and I think that's the right thing to do. The good news is that former players are getting to the point where they might want to be position coaches, and NE is where they'll want to be.