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Matt LaFleur made the wrong choice, and Tom Brady looks like he made the right one

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Democrat Dumb Decisions

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Jan 26, 2021, 5:45:02 AM1/26/21
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Matt LaFleur voted for Joe Biden and that whore named Harris.

This was Matt LaFleur’s choice Sunday evening: He had Aaron
Rodgers as his quarterback. He had an eight-point deficit. He
had 2:09 remaining. He had eight yards between the ball and the
goal line. And he had Davante Adams, maybe the NFL’s toughest
short-field receiver, in his arsenal.

And the coach of the Green Bay Packers chose to kick a field
goal, and therefore give the ball back to Tom Brady, the best to
ever do what he does.

Congrats on losing by five, Matt, at 31-26, rather than eight.
Rodgers never took another snap, never got another chance. The
Tampa Bay Buccaneers will play the Super Bowl in their own
stadium. It must feel chilly in Green Bay.

“I couldn’t believe it, honestly,” Tampa Bay linebacker Shaq
Barrett said.

Why can’t Barrett believe it? Because he plays for a coach who,
with 13 seconds left in the first half, yanked his punt team off
the field on fourth down with the ball at the opponent’s ­45-
yard line.

“We didn’t come here to not take chances to win the game,”
Buccaneers Coach Bruce Arians said.

There was almost too much to digest in the NFC championship game
at frosty Lambeau Field, so perhaps it can’t be distilled to
this one decision by a coach who is two years younger than the
quarterback he gave the ball back to. But the result, and its
impact on the legacies of two Hall of Fame quarterbacks, is
striking: Brady is 43 and now headed to his 10th Super Bowl, his
first with his handpicked new team. Rodgers is 37 and was denied
his second trip with the only team he has ever known.

“I’m pretty gutted,” Rodgers said.

And so Rodgers must stew, and Brady will celebrate. He was and
will forever be a New England Patriot because 20 years and six
Super Bowl titles don’t just evaporate with newfound success
elsewhere. But Sunday’s result provides further fodder to one of
the best barroom sports debates out there: Brady or Belichick?

Bill Belichick, Brady’s old coach, was home for these playoffs.
Brady is in the thick of them, still alive. One game, one
season, doesn’t provide the answer to the question of who was
more responsible for New England’s success all those years. But
if this is a meaningful debate, Brady isn’t done providing
arguments on his behalf. This is not Willie Mays with the New
York Mets, a coda that lessens a career rather than enhances it.
Brady can still sling it, and — more importantly — can still win.

“It’s been a great journey thus far,” he said via Zoom from
Green Bay. “We put the work in, and a lot of guys just embraced
everything when [Arians] got here last year. There was a lot of
great things that were happening. Lot of great young players. I
just made the decision, and love coming to work every day with
these guys.”

Think about the outfit Brady joined in the first offseason. Many
of the weapons, of course, were in place, and in that way Brady
chose wisely. Even with former quarterback Jameis Winston
handing out interceptions like party favors — 30 in all in 2019
— the Buccaneers led the NFL in passing yards and were third in
scoring. There was material with which to work, Mike Evans and
Chris Godwin as receivers leading the way.

But in choosing the Bucs, he also chose a franchise that has
spent nearly the entirety of this century — if not its entire
existence — in the quarterbacking wilderness. Tampa Bay’s only
Super Bowl title-winning team was built on its Warren Sapp-John
Lynch defense. That Super Bowl, which came after the 2002
season, also represented the Bucs’ most recent postseason
victory before this year. Brady, in that time, now has 30
playoff wins.

Since that last Tampa Bay postseason win, the Buccaneers have
had seasons in which their primary quarterback was Bruce
Gradkowski or Chris Simms, Jeff Garcia or Josh Freeman, Mike
Glennon or Josh McCown. They are exhibit infinity that
instability at quarterback is directly linked to limited
potential.

And then Brady arrived. It wasn’t perfect at first. But now, the
Bucs haven’t lost since November.

Brady’s play is of course responsible for that push. In the
previous six games, plus the first half Sunday, Brady had thrown
18 touchdown passes and just one interception. His numbers
Sunday could have been gaudier as well because in the first half
alone — a first half in which he went 13 for 22 for 202 yards
and two scores — his receivers dropped no fewer than four balls.

“It’s water off his back,” Arians said. “It’s just, ‘Hey, let’s
go get it.’ Nothing fazes him.”

But Brady also added something else Tampa Bay sorely lacked:
Swagger. Not fabricated, but based on actual accomplishments.
Few figures in sports can step into a room full of people they
don’t know and say, “This is how it’s done.” Brady can do that,
because, as Scotty Miller said, “He’s been here before.”

Not just once. More than anybody in history.

“The belief he gave everyone in this organization that this
could be done,” Arians said in the on-field interview with Fox.
“It only took one man.”

And so, to the decisions that defined the game. The first came
with Tampa Bay leading 14-10 late in the first half. The Bucs
faced fourth and four at the Green Bay 45. Arians sent out the
punt team, but there was a timeout. He stewed a bit.

“I wanted to come out of there with points,” he said.

Code: He bet on his offense. He bet on his quarterback. He did
what LaFleur wouldn’t do two quarters later. The result: A first
down on a Brady-to-Leonard Fournette pass, then a touchdown on
Brady’s beautiful throw to Miller, who somehow was in single
coverage against Green Bay’s Kevin King.

“I liked the call,” Brady said.

Now, to Rodgers and LaFleur. To be fair, LaFleur was sitting on
three timeouts plus the two-minute warning. Green Bay’s defense
picked off Brady on three consecutive drives in the second half.
Even with a touchdown on fourth and goal from the 8, the Packers
still needed a two-point conversion to tie.

And yet, Aaron Rodgers is LaFleur’s quarterback, and the
alternative is to give the ball back to — who, again? Oh, right.
Tom $&%#@! Brady — with two minutes and change to kill the game.

“That wasn’t my decision,” Rodgers said, ruefully and
diplomatically. He finished the game in a pompom hat and mask,
rather than in a helmet.

And so we’re left with this: Tom Brady, back in the Super Bowl,
for the fourth time in six years. He is now 33-11 in the
playoffs, a .750 winning percentage, essentially cranking out 12-
4 seasons in January and February. He is 43, and daring coaches
to give him the ball to finish out the game.

Matt LaFleur, join the club. He could have trusted Rodgers for
one play and one touchdown. Instead he trusted his defense
against Brady. The offseason is here. The offseason is long. The
offseason is hard.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nfl/matt-lafleur-
conservative-decision/2021/01/24/5300ae26-5e73-11eb-9061-
07abcc1f9229_story.html

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