How Will Patriots Perform If Brady Is Back?

As soon as the New England Patriots lost on Sunday – and even before that – the conversation about quarterback Tom Brady’s future had already begun. Is he going to come back to New England? Is he going to sign elsewhere? Is he going to retire?

Although most of the watercooler talk has been focused on him leaving, the reality is that there’s no place like home for him. If he returned for another season, there would be no better system or place set up for him to succeed. With that in mind, BetOnline.ag has posted a slew of 2020 props on the Patriots with the assumption that Brady is back with them. Let’s take a closer look:

HOW WILL THE NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS FARE IN 2020 IF TOM BRADY PLAYS FOR THEM?

PATRIOTS TO MAKE PLAYOFFS WITH TOM BRADY IN 2020

YES: -700
NO: +400

The Patriots went 12-4 in the 2019 regular season even with Brady and the offense being ineffective. The truth is that they are just a couple of pieces away from turning that unit around. If last year’s first-round pick, N’Keal Harry, improves in the offseason and the team signs someone like A.J. Green, the outlook brightens significantly.

Even if New England is slightly worse in 2020 than it was in 2019, it would still be 11-5 or 10-6. Given that the No. 6 seed in the AFC was 9-7 this season (the Tennessee Titans), it seems highly logical to think that the Patriots will still make the playoffs. Some people think that Brady is washed up, but if Brady was washed up this year, the Patriots were obviously still strong enough to win 12 games in spite of that. They will surely be hard to knock out of the playoffs entirely.

PATRIOTS TO WIN AFC EAST WITH BRADY

YES: -200
NO: +150

The Buffalo Bills have announced themselves as challengers to Tom Brady and the Patriots this past season, and Buffalo will be a trendy pick by some people in 2020. The Bills figure to give the Patriots a good run but keep in mind that they feasted on an easy schedule. A lot of Buffalo’s wins came against bad teams; they figure to be a team that regresses next season when they have to face a much tougher schedule. The Bills are on the rise but this is one of those things where one needs to see proof that Buffalo finish the job and knock off the giants before we back them.

Also keep in mind that the Patriots swept the two games between these teams in 2019. Buffalo might be close but they still weren’t able to takedown New England. They’re still learning to crawl before they’re learning to walk.

PATRIOTS TO WIN SUPER BOWL LV IN FEBRUARY 2021

NO: -2500
YES: +1200

The Patriots have to hope that the elbow injury to Brady significantly limited his effectiveness. If this is what happened, the Patriots would have a much better and more reasonable chance of winning the Super Bowl. He completed no more than 55.3% of his passes in seven of his last eight games this season while finishing with the 17th-best QBR. That’s not good enough.

At the same time, if Brady is back, he gets healthy and they get him a couple of weapons, this squad will again be a Super Bowl contender.

PATRIOTS WIN TOTAL WITH BRADY IN 2020

UNDER 10: -130
OVER 10: +110

The Patriots 2020 regular season win total has opened up at 10 games. They’ll have to play the NFC West, which is one of the toughest divisions in football right now. Even the AFC East is getting tougher as the Bills and Miami Dolphins play the Patriots very hard. The other division they face is the AFC West, which gives them a realistic chance at a 3-1 record in those four games.

If the Patriots go 5-1 against the AFC East, 3-1 against the AFC West, and 2-2 against the NFC West, they would already have 10 wins, not counting their two toughest AFC games against Baltimore and Houston. The odds are still better that the Patriots will go over 10 wins, not under. If the number was 10.5 wins, it might be a different story.

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