So like...how is this a valid excuse in a miniseries about the Dynasty on the whole. Spygate and Deflategate had been covered from every possible angle before this series existed. 2001 had been covered immensely.
I mean... unless he just asked the questions and let someone else edit it without any input. Sure he could blame others, but it ignores that he already self edited what questions he did and didn't ask certain people. Who knows maybe if he asked Brady the questions he might have found out some deep insight or surprising anecdote from Brady, but now he will never know as he never asked in the first place. Also ignore that he most definitely decided a lot of what cut on the cutting room floor too.
This is awfully semantic. I think you could literally switch the two words and came to same conclusion. Is expendable stronger than replaceable? Or vice versa? I don't know...but sure does seem like ginned up outrage based on such minor semantics.
"Expendable" refers to a thing (or person) that can be disposed of without meaningful consequences. That is, an expendable thing can be simply thrown away. "Replaceable" refers to things (or people) who can be substituted by a similar thing (or person) without losing value or function.
I don't know. Judging from player comments it seems clear that Hernadez had his own set of rules on the field and off of it. I guess, with a strong system and an offense led by Brady the team could get away with that.
My God... the Welker, Lloyd, and Branch stories. In a sense, they all knew what they had in Hernandez and that had to include Bill if not Kraft. (I don't mean "knew that they had a murderer," I don't buy any of that nonsense for a second, but just knew that they had a real fucked up guy on their hands and chose to look the other way as much as they could because he was an incredible football talent.)
His presence was probably not atypical of some players in NFL locker rooms. Dallas had Pacman Jones; Ravens had Ray Lewis. We've found out that Willie McGinest is hardly the person he portrayed himself to be on TV. Aqib Talib had some history before he joined New England.
What the Pats did in 2003-2004 is the equivalent of an MLB team playing .500 ball for the their first 40 games, then winning their last 122 in a row, and then winning the first 60 games of the following year (while winning the world series both seasons). If anything, it hasnt been covered enough.
Maybe. I guess I'm surprised football fans in general would watch it. The Pats have been covered pretty much to death over the last 20 years.
Also see: Taylor, Lawrence. Pretty sure Belichick knew what was going on in LT's world at the time. Whether he chose to look the other way or Parcells told him to I'm sure he learned there are people where if the talent is there and the guy shows up on Sunday you just roll with it.
Maybe I'm just weird. I'll watch an A Football Life on Lyle Alzado if it's on even though I hated the Raiders. And this documentary is so much better with all the unseen meeting room clips and behind the scenes stuff. I can't get enough. What I'd really love to see if hours and hours of things like Belichick or Bill Walsh or any of the greats breaking down opponents film. That stuff is out there somewhere as we see little clips inserted in things like this or the America's Game episodes. Why isn't there more of those kinds of things running on the NFL Network during the offseason??
This is exactly where ive been coming from. It’s not Pats porn, but who else is gonna watch it? If it’s not being produced to satisfy an audience, the only remaining conclusion I can reach is that it was produced to satisfy one of the subjects, ie the Krafts.
I would probably watch a show about Alzado as well but I don't think it would make me want to watch more football games. His article "I'm Sick and I'm Scared" in SI was really good.
I think this is a good point. A non-basketball fan could watch The Last Dance and get a good understanding of not just about Jordan and the Bulls, but the rise of the NBA in the 80's and 90's, The Dream Team etc. A non-football fan isn't getting that from this.
I thought Putin could slip in there because that was a crazy story.
I wonder how much Bill changed after spygate. His fuck the NFL attitude was interesting to see in that episode. Maybe he feels like they fucked him so he’s extra surly.
Sometimes you do want to shake BB and just tell him to say something positive/glowing to make things easier on himself. He just doesn't have that gear or interest. That said, I wonder how much creative editing has been done in these episodes. It's also on the filmmakers to make BB feel comfortable and forthcoming, and clearly that didn't happen.
Serious question, aside from long snapper questions, when exactly has BB been comfortable and forthcoming in front of cameras and microphones?
Regarding the bolded, I would say the special he did with Nick Sagan during the offseason after the Pats beat the Sean McVay's Rams, and in the A Football Life epic. In neither case was he being interviewed by a company owned by his boss.
Bill has also absolutely gushed over Brady since he left and after he retired. So let’s not take one comment out of context about Brady not winning SB LI single-handedly as the end-all be-all of his view on Tom.
The content in those cases is of the long snapper variety. He loves talking actual football and he is infectious while doing so.
Even when Brady was young, BB was always looking for a QB project in the mid-late rounds or as a UDFA. I always thought he preferred the backup to be someone totally in sync with the office and no bad habits to unlearn.
This series is targeted at as broad an audience as possible. In my travels, most non Patriots fans either think Brady got caught doing something dirty or simply derive joy from repeating the allegation. We do this here too with other teams players so its kind of a thing.
So without opening a can of worms, are there some elements that you'd like to learn about or help understanding with?
Bill has called Tom the greatest player ever in other contexts. So, IMO the fact he didn’t do so in the answer included in the edit has less to do with Bill begrudging Tom his credit and more to do with Bill - correctly - thinking a documentary he identified as focused almost entirely on RKK, Brady and himself could use a reminder that a ton of great players and coaches made that thing hum. Plus, he didn’t wanna do this, so you’re not gonna get effusive Bill.
Me neither, mostly because I know it will never change. I mostly just find it interesting in the context of this documentary and the discussion of who's trying to accomplish what and how the writing of history of the dynasty is being done in a particular way.
Bingo.
I agree - the intersection of agendas and creative decisions is fascinating.
Good point. Hamacheck has said in interviews that they would sometimes prompt the interviewees with questions framed like ‘someone said X, thoughts?’ but wouldn’t generally attribute the comments by name. I can see the angle there, but that’s not gonna do much to get Bill talking, especially when he’s still employed by the Patriots.
I appreciate the offer, but I don't think so. I'm still content to chalking it up as something that was insignificant that had no material impact on the outcome of any game at all, but that took on a life of its own thanks to hard feelings over Spygate and the media fanning the flames. Maybe I'm wrong but does anyone think that if Spygate had never happened that Deflategate even makes its way out of the barn as a thing?
That is fair, and I agree.
