4/23/1993: Patriots pick Drew Bledsoe #1 Overall

[PatsFanInVa]

Exactly... His 2002 season and Bledsoe's are almost identical statistically. At that point I still wondered if we'd kept the right guy.
As far as all the Eason, Grogan, Flutie talk.... Grogan was a leader, Eason was an accurate passer (see 84 and 86 season stats) and Flutie was a winner. In Bledsoe we got all three, in Brady we got an upgrade to Bledsoe. Now, I'm not sure where we are or where we're going. Just remember the Millen dollar man in your expectations for 2021 and everything will be great! lol

I'm still fearing that we're for real done at QB, and believing in Cam (which means I'm in-Bill-we-trusting on an 8 TD, 12 int. guy.) But I mean, ok, let's go with the upside... WHAT IF we just saw a terrible COVID positive, no weapons year? (I can't believe I said that. But I'm bored and sick and sleep deprived and the draft's not for 2 more days.)

 

[Bill Lee]

I always felt like Bledsoe's mentality was I have to find a way to win this game because that's my role here. The "kid" version of Brady followed the design of the play like a robot, went through his reads and threw it away if it wasn't there. It was like, tick tock- 1,2,3...its out. Drew would pat the ball until he either forced it in there or got hit, never a throw away without imminent collision. I felt like that was the key difference between the two and that Brady trusted the coaches, where as Drew trusted his arm.

Exactly... His 2002 season and Bledsoe's are almost identical statistically. At that point I still wondered if we'd kept the right guy.
As far as all the Eason, Grogan, Flutie talk.... Grogan was a leader, Eason was an accurate passer (see 84 and 86 season stats) and Flutie was a winner. In Bledsoe we got all three, in Brady we got an upgrade to Bledsoe. Now, I'm not sure where we are or where we're going. Just remember the Millen dollar man in your expectations for 2021 and everything will be great! lol

Great points!

In the context of the era, Drew represented the old guard, Tom the new. I think the whole "game manager" tag was a mild diss, now the results speak for themselves, six SB wins and nine appearances. Bill Walsh, Joe Montana and the 9ers were the innovators. Luckily for us, BB grabbed onto that stuff and worked it into our system, and TB12 stepped up big time as well.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Theoretically, if Kiam had any common sense, then Flutie would be here as the starter without Berry to muzzle him, and the stadium would be close to if not totally filled. The Patriots had a good defense, and several offensive veterans including Irving Fryar.

Flutie is different. It is subjective and admittedly biased, but I would take Flutie over Elway, Young, Kelly or any of the others, just as I always liked Tom over any other quarterback in the league. Since 2001. Marino and Moon were great weapons; but winning games obviously takes more than simple ability and production.

There is no way to quantify or reconcile how Flutie set rushing and passing records for seasons and career that will never be broken - certainly not by one single person - and won 6 MVP's and 3 titles in the CFL, and would not have won anything with the Patriots. Parcells could have inherited a playoff team with a starter in place.

FOOTBALL; Jets Prepare to Counter Flutie's Creative Tactics (Published 1998)

New York Jets prepare for coming game against Buffalo Bills; Coach Bill Parcells comments on threat team faces in Doug Flutie, Bills' quarterback (M)

www.nytimes.com

Flutie Is Still No. 1 With Patriots' Fans (Published 1989)

www.nytimes.com

Flutie was unbeaten at Foxborough and the Meadowlands almost forever.

After 1988 is was the beginning of the end. Not even Flutie could have helped. Coaches. Ownership. FO....

The 1989-1992 Patriots franchise was quite possibly the worst in professional sports.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Ok Red.

Brooks was here

So was Red

RW too

 

[stephens44]

After 1988 is was the beginning of the end. Not even Flutie could have helped. Coaches. Ownership. FO....

The 1989-1992 Patriots franchise was quite possibly the worst in professional sports.

89 was the trip out the front door season where they lost Veris, Tippett and Ronnie Lippett in the final pre-season game to severely handicap the defense for the season. That was the year for injuries.... (Dykes, Stephens, Fryar, etc.)
When you don't settle on a QB all season and cycle through 4 guys that complete 49% of their passes and toss 24 Ints.... Its just not gonna work. Amazing they won 5 games. I was at the opener at/against the Jets, Eason looked great, at least for 1 game. I recall the following week (went to that one too) he walked towards the sidelines to get the play and Flutie walked out to yell to him and the crowd went absolutely nuts thinking he was going in. Then the cascade of boos when Eason walked back to the huddle. Then there was the initial intros at the beginning of the game, the introduced 11 starters on offense, but no QB... How fitting for 89.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

The 1989-1992 Patriots franchise was quite possibly the worst in professional sports.

Have to totally disagree.

I've seen truly miserable franchises with four year stretches (often within a much longer time frame of futility) which were far more hapless, dysfunctional, and with worse winning percentages in hockey, baseball and basketball as well as football.

I would amend your statement thusly:

The 1989-1992 Patriots franchise was quite possibly the most vilified, mocked, and hyperbolically maligned in professional sports history; which to this day is used to melodramatically overstate the ensuing inevitable subsequent improvement.

We saw how local and national media went to town over one (1) losing season in 1981. They went totally bananas.

Bankruptcy and the inevitable collapse of the Sullivans' financial house of cards, combined with one, simple, stupid decision by Victor Kiam.

The idea that the Patriots would not have been not just better, but in fact competitive from 1990-1992 with Flutie as the declared starter is unfathomable to me. They played hard. They had no quarterback.

Now, the Celtics were an easy target as well from 1977-1979. An ownership mess which very nearly drove Red out of town. Remember, to this day they're always the weak sisters in Boston, having to pay rent to Delaware North just to play. But there has of course never been the derision toward them or anyone else there is against the Patriots.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Have to totally disagree.

I've seen truly miserable franchises with four year stretches (often within a much longer time frame of futility) which were far more hapless, dysfunctional, and with worse winning percentages in hockey, baseball and basketball as well as football.

I would amend your statement thusly:

The 1989-1992 Patriots franchise was quite possibly the most vilified, mocked, and hyperbolically maligned in professional sports history; which to this day is used to melodramatically overstate the ensuing inevitable subsequent improvement.

We saw how local and national media went to town over one (1) losing season in 1981. They went totally bananas.

Bankruptcy and the inevitable collapse of the Sullivans' financial house of cards, combined with one, simple, stupid decision by Victor Kiam.

The idea that the Patriots would not have been not just better, but in fact competitive from 1990-1992 with Flutie as the declared starter is unfathomable to me. They played hard. They had no quarterback.

Now, the Celtics were an easy target as well from 1977-1979. An ownership mess which very nearly drove Red out of town. Remember, to this day they're always the weak sisters in Boston, having to pay rent to Delaware North just to play. But there has of course never been the derision toward them or anyone else there is against the Patriots.

Injuries.
Sexual harassment
bad drafts
arrests
drugs
embarrassing owner
horrible FO
horrible coach in Rust and **** got really sick.
****ty stadium
games blacked out
no QB
averaged 3.25 wins a year

You can't make that up.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

Injuries.
Sexual harassment
bad drafts
arrests
drugs
embarrassing owner
horrible FO
horrible coach in Rust and **** got really sick.
****ty stadium
games blacked out
no QB
averaged 3.25 wins a year

You can't make that up.

Indeed, typically a lot of things must go wrong to have a 1-15 or 2-14 season.

Right off the top of my head I can think of half a dozen other teams who were as bad or worse in a 3 year stretch; 1989 was kind of good/separate because it ended the Eason era and injuries in fact were the major factor in losing.

I'd like to break down those factors in the 3 years prior to Parcells individually, later on today, along with some continuing positive elements which the Patriots continue to enjoy today.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

Injuries.
Sexual harassment
bad drafts
arrests
drugs
embarrassing owner
horrible FO
horrible coach in Rust and **** got really sick.
****ty stadium
games blacked out
no QB
averaged 3.25 wins a year

You can't make that up.

Arrests?

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

arrests

She said she was 17.

...oh you mean the Patriots...

bad drafts

1991 was okay. Coates, Harlow, Russell, Henderson. But yeah pretty crappy.

drugs

Is this about 1986 post-Super Bowl when Berry (who initiated it) conceded that the Patriots used less than the vast majority of other teams in the league. Don't recall anything about early 90's drugs, except of course unless you mean me, which, again, off-topic...

Injuries

...Flutie rarely got hurt...

games blacked out
no QB

Flutie. Doug Flutie.

embarrassing owner

Charles O. Finley wasn't popular, but I haven't seen any A's returning their World Series rings.

Victor Kiam was all about right and wrong.

Remington shaver business? Right.
Not knowing that owning a pro football team would be different and he'd need to learn? Wrong.

Firing Raymond Berry? Right.
Not signing Doug Flutie? Wrong.

Meeting with Lisa Olson to discuss what happened? Right.
Flippantly insulting her publicly afterward? Wrong.

Meh.

horrible coach in Rust and **** got really sick

I see Rod Rust as like George Seifert. Look at what he had. MacPherson's illness opened the door for Parcells.

Scar came back in '91 and did a great job as usual, including filling in as HC.

Sexual harassment

Well the Patriots have nothing to do with now NOW or People magazine operate, but I never heard of either entity investigating or exposing the rampant, brazen, cruel misogyny in the Giants and Cowboys organizations, for example.

****ty stadium

Loved going there though. Some cozy little quirks about it. I was more interested in football than amenities.

horrible FO

Still had Bucko though.

averaged 3.25 wins a year

Only 3.0 from '90-'92.

49ers '77-'79: 3.0 / '16-'18: 4.0
Browns '15-'17: 1.33

Lots of other worse examples

You can't make that up

But unfortunately Orthwein could ruin our logo and uniforms, the one thing we could always count on up till then.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Arrests?

Jury Refuses to Indict Patriot Fryar : Football: Charges against the wide receiver and another man involved in a parking lot fracas have been declined.

A grand jury today refused to indict New England Patriots wide receiver Irving Fryar for carrying a pistol in Rhode Island without a permit.

www.latimes.com

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

Jury Refuses to Indict Patriot Fryar : Football: Charges against the wide receiver and another man involved in a parking lot fracas have been declined.

A grand jury today refused to indict New England Patriots wide receiver Irving Fryar for carrying a pistol in Rhode Island without a permit.

www.latimes.com

You could always count on Irving, on and off the field...