My issue is more that people have this revisionist history that Belichick had a defense that was on par with the Steelers and Ravens at the same period of time in an effort to discount Brady’s importance to that first run.
Well, let's take a look. I have no idea what this is going to show except it's ludicrous to include a comparison of a ONE-SEASON wonder like the 2000 Ravens. Excpt
Patriots Team Scoring Defense Rankings by Season during Brady Era
Bold - win SB
Bold plus Italics - lost SB
2001 - 6th (Rams 7th, gave up 1 more point)
2002 - 17th
2003 - 1st
2004 - 3rd (Eagles 2nd)
2005 - 17th
2006 - 2nd (blew AFC title game to Colts after leading, 21-3)
2007 - 4th
2008 - 8th (Brady injured in game 1)
2009 - 5th
2010 - 8th
2011 - 15th (Giants 25th)
2012 - 10th (Super Bowl champion Ravens 12th)
2013 - 10th (Super Bowl champion Seattle 1st)
2014 - 8th (Seattle 1st)
2015 - 10th (Seattle 1st, Denver 4th)
2016 - 1st
2017 - 5th
2018 - 7th (Rams 20th)
2019 - 1st (lost early playoff game)
So there IS something to the idea that Brady has had some VERY GOOD defenses. He won six Super Bowls in New England. Twice his team had the best defense in the NFL. And we'll throw in that Tampa was 8th last year so we can conclude this:
Tom Brady has NEVER won a Super Bowl when his team defense ranked BELOW 8th in the NFL (this is out of 32 teams since 2002). Every single time he wins, his defense is among the top 25% in the league. He has only made it to the Super Bowl ONE TIME (2011) when his team defense was lower than 8th. When you look above and see all those rankings like 17th and 10th, Brady didn't make the Super Bowl or win it. (We have to exclude 2008 as well since Brady got hurt in the first game of the year - but the Pats still had a top 8 defense in the league, too).
During their glory years in the 1970s, the Steelers were:
1974 - 2nd (Rams 1st)
1975 - 2nd (Rams 1st)
1976 - 1st (Raiders won SB)
1977 - 17th (Atlanta Falcons set record for fewest points in 14-game season and went 7-7)
1978 - 1st
1979 - 5th
1980 - 15th
1981 - 11th
So while I guess it's okay to say that Brady didn't quite have the Pittsburgh level of defense, the fact remains he HAS had VERY GOOD defenses in the years he either went to or won the Super Bowl with one exception, 2011. And now let's look at Aaron Rodgers:
2008 - 22nd (6-10)
2009 - 7th (11-5)
2010 - 2nd (10-6)**
2011 - 19th (15-1, lost to Eli)
2012 - 11th (11-5)
2013 - 25th (8-7-1, lost to Kapernick, 23-20)
2014 - 14th (12-4)
2015 - 12th (10-6)
2016 - 21st (10-6, blown out by Falcons in NFC title)
2017 - 26th (7-9)
2018 - 22nd (6-9-1)
2019 - 9th (13-3, lost NFC title game to SF)
2020 - 13th (13-3, lost NFC title to Tampa)
Have you noticed something true about both Brady and Rodgers? There is a DIRECT CORRELATION (no surprise) between the level of defense and how far they go in the playoffs. Rodgers has had NOTHING on defense to compare with Brady. Yes, there are outliers like the 2011 Pats or the 2011 Packers (15-1, holy smoke), but generally speaking, the teams that win the Super Bowls have good defenses and good quarterbacks. Even an elite QB like Tom Brady CANNOT win a Super Bowl without a decent defense, and the numbers support that without exception.
You don't have to have the 2000 Ravens defense to win the title. You can have the 2001 Ravens D (265 points surrendered) and still win it with a good QB.
** - the two best defenses in football were #1 Pittsburgh and #2 Green Bay, who played for the title