Brandon Marshall Delivers a Patriots-Frustration Rant for the Ages
ICYMI: Brandon Marshall loses his mind on Inside the NFL about the #Patriots heading back to the Super Bowl. “The league is not competitive. We all should be ashamed.” pic.twitter.com/sQzef2YtYe
— Kyle DaLuz (@Kyle_DaLuz) January 25, 2018
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“How long have Bill Belichick and Brady been together? 18 years? Almost 20 years of doing this together. The league is not competitive. We all should be ashamed. Even you guys covering them on TV should be ashamed. Players should be ashamed, coaches should be ashamed, owners should be ashamed. How do we let these guys do this year in and year out? Congratulations. You guys are phenomenal. You can’t get any better. But how do 31 other organizations let this happen? I know Ray is going to say, ‘I won a Super Bowl. I did my job.’ You should have won five.”
– Brandon Marshall, January 24, 2018
Hey Brandon Marshall, do me a favor. Next time you say something this eloquent, this poignant, the next time you so perfectly express the frustration of the entire football world at the Patriots dominance, just let me know ahead of time so I can put on a condom. By the time you were done I needed to change my Tommy Johns.
And the best part, of course, is that Marshall and everyone he listed who should be ashamed are holding out hope that this is it for the Patriots. That age, salary cap, the loss of coaches and the law of averages will finally catch up to them and House Bradichick will finally be conquered. And to their point, I refer you to this article from the New York Times about the Pats losing both coordinators:
”They are two outstanding coaches, but the thing is, they have Belichick,” the Eagles’ defensive coordinator … said last week. ”That’s the key. They still have the head man, and I’m sure Bill has a plan. He probably already has someone else in mind.”
Different forces have brought down the league’s dynasties through the years, including age and the defection of talented assistants. New England must cope with both. …
‘Sometimes it’s the combination of the players changing,” [one coaching legend] said. ”Some age and don’t perform as well. A loss of focus can occur. Coaching staffs change because men become head coaches out of the staff. We lost a series of guys that we had to replace, and I’m sure the Patriots will, too.”
That was from 2005. The Eagles’ coordinator the Pats had just beaten in the Super Bowl was Jim Johnson. The legendary coach was Bill Walsh, who died 10 years ago. Since then, Belichick and Brady have seen dozens of coaches and hundreds of players come and go. They’ve rolled by like an army of steamrollers, erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But winning has marked the time. And since that Times article was written, they’ve been to five more Super Bowls and are working on their third win. They’ve been to nine conference championship games. And their worst year was going 11-5 and missing the playoffs. Without Brady. And like 2005, there is no end in sight.
So it’s no wonder that Brandon Marshall is frustrated. He’s not alone. It’s just that the frustration has never been so perfectly encapsulated. And I’m looking forward to hearing more of it for many, many years to come.