Thank you Mo Lewis!!!!

Let us never forget that if it wasn't for Mo Lewis, the Patriots would never have won 3 SBs or be 13-0 this season.

There are only two Jet players (both former) I like: Mo Lewis and Vinny T.

We should not thank Mo Lewis for almost killing Drew Bledsoe. Did you know Drew almost died in the hospital?

Thanks, Mo Lewis, for almost killing one of the people responsible for the rebirth of this franchise.

Brady would've been the starter sooner or later.

THEARCHIVES said:

We should not thank Mo Lewis for almost killing Drew Bledsoe. Did you know Drew almost died in the hospital?

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Good point. "Thank you Drew Bledsoe's dislodged blood vessel!"

C'mon - I don't think anyone ever had a death wish for Drew.

One of our more prevelant posters here is "MoLewisRocks" - what do you think he's referring to? Just a Mo Lewis fan?

Belichick dumped Bernie Kosar, he would've done the same thing with Bledsoe...

PatDaPatriot said:

Belichick dumped Bernie Kosar, he would've done the same thing with Bledsoe...

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He wanted to but the owner had a big mancrush on Drew having just given him a neaarly 8 figure contract. BB was 5-11 his 1st year and hated by the Boston press. Going 0-2 to start the season with Drew he did not have the cred to make the change he wanted to make. Remember how he was lambasted in the media for not sitting Brady once Drew was back healthy?

PatDaPatriot said:

Belichick dumped Bernie Kosar, he would've done the same thing with Bledsoe...

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I completely agree. If it didn't happen in 2001 then it surely would have happened in 2002.

Drew was totally outplayed by Brady in the pre season, and the relationship was about to end soon for Bledsoe , Mo Lewis just made Belichick's descion a whole lot easier..

PatsWickedPissah said:

Remember how he was lambasted in the media for not sitting Brady once Drew was back healthy?

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Yup, but he still did it.

Seems weird to thank someone for hurting someone else, despite the eventual outcome. Then again, thanking someone doesn't actually cause injury, so it's not like I think people are jerks for saying it, just a bit thoughtless.

Thanks for almost killing one of the best players ever to don a Patriots uniform? No thanks, I'll pass.

Thank you Drew Bledsoe for being the second best quarterback this team's ever had and for taking the team to a Super Bowl, and helping it get to a second Super Bowl as a backup.

Thank you Tom Brady for having the right combination of physical and mental acuity mixed with desire and leadership to become perhaps the greatest quarterback in the history of the NFL once you got your chance to start.

Now that I can sign on to.

TheGodInAGreyHoodie said:

:violent:

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Congratulations on another pointless thread.

Deus Irae said:

Thank you Drew Bledsoe for being the second best quarterback this team's ever had and for taking the team to a Super Bowl, and helping it get to a second Super Bowl as a backup.

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I do agree with everything else you said, but I'll have to say third best, after Brady and Grogan. Of course it's hard to compare eras, but Grogan played for 15 years and also took us to a Super Bowl. Counter argument, though, is the Bledsoe actually helped us win a Super Bowl by coming in for Brady in the Pittsburgh game and scoring a TD.

PatsWickedPissah said:

He wanted to but the owner had a big mancrush on Drew having just given him a neaarly 8 figure contract. BB was 5-11 his 1st year and hated by the Boston press. Going 0-2 to start the season with Drew he did not have the cred to make the change he wanted to make. Remember how he was lambasted in the media for not sitting Brady once Drew was back healthy?

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Yes, I think it would have been very difficult for BB to replace Bledsoe with Brady in 2001 if the injury opening didn't present itself. We would have continued to hear excuses about how our offensive line was just not good enough to protect Bledsoe. Brady may have gotten his chance in 2002 or 2003 but I don't know if BB would have survived until 2003. So we did get lucky, IMO!

FibSeq13478 said:

Yes, I think it would have been very difficult for BB to replace Bledsoe with Brady in 2001 if the injury opening didn't present itself. We would have continued to hear excuses about how our offensive line was just not good enough to protect Bledsoe. Brady may have gotten his chance in 2002 or 2003 but I don't know if BB would have survived until 2003. So we did get lucky, IMO!

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Exactly.
The drum beat to fire BB for failing a 2nd time was well underway. Back then the Globe anti-BB and anti-Pats writers were more powerfull and the internet was less of a counterweight than the power it is these days. Think USENET where the Bledsoe Krishna chants of excuses drowned out any criticism. As mentioned, Brady had totally outplayed The Tall One in training camp. I was there in RI and it was blatantly obvious that Brady was much better. But 2nd chance, short leashed BB was reeling from 5-11 and then had The Franchise lose to Cinci who was the pits back then, followed by a loss to the hated Jets. Border wars were still fresh with Parcells and Curtis 'Benedict Arnold' Martin sore wounds to Pats fans.

Moe Lewis gave BB the window of opportunity he needed with his new boss who'd just given complacent Bledsoe a favorite son contract. Folks here do not accurately remember the venom from the BOSTON media unleashed at BB when he showed sack (and intelligence) and sat Drew once he was healthy.

Moe Lewis gave us at least one ring we'd never otherwise have had and may possibly have saved BB from being fired.

Franchise MVP.

Deus Irae said:

Thanks for almost killing one of the best players ever to don a Patriots uniform? No thanks, I'll pass.

Thank you Drew Bledsoe for being the second best quarterback this team's ever had and for taking the team to a Super Bowl, and helping it get to a second Super Bowl as a backup.

Thank you Tom Brady for having the right combination of physical and mental acuity mixed with desire and leadership to become perhaps the greatest quarterback in the history of the NFL once you got your chance to start.

Now that I can sign on to.

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Well said, man!

Deus Irae said:

Thanks for almost killing one of the best players ever to don a Patriots uniform? No thanks, I'll pass.

Thank you Drew Bledsoe for being the second best quarterback this team's ever had

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i am with you; very well said

THEARCHIVES said:

We should not thank Mo Lewis for almost killing Drew Bledsoe. Did you know Drew almost died in the hospital?

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i don't think bledsoe was ever the same player after that injury. sure brady turned out better, but bledsoe wasn't that far behind before the injury. afterwards just seems mentally and physically he wasn't all there

newton_tom_cat said:

i don't think bledsoe was ever the same player after that injury. sure brady turned out better, but bledsoe wasn't that far behind before the injury. afterwards just seems mentally and physically he wasn't all there

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He was not the same QB from the middle of 1999 forward. He was awful the second half of 1999, 2000 and the first two games of 2001. Belichick exposed him in the 1999 Jets Monday night day he was never the same after that, not the injury.

Pats Fanatic said:

He was not the same QB from the middle of 1999 forward. He was awful the second half of 1999, 2000 and the first two games of 2001. Belichick exposed him in the 1999 Jets Monday night day he was never the same after that, not the injury.

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On target. The revisionists forget that Bledsoe's aura was permanently diminished once BB at the Jets illustrated the template for routing The Tall One. Drew's game was ALWAYS flawed but untill BB made the flaws so obvious he'd get away with his wins. After the Jets debacle, Drew was abused by the few DCs in the league who studied BB's methods. Kraft and many of the fans were still living in a 1996 time warp when Drew got the big contract.

The comments in this thread still supporting poor misuderstood and underappreciated Drew Bledsoe just underscore how much Belichick needed the cover that Mo provided.

PS - Drew never contributed to a win in 2002. We were ahead already and driving for a score when he came in and finished that drive. From there it was all Troy Brown vs. Steeler incompetence. Drew tried to blow that game on a couple of occasions, but fate simply wouldn't allow it. That he played so poorly in the second half was covered in Patriot's Reign. There was never a question in BB's mind that Brady would start the Superbowl even on an artificial leg. In fact they would have sent Tom back in limping had things not progressed as well as they did on other fronts due in no part to Bledsoe's play in the AFCC game.