In this series, I will be looking at the history of coaches, quarterbacks, rushers, and receivers for all 32 franchises. For coaches and quarterbacks, I will be looking at how much their franchise’s career records (regular season only) would change if we removed the games with that person. For rushers and receivers, I will note how many times that player was the team’s leading rusher/receiver over the course of their time with that franchise (regular plus postseason).
Previous Teams:
Dolphins
Cowboys
Bills
Eagles
Jets
Giants
We have now reached the Bill Belichick and Tom Brady version of this series, which will yield no surprises. There is nothing to say about those two that has not been said, except perhaps how they have changed the Patriots career winning percentages!
New England has won 56.1% of games over the course of the franchise’s history, but that’s very Belichick-influenced. Under his watch, New England has won 74.0% of its regular season games; with someone other than Belichick on the sidelines, the Patriots have won just 46.9% of their games. Under Dick MacPherson, the Patriots also went 8-24 in two seasons. In one 7-year stretch from 2006 to 2012, the Patriots also lost 24 games…. but went 88-24.
The most interesting thing to analyze here is Belichick vs. Don Shula. Without Belichick, New England has a 0.469 winning percentage. Without Shula, Miami has a 0.462 winning percentage. Belichick has an insane 0.740 winning percentage but over “only” 304 games. Shula has a 0.658 winning percentage over 392 games. New England has a franchise winning percentage of 0.561, while Miami is at 0.556 — in fact, it wasn’t until October 2018 that the Patriots finally surpassed the Dolphins in franchise winning percentage!
Right now, Shula has the edge. Miami entered the AFL in 1966, which means the Dolphins have fewer non-Shula games, which helps Shula in this regard. Through 2018, Shula has still coached 48% of all games for the Dolphins, while Belichick is only at 34%. But even still, Belichik is getting close: a 12-4 season in 2019 would vault him into #1 in this category.
When it comes to the quarterback, there is no race for the top spot. Tom Brady has a massive lead over everyone else in this regard: without him, the Patriots have won only 47.0% of their games; meanwhile, New England has won 56.1% of its games overall (and an insane 77.5% of their games with Brady); that’s a +9.1% increase, by far the most of any quarterback in history. I’ll spoil the fun for now: Drew Brees is number two, at 61.0%–45.4%–40.1%–5.3% — that is, under Brees, New Orleans has won 61.0% of their games, the franchise has a 45.4% career win rate overall, and have won 40.1% of their games without Brees, meaning “games with Brees” has improved the Saints winning percentage by 5.3%. And remember, he’s #2 all-time. Yes, Brady laps the field here.
What’s also interesting is because of how good Brady has been, the baseline is now really high for the Patriots. You might be surprised to see Matt Cassel at #2 on the Patriots list despite a 10-5 (0.667) mark, but someone like Tony Eason (28-21, 0.571) is barely above average now.
Under Belichick and Brady, the Patriots have had a rotating stable of lead backs. As a result, it’s AFL star Jim Nance who holds the record for most games as the leading rusher of the Patriots. Three players — Curtis Martin, Terry Allen, and Sony Michel (who did so in 15 of 16 games last year, playoffs included) — led the Patriots in rushing in 90% of their games.
When it comes to receiving leaders, Stanley Morgan is the obvious winner here. Morgan was one of the great deep threats in the history of pro football. He led the Patriots in receiving yards 83 times in his career, nearly double the next highest player. After him you have a number of Brady Patriots: Rob Gronkowski, Troy Brown, Wes Welker, and Julian Edelman, with Irving Fryar and Terry Glenn joining that group as well.
That’s it for the New England version of this series. Please leave your thoughts in the comments.
