Drew Bledsoe shows true colors

[TruthSeeker]

More confirmation? Because he says loves Whitefish, MT in a publication all about Whitefish, MT? This a throw away quote in a tiny publication where Bledsoe never admitted that didn't have passion for the game and just said that Whitefish is his favor place to be which is basically pandering to his audience.

Bledsoe may not have had the proper passion for the game, but Sapp and Bledsoe bashers are making more of this quote than Bledsoe probably ever intended. Even if Bledsoe didn't have passion for football, do you really think he would admit it to the Whitefish Review of all publications?

Yes, more confirmation. You assume he didn't really mean what he was saying when he he was quoted. I believe that what he said matches up with his actions both in the time he spent in Montana and the effort displayed during the football season. Drew put a lot of time and energy into football during the football season - but not nearly what other people put in. And outside of football season, he disappeared. Sometimes the simple explanation is the best - he said what he believed and it is reflected in his history.

 

[Deus Irae]

Yes, more confirmation. You assume he didn't really mean what he was saying when he he was quoted. I believe that what he said matches up with his actions both in the time he spent in Montana and the effort displayed during the football season. Drew put a lot of time and energy into football during the football season - but not nearly what other people put in. And outside of football season, he disappeared. Sometimes the simple explanation is the best - he said what he believed and it is reflected in his history.

That's all that matters. Everything else is just a bunch of internet geeks looking for excuses to talk trash about a former player. There's another word for the offseason, after all. The rest of the nation calls it vacation. Apparently it's a shock to some people here that people love the first day of vacation and dread the day it ends.

 

[TruthSeeker]

That's all that matters. Everything else is just a bunch of internet geeks looking for excuses to talk trash about a former player. There's another word for the offseason, after all. The rest of the nation calls it vacation. Apparently it's a shock to some people here that people love the first day of vacation and dread the day it ends.

Some people actually get excited about the start of football season. Perhaps it's just the fans, though.

I've always like Drew and still do. I can accept the fact that he wasn't totally committed to football excellance in the way that some others are. However, I can also understand how frustrating that would be to some people who love to follow the team he plays on and sees him making the same mistakes year after year due, in part, to lack of effort and/or willingness to improve. When that happens, you can expect criticism and some of the criticism is deserved.

That's what this is all about. Could Drew have been a better football player if he cared more? Yes. I can still appreciate what he did give. I don't know if I have it within me to give much more than Drew gave if I was in his situation. But a lot of people do think he could have and should have given more for the money and position he accepted. I can understand that.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

I have 2 expressive sentenses to say about Drew

1) We could have instead chosen Rick Mirer as pick #1 for those 9 seasons which would have not been anywhere near as good with Rick,As a matter of fact we would have simply sucked BAD.

2) For all you guys who bash Bledsoe now ,many of you were wearing bledsoe jerseys and shirts ect: when he was like a god in New England after suffering with horrible quarterbacks before he arrived - Many of you were jumping for joy and claiming your love for Drew when he led the team to THE SB against GB - That makes you a hyprocrite now since criticizing him NOW that he has been,long gone and replaced by the simple fact that Brady is much better - Either you liked him from beginning to end in NE or you hated him,make up your minds for gods sake.

 

[Rob0729]

Yes, more confirmation. You assume he didn't really mean what he was saying when he he was quoted. I believe that what he said matches up with his actions both in the time he spent in Montana and the effort displayed during the football season. Drew put a lot of time and energy into football during the football season - but not nearly what other people put in. And outside of football season, he disappeared. Sometimes the simple explanation is the best - he said what he believed and it is reflected in his history.

I still don't get what he confirmed that everyone didn't already know. It was pretty well known that Bledsoe refused to spend his offseason in Foxboro except for one year (I think it was the offseason before the Earnie Zampese season). I don't need any explanation why he wanted to be in Montana because it was pretty clear.

Besides, I bet it is more frequent that people think that football players love when the season ends to relax and dread coming to training camp. I only played high school ball, but I loved playing and tried my hardest when the season was going. But I dreaded going to Captain's Practices and double sessions and I was happy to be able to relax for a while after the season is over. I am sure at the NFL level those feelings are greater for a lot of players.

Again, I still don't see one quote where Bledsoe said he didn't like playing football or his heart wasn't in it. He might consider Whitefish his paradise and it is understandable why he would be passionate about it then especially to writer who is interviewing him for a publication about his paradise.

I still think David Sapp and a lot of people on this board are taking their already entrenched opinion of Bledsoe and trying to fit his quote to provide some kind of proof that he didn't care about football.

 

[Patriot_in_NY]

DISCLAIMER: I did not read everypost in this thread.

While we are in the masturbatory glory days (over the past 6 years) with the MASTER, Sir Brady, I'm also old enough to remember the VERY dark days of Hugh Millen and Tom Hodson.

Bledsoe, for all his faults will always be beloved by me personally because he actually began to give me HOPE again. Ditto with TUNA (to a lessor extent). However history will judge him, my personal affection for him will remain, regardless of what any silly article says about him.

 

[Pats67]

Its amazing to me that on the site that hosts ten page threads calling Adam Vinatieri (who did far more to put the Patriots where they are today than Drew ever did) every name in the book, one guy raises his hand and suggests that maybe Drew Bledsoe wasn't some mythological figure and it sets upper lips quivering all across the country.

 

[Sean Pa Patriot]

I was a big Bledsoe fan, but Tom Curren had a great story for the Metowest news , when he was working there in 2000, that there was thoughts in the orginization he was not working hard, etc... I always felt Bledsoe did not do the little things to be a great QB, he felt like he was the man, ala in Buffalo and in Dallas, and did not have to work hard for his job.. Drew if he worked on the little things like he did in 96 , he could have been one of the greats.. Instead he was a solid Qb with great Stats..

 

[RayClay]

I liked Drew, he worked hard and he was tough.

However, he wasn't willing to put in the extra workand it probably kept him out of the hall of fame.

Example? I was thinking about low picks and why and i thought of Brady. He was skinny, didn't start all the time but he had one other deficit.

He's slow as molasses. I'm pretty sure that, like Drew, he has very poor foot speed.

It was a problem for Drew early on and I thought he might take a dance class or some agility training in the off season. I doubt he did a thing.

I don't know if Brady took a dance class or what, but watch him roll out and move. It looks rehearsed and choreographed. He doesn't just do what comes naturally like a nimble runner.

Two talented Quarterbacks, one always striving to get better, one tough and talented but giving in to the ravages of time once the physical tools degrade.

 

[RayClay]

If you're referring to Joe Namath, that is an inappropriate comparison. Willy Joe played in a totally different era. It was an era when football was not a twelve month a year job, when guys showed up to training camp to get into shape, when guys openly smoked in the locker room, when nobody became a Rockefeller by playing football. It was an era when football players weren't expected to be as personally disciplined as they are today, and society as a whole not only was more tolerant of such personal habits as smoking and drinking, but encouraged it, disparaging those who refused to partake as "square".

Now if you can name a modern era quarterback who won a Super Bowl after showing up for a big game (meaning a playoff game leading to a Super Bowl victory) with a hangover, then I will stand corrected.

Namath's hangover stories were just that, I bet. He played with two horrible knees and I probably worked out as hard as anyone.

You've got to separate image from reality.

 

[BWareofDWare]

Seems like this is a little out of context. I was fortunate to play football in college at the Division II level, but even in high school, knowing that you are going away to camp at the start of seasons for two-a-days, running around in the heat with the first game seemingly ages away, it sucks. It's not like he said his least favorite day was the day before the first game, it was the day before camp, because camp is horrible. Everyone that's ever played football will tell you the start of camp sucks, and if they say otherwise they are either lying or crazy. Add in as a parent having to leave your family, and I would 100% agree with him on that day just being awful. Then take 50 sacks over the course of the year, and decide if your favorite day is getting hit in the head by a 300 pound man, or fishing with your sons. Tough decision right there.
Yes Brady prepares better than Bledsoe and is a better quarterback. He also has a major advantage in the QB department in that up until now he could devote all his time to the game rather than trying to find an even split between the game and his family. But Drew got beat to a pulp over his 13 year career. He endured probably the toughest coach to play for not once, but twice. Didn't the guy even got his organs busted up and still came back again?

 

[363839]

Seems like this is a little out of context. I was fortunate to play football in college at the Division II level, but even in high school, knowing that you are going away to camp at the start of seasons for two-a-days, running around in the heat with the first game seemingly ages away, it sucks. It's not like he said his least favorite day was the day before the first game, it was the day before camp, because camp is horrible. Everyone that's ever played football will tell you the start of camp sucks, and if they say otherwise they are either lying or crazy. Add in as a parent having to leave your family, and I would 100% agree with him on that day just being awful. Then take 50 sacks over the course of the year, and decide if your favorite day is getting hit in the head by a 300 pound man, or fishing with your sons. Tough decision right there.
Yes Brady prepares better than Bledsoe and is a better quarterback. He also has a major advantage in the QB department in that up until now he could devote all his time to the game rather than trying to find an even split between the game and his family. But Drew got beat to a pulp over his 13 year career. He endured probably the toughest coach to play for not once, but twice. Didn't the guy even got his organs busted up and still came back again?

Drews toughness is never in question.
To answer your question.. yes, I believe that hit by Mo lewis did serious damage to his lungs. Internal bleeding.
But the first part of your post sounds reasonable to me. It's just that we don't hear our guys complain too badly about it.

 

[Keegs]

Once way back when i was 12 or 13 my Father and I were at one of those "Oasis" rest stop things they have in illinois... (gas stations, and restaurants in a big building on the bridge above a highway).

And i was convinced that i saw Drew Bledsoe there. But the guy was only like 5'11 so it wasn't him.

Needless to say, it was quite a disappointing ride home.

 

[PromisedLand]

Namath's hangover stories were just that, I bet. He played with two horrible knees and I probably worked out as hard as anyone.

You've got to separate image from reality.

Whether or not Joe Namath did or did not play big games with a hangover was not at all my point. But as long as you are defending him, I'm not really sure why. We do know that he is an admitted alcoholic, and who can forget the embarrassing moment at halftime of a Jets-Pats game on ESPN with Suzy Kolber? I know he has a problem, he knows he has a problem, and after that incident he checked himself into a rehab program and swore off the stuff. I have nothing but sympathy and hope he can beat the demon that bedevils him.

 

[Armen Da Pats Fan]

DISCLAIMER: I did not read everypost in this thread.

While we are in the masturbatory glory days (over the past 6 years) with the MASTER, Sir Brady, I'm also old enough to remember the VERY dark days of Hugh Millen and Tom Hodson.

Bledsoe, for all his faults will always be beloved by me personally because he actually began to give me HOPE again. Ditto with TUNA (to a lessor extent). However history will judge him, my personal affection for him will remain, regardless of what any silly article says about him.

Now THAT'S true.

Did you forget pencil neck Marc Wilson?!?!?

Rod Rust and 1-15!

Heck, I'm old enough to remember how bad Jim Plunkett was here before he resurrected his career in Oakland.

I'll admit it. I LOVED Bledsoe when he got here. I had 3-4 Bledsoe jerseys. Home, away. I used to argue with my Dolfan friends that I'd take Drew over Marino (yes, I can be a little delusional when it comes to the Pats, but it made sense then!).

When Drew had the pin sticking out of his finger and he beat Miami on Monday night, I thought he was the baddest thing going.

Looking back on him, though, and comparing him to Brady, I can say that Bledsoe probably had a greater arsenal of natural gifts, but he never had the heart that Brady had and still has. I think that is what Parcells kind of saw in Bledsoe (remember how tough the Tuna was on him, trying to bring him fully into his potential?) and I think that is what Belichick saw in Brady. The heart. Belichick banked all his chips on that and won.

A good coach is smart enough to know that you can coach up a good player into a system and make him great, but you can't teach heart.

Look at the guys Belichick brought in on the Pats who fit that same mold - Vrabel, Izzo, Fauria, Antowan Smith, Stephen Neal, Russ Hochstein, Ellis Hobbs, Asante, Jarvis Green, Ty Warren, Deion Branch, David Givens - all decent/good players who were coached up to be great in a system. Brady, as well.

Those players wouldn't be stars anywhere but here in Belichick's systems.

Well, maybe Brady, but even that is debatable.

Bledsoe never got that. And still doesn't.

 

[PromisedLand]

Pete Carroll had the misfortune of following legendary coach Bill Parcells here. Drew Bledsoe had the misfortune of being followed by legendary quarterback Tom Brady here.

 

[363839]

Once way back when i was 12 or 13 my Father and I were at one of those "Oasis" rest stop things they have in illinois... (gas stations, and restaurants in a big building on the bridge above a highway).

And i was convinced that i saw Drew Bledsoe there. But the guy was only like 5'11 so it wasn't him.

Needless to say, it was quite a disappointing ride home.

I have been at that stop (Rt 80? or 55 can't remember).
Didn't spot any celebs, though.
Saw some hot women, though.

 

[drew4008]

Any of you guys been to Whitefish? It's not exactly South Boston. His comments make a lot of sense once you visit western MT, it's an amazing place that's tough to leave, which is pretty much all he said, not that he didn't value football.

 

[QuiGon]

I'm sorry, but I can't agree with this. If BB KNEW and that was why Bledsoe was gonzo, then why is it that it was BB and Pioli that gave Bledsoe that 7 year 100 million (?) extension after the 2000/2001 season? BB and Pioli would have never committed that sort of money to a player if they felt he wasn't committed.

Except they didn't really commit that much money. Fact is that contract was little more than a 4 year, $32 million deal. The media, for some reason, loves to report the maximum length and maximum value of any deal, which is ridiculous since these days a player playing out his full contract is an extreme rarity (besides rookie contracts, that is).

 

[QuiGon]

That's all that matters. Everything else is just a bunch of internet geeks looking for excuses to talk trash about a former player. There's another word for the offseason, after all. The rest of the nation calls it vacation. Apparently it's a shock to some people here that people love the first day of vacation and dread the day it ends.

It's no shock... there are plenty of people that do that... and it's that attitude that made Drew Bledsoe, a guy with all the talent in the world, a good QB who just never came close to reaching the heights of people who really do have a passion for playing - and the work ethic to be a champion.