Belichick says everything is fine between him and Brady, McDaniels

Patriots fans have lamented two things lately: the team giving up their quarterback of the future and Bill Belichick refusing to play Malcolm Butler in defense at the Super Bowl.

Both are bitter pills and both are back in the news given the recent reports Bleacher Report and SI on Garoppolo and the opening silence of Belichick's training camp on Butler. For the moment, we are much worse. That's the Butler thing.

The prospect on the championships has naturally been lost around these games over the last two decades, so here's a silly reminder that there is nothing greater in professional sports than winning a title. There is nothing worse than losing one you could have won.

We suspect that the bargaining of Garoppolo could end up costing the Patriots a long window of championship. We do not know, however, that it will cost even a championship to the team.

It's a different story with Butler's bench. It's hard to argue that the Patriots would have lost that match if Butler played. The Super Bowl LII was a defensive disaster for both teams; the first team to make a big defensive play in the second half won the match.

Even though Butler did not force a big business figure, he could have pounced on Nelson Agholor, where Johnson Bademosi could not do it. But he did not go there and, as we suggested again on Wednesday, we will never know why.

Now the good news is that Butler's decision should "cost" only one Super Bowl title to the Patriots, while the absence of a quarterback like Garoppolo could cost them more. expensive. Yet, a quick look at the Seahawks can remind you that a bad decision in the Super Bowl can do more than just lose you this game; it can derail what seemed to be a lasting championship path.

The Patriots are the toughest team in the league, but they never had to recover from a Super Bowl loss that was not their fault. Tom Brady and other current Patriots have come to Butler's defense, so it's fair to wonder if Butler's decision will continue to have ramifications with this year's team.

I think the Patriots have overcome it because they are always better than everyone else in the AFC. Winning solves everything and the Patriots have no trouble winning. You would be stupid to count them this year.

The coming years will be more affected by the Garoppolo movement. He will not be Tom Brady in San Francisco because there is only one Tom Brady. Yet all he needs to become is one of the best quarters in the league for us to be rational in thinking that he could have won here. This organization has thrived through the best all-time quarterback and the best team of all time, but when these players are gone and the playing field is balanced, would not you take your chance with the team? one of the best quarterbacks in the world? league playing for the best coach of all time?

The training camp is often a time of optimism. Instead, we deplore the past and the future. Part of that is because we are miserable. This is also because there are many reasons to ask "what if?"