As Marissa Tomei (My Cousin Vinny) so delicately put it, “It’s a bullshit question.”

The media has the paths all laid out for the masses, one or the other, black or white, but definitely not both. ESPN’s Jeff Chadiha bluntly laid out his theory the day after Brady’s injury, that “if Belichick’s track record before Brady tells us anything, it’s that this head coach has plenty to prove in the next few months”.

We don’t know how good a coach Belichick is when Brady isn’t his quarterback. For those who don’t remember, Belichick looked exactly like a guy who was working his way out of town before Brady replaced an injured Drew Bledsoe in the second week of the 2001 season. The Patriots won just five games in his first season (2000) at the helm and started the next campaign with two losses. Combine those numbers with Belichick’s well-documented failures in Cleveland as the Browns’ head coach, and he has a 42-58 record in the NFL without Brady as his starter.

The issue is whether Belichick can maintain such a lofty reputation while relying on a backup quarterback named Matt Cassel, a four-season veteran who hasn’t started a meaningful football game since his senior year of high school.

The Globe’s Tony Massarotti sped his question to the on-line masses the same day as the injury, “The coach or the quarterback? The quarterback or the coach? Maybe now we’ll finally get our answer.” He might as well have added, “Enquiring minds want to know.”

What the Patriots might have, too, is an enormous void at quarterback that could unmask or further elevate one of the great coaches in NFL history.

Oh, Puleeze. His reasoning leads his readers to believe that it’s a chicken-egg kind of thing, where there can only be one answer, but he’s so wrong. They’re all wrong.

The Patriots’ system matters. It works. Brady is a better player, with better statistics because of it. He’s so talented he’d be good on any team, but maybe not so effective. Belichick is a great coach, who still coaches and never stood around waiting for Brady’s “magic” to build his resume. The problem is that Brady makes it look easy for the coach, and The System makes it look easy for Brady. In truth, there’s a lot of work involved on both sides and each one makes the other, and the team, a bit better all around.

I agree with everything you said. But allow me to play Devil’s Advocate for a minute. Great systems will create great players, but sometimes a great player can carry a system to a point. For example, think about Dan Marino. Imagine IF the “genius” Don Shula had built a defense and an offensive line like BB has done here. Marino would probably have multiple rings. But the “great” Shula thought and expected Dan to win on his own because he was a great quarterback. I have never been a Dolphins fan(and never will be), but I admire what Marino did without the supporting cast like we have here.

To sum up, it is a BS question, as Marisa put it. It requires coaching and then having players that have the ability to do the jobs their position demands. It takes all the parts working together to build a winner, and I don’t believe this dynasty is close to being dead yet.

The media have the attention span of a gnat.

Brady was riding a tricycle in 2001. By 2007, he was piloting a Maserati.
In 2001, the coach was in the driver’s seat.
By 2007, he filed the flight plan then sat in the co-pilot’s chair on game day.

The roles shifted over time—slowly and not without difficulty (9-7 anyone?). More than half the guys now wondering if Belichick is capable were still panning Brady as a system quarterback as late as the SB win over the Eagles.

It’s a dodge—and a pretty artless one at that. You need something to write? You want to make your name? Give ’em a half-baked turd on a plate, with a sprig of parsley to make it look more like a meal. Try not too work too hard, but make it seem convincing. And pray the reading public has just as short an attention span as you do.