2001 Hindsight... Brady vs Bledsoe

[363839]

I had had enough of Drew Bledsoe throwing balls to linebackers back in 98.
He should have been benched in 99. Any other QB would have been.
But Drew had that clause in his contract. You know. The one that said that Drew starts no matter how much he sucks.
While Tom Brady worked his ass off, doing everthing he could to better himself, Drew just assumed he would start no matter how many times Tom would out perform him in pre season.
I voted Drew who.

 

[Rob0729]

I was torn myself. I still thought that Bledsoe might have been the better QB, but I did realize that Brady was better suited for the offense Weis liked to run. I mean really, how many times did Bledsoe hit Troy Brown in the shins on a WR screen? Brown is 5 feet nothing.

 

[363839]

Funny story. Bledsoe was actually my neighbor before he built that big house in Franklin(???) Anyway, he was a pretty good guy. My buddy and I stopped at Emerald Square Mall after a PVD Bruins game after the Pats signed him as a rookie. He was walking around and nobody noticed him. I said to my friend "Isn't that Drew Bledsoe the new Pats QB?" As I turned around to get a second glance so did he and nodded his head yes. He had heard me ask my buddy. That said, we had heard that a Pats player had bought the house two houses down from us but we didn't know who it was at the time. Me and the same buddy, were throwing a ball around and Drew comes walking out of his house and starts throwing with us. We were both 17 at the time and we were both pretty much pissing our pants. We get to talking and then he says to me "Aren't you the kid I saw at the mall?' He ended up giving us a bunch of stuff. Shirts, Footballs, team autographs.

Now, I'm happy to see the Lombardi's but at the time, it was sad to say Goodbye.

EDIT: And I still have my Bledsoe Jersey in my closet, right next to Brady's

Great story, dude. Thanks for sharing that with us.
My previous post not withstanding.

 

[Amnorix]

I would like to revise my response:

I knew that Tom Brady would lead the Patriots to 3 Super Bowls (so far) when he was still sitting on the bench at Michigan behind Brian Greise.

Come on people, did any of you HONESTLY know Brady was better than Bledsoe right away?

By the end of that season, I strongly thought so, and after the 2nd half of the Pittsburgh AFC Championship Game, I had no doubt.

Bledsoe has the better ARM, but he's not the better QB.

Hell, look at Pennington. He's got an arm like a limp noodle, but if he's healthy for 16 games, the Jets make the playoffs every damn time. He's just a good QB, no way around it.

 

[Amnorix]

Funny story. Bledsoe was actually my neighbor before he built that big house in Franklin(???) Anyway, he was a pretty good guy. My buddy and I stopped at Emerald Square Mall after a PVD Bruins game after the Pats signed him as a rookie. He was walking around and nobody noticed him. I said to my friend "Isn't that Drew Bledsoe the new Pats QB?" As I turned around to get a second glance so did he and nodded his head yes. He had heard me ask my buddy. That said, we had heard that a Pats player had bought the house two houses down from us but we didn't know who it was at the time. Me and the same buddy, were throwing a ball around and Drew comes walking out of his house and starts throwing with us. We were both 17 at the time and we were both pretty much pissing our pants. We get to talking and then he says to me "Aren't you the kid I saw at the mall?' He ended up giving us a bunch of stuff. Shirts, Footballs, team autographs.

Now, I'm happy to see the Lombardi's but at the time, it was sad to say Goodbye.

EDIT: And I still have my Bledsoe Jersey in my closet, right next to Brady's

Great story. I don't think too many people would argue that Drew was generally a 1st class individual and a great guy.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

I would like to revise my response:

I knew that Tom Brady would lead the Patriots to 3 Super Bowls (so far) when he was still sitting on the bench at Michigan behind Brian Greise.

Come on people, did any of you HONESTLY know Brady was better than Bledsoe right away?

I did in summer 2001 and said so.
Watched him several times at Smithfield summer 2001 and Brady CLEARLY outplayed Bledsoe. I'd been down on Bledsoe the last couple seasons having finally realized that his "just sling it" mentality was never, ever gonna win it for us. If you read BB speak, you could see how wicked high BB was on Brady that pre-season. Once providence intervened and Drew got injured removing any lingering Kraft possible issues from the starting QB equation, it was up to Brady's on field performance. (Remember BB was comming off a 5-12 disapointing 1st season as HC and then proceeded to go 0-2 with Bledsoe at the helm) Once Tom started and especially after he won that SD game with a great clutch comeback I knew and BB knew that Drew was toast as the starter.

I'm shocked by the # of posters here claiming to be original Brady's Ladys because on USENET the Bledsoe Krishnas outnumbered the Brady fans several times to one. Memory & history is SO revisionist.

 

[italian pat patriot]

Funny story. Bledsoe was actually my neighbor before he built that big house in Franklin(???) Anyway, he was a pretty good guy. My buddy and I stopped at Emerald Square Mall after a PVD Bruins game after the Pats signed him as a rookie. He was walking around and nobody noticed him. I said to my friend "Isn't that Drew Bledsoe the new Pats QB?" As I turned around to get a second glance so did he and nodded his head yes. He had heard me ask my buddy. That said, we had heard that a Pats player had bought the house two houses down from us but we didn't know who it was at the time. Me and the same buddy, were throwing a ball around and Drew comes walking out of his house and starts throwing with us. We were both 17 at the time and we were both pretty much pissing our pants. We get to talking and then he says to me "Aren't you the kid I saw at the mall?' He ended up giving us a bunch of stuff. Shirts, Footballs, team autographs.

Now, I'm happy to see the Lombardi's but at the time, it was sad to say Goodbye.

EDIT: And I still have my Bledsoe Jersey in my closet, right next to Brady's

great story, thks

 

[TruthSeeker]

I voted for Brady, but didn't have strong personal feelings one way or the other. I was willing to go whichever way BB went.

I understood Drew's unhappiness about not getting a chance to compete for the job and thought that was unfair. But I also heard BB say that there's no time during the season to have a competition - and that was right, too.

 

[KevinAbq]

Great story, dude. Thanks for sharing that with us.
My previous post not withstanding.

My pleasure. :eat3: