Bledsoe or Cassel

[Double G]

You're a huge fan of making broad generalizations off of a simple size of two, aren't you?

And you're a huge fan of hating a guy you never met and have no reason to aren't you?

I swear to Christ there are socalled fans out there who wish Bledsoe threw 3 INT's and 0 TD's in that game and we lost as a result so they could say "SEE, I told you this guy is a stiff!!!"

Tell me you didn't drop a load in your drawers when he threw that TD to Patten.

It's ok to admit it, really it is.

 

[farn]

Sure it was, but the 2008 team was much, much better than the 2000 team.
Cassel was throwing to Moss, Welker, Gaffney and Watson while Bledsoe had Glenn, Brown, Tony Simmons and Eric Bjornson...

The running game averaged 3.3 yards per carry in 2000 for a total of 1390 yards. In 2008, the team avg was 4.4 yards, 2278 yards total. Don't you think it had an impact on what the defenses were preparing against ?

Also, people are quick to point out that Drew didn't have a good game against Pitts in the AFC Championship, to which I agree. However, he threw for 1 TD in just a little more than an half. Brady, during the entire 2001 playoffs, just threw for 1 TD too. I'm not saying I would have played Bledsoe over Brady, but it just shows that the 2001 and 2001 teams were not as gifted as the current team on offense. If we are to compare Bledsoe's 2000 season stats against Cassel's 2008 stats, then we should take a look at Brady's 2001 stats too. Based on that, the Pats should have kept Cassel, since he is younger and had better stats in his 1st year.

Cassel did have more to work with in terms of teammates... but Bledsoe should have had more to work with in terms of natural ability and experience. Yet, Cassel played with more poise.

I don't hate Bledsoe. I am basing it on the year in the 2000's they started. Here is the question I ask myself : would I rather have Cassel with the 08 cast or Bledsoe (from 2000-01) with the 08 cast. I still choose Cassel.

 

[Ring 6]

Oh gee sorry, you are right; now that I think of it, Bledsoe was a HUGE distraction the week leading up to the Super Bowl crying to the media about how he should be starting.

And he was a huge distraction after the Rams loss in the regular season when Brady was named the starter for the rest of the year, so much so that the Patriot ripped off 6 strait wins, winning the division and the #2 seed.

Must have been some other guy who walked up to Brady after the Rams had scored to tie the Super Bowl when the offense was going to be conservative and said "**** that, go out there and chuck the ball" because Drew was too busy pouting about not starting.

Must have been some other guy who when Brady said "WE WON!!" and give him a bear hug, Bledsoe said "You are THE man, Tom, you are the man."

Yep, I was all wrong and need to do my research.............

How does the fact that we won conclude he wasnt a distraction? I chose to take the actual accounts of how he was disruptive; how he whined, called BB a liar, etc.
The fact that he had conversations with the starting QB, and congratulated him when he won the SB doesn't help me understand how he was this 'mentor' you describe him as.
"F-it, just sling it" isn't mentoring.

Please tell me you just worded it that way for effect, but you dont really believe the offense was going to be conservative(John Madden predicted that, and he wasnt one of our coaches), and that changed when Bledose told Brady to 'sling it'.

Lets just file that under 2 guys who knew each other for a few years, and the guy who dnp-coaches decision, told the MVP in QB parlance, don't be nervous, just do your job. Lets not make that out to be more than it is.

 

[eagle eye]

And you're a huge fan of hating a guy you never met and have no reason to aren't you?

I swear to Christ there are socalled fans out there who wish Bledsoe threw 3 INT's and 0 TD's in that game and we lost as a result so they could say "SEE, I told you this guy is a stiff!!!"

Tell me you didn't drop a load in your drawers when he threw that TD to Patten.

It's ok to admit it, really it is.

Listen come down off cloud 9 for a second and read what people are saying. Nobody is spitting vitriol here except you.

I haven't seen anybody trash Drew Bledsoe either. You are coming across as though if people disagree with you that you have to insult and fire bullets.

We all like Drew Bledsoe, but we can differ to how great he was. I put him third all time of Pats QBs that I've seen play. Thats not an insult in any way to him or anybody else, its a huge endorsement of Steve Grogan from me.

 

[Ring 6]

And you're a huge fan of hating a guy you never met and have no reason to aren't you?

I swear to Christ there are socalled fans out there who wish Bledsoe threw 3 INT's and 0 TD's in that game and we lost as a result so they could say "SEE, I told you this guy is a stiff!!!"

Tell me you didn't drop a load in your drawers when he threw that TD to Patten.

It's ok to admit it, really it is.

I dont understand your thinking. You have a higher opinion of Bledsoe than other fans. Why does that mean others HATE him? Why would that mean they wished he did poorly?

You are the one, if I remember correctly who chose to trash Cassell in order to make your pro-Bledsoe argument.

Bledsoe is what he is. I was a big Drew fan when he was here. I was thrilled he got his shot in the AFCC. I don't hate him, I just see him for what he was, and ultimately retrospect made his warts stand out.

 

[PATRIOT64]

Goes to show how ignorant and forgetful fans in here are

There were many in here who were ready to lick Bledsoe's nads during the latter part of the 90s because he was the savior of this team taking them from laughingstock to elite status and kept us in at least good to mediocre status thru 2001.

 

[BOSTN BEANER]

Its gota be Bledsoe... He went from being the starter to being a backup who helped coach Brady to be what he is today... Without Bledsoe being such a good teammate instead of whinning i dont think Brady would have been able to accomplish what he did that season or after that season... and dont forget Bledsoe stepped in in the AFC Championship game in 01 and threw a TD at the end of the first half when Brady went out with an injury and Bledsoe led the Pats to the AFC Championship victory..

 

[Ring 6]

Its gota be Bledsoe... He went from being the starter to being a backup who helped coach Brady to be what he is today... Without Bledsoe being such a good teammate instead of whinning i dont think Brady would have been able to accomplish what he did that season or after that season... and dont forget Bledsoe stepped in in the AFC Championship game in 01 and threw a TD at the end of the first half when Brady went out with an injury and Bledsoe led the Pats to the AFC Championship victory..

But you are revising history. Bledsoe was actually a petulant, whining, self-indulged teammate who went ot the owner to try to get him to order the HC to let him start.
Under aboslutely no circumstances did Drew Bledsoe COACH Tom Brady. Bill Belichick did that, it is well-documented that Belichick met daily with Brady that season and was his direct coach and teacher.
I understand there are fond feelings toward Bledsoe around here, but why make things up to justify them?

 

[kierkegaard]

Why this is even a legitimate question boggles my mind. Drew would have been in the prime of his career in 2000, had he had the supporting cast that Cassel did, or had the Drew of 2000 been last year's quarterback his stats would have been much more comparable to Brady's of 07.

 

[Ring 6]

Goes to show how ignorant and forgetful fans in here are

There were many in here who were ready to lick Bledsoe's nads during the latter part of the 90s because he was the savior of this team taking them from laughingstock to elite status and kept us in at least good to mediocre status thru 2001.

OK, it is very troubling that you have thoughts of 'licking Bledsoe's nads' not that there is anything wrong with that.....
But I think the topic is who is backup QB on the team of the 00s.
So you would have to limit Bledsoe's evaluation to the 18 games that he led the team to a 5-13 record in.

 

[PATRIOT64]

Shows how forgetful and ignorant some fans are in here.

I can bet my bottom dollar that some of the fans in here mocking what Drew did for this team in 2000-2001 in this thread were the same azzwipes who were licking Drew's nads in the mid 90s.

What people forget was Drew was the anchor of pulling out this team from being a laughingstock around the league from his rookie season to almost Elite status in 2 years and then although the team went downward during the late 90s he still kept them in good to mediocre status during this time up until 2001.

Also some of us forget that a crap coach like Pete Carroll was a good reason why the team did not perform well or have a good offense like they did under Parcells.

Some of us forgot the miraculous comeback by Drew against Minnesota when he almost by himself brought the team back from a near unsurmountable lead by Minny to a victory and throwing 70 times and 45 completions to do it.

Drew had a lot of great games as a Patriot and yet even though we are talking about 2000 where Drew was playing his last games as a starter here, we still hear disrespect over a man who took New England from ashes to the mountaintop.

Realistically if you put Cassel and Bledsoe in the same time frame (2000-2001) - Cassel would not be able to carry Drews jockstrap .... I am done with this dumb comparison.

 

[Ring 6]

Why this is even a legitimate question boggles my mind. Drew would have been in the prime of his career in 2000, had he had the supporting cast that Cassel did, or had the Drew of 2000 been last year's quarterback his stats would have been much more comparable to Brady's of 07.

Clearly we disagree on that.
I don't know where the supporting cast argument comes from.
Bledsoe had Troy Brown, the best comparison the Wes Welker that ever existed and Terry Glenn who was a clear #1 quality WR.
Why did Brady take the same team that Bledsoe was 5-13 with and go 11-3 all the way to a champinship if the supporting cast was bad?
Bledsoe had a supporting cast that went on to win 11 of 14 and a SB as soon as he was replaced. Cassell took a team that hadn't won a SB in 4 years to a 11-5 record.

Supporting cast arguments may work when its close, but 5-13 and 11-5 are not close.

 

[Ring 6]

Shows how forgetful and ignorant some fans are in here.

I can bet my bottom dollar that some of the fans in here mocking what Drew did for this team in 2000-2001 in this thread were the same azzwipes who were licking Drew's nads in the mid 90s.

What people forget was Drew was the anchor of pulling out this team from being a laughingstock around the league from his rookie season to almost Elite status in 2 years and then although the team went downward during the late 90s he still kept them in good to mediocre status during this time up until 2001.

Also some of us forget that a crap coach like Pete Carroll was a good reason why the team did not perform well or have a good offense like they did under Parcells.

Some of us forgot the miraculous comeback by Drew against Minnesota when he almost by himself brought the team back from a near unsurmountable lead by Minny to a victory and throwing 70 times and 45 completions to do it.

Drew had a lot of great games as a Patriot and yet even though we are talking about 2000 where Drew was playing his last games as a starter here, we still hear disrespect over a man who took New England from ashes to the mountaintop.

Realistically if you put Cassel and Bledsoe in the same time frame (2000-2001) - Cassel would not be able to carry Drews jockstrap .... I am done with this dumb comparison.

You seem frightening obsessed with nads, jockstraps and 'azz' when discussing Bledsoe....

I don't get it. First, can we please dispense with this 'Bledsoe saved the franchise' crap.
Bill Parcells 'saved the franchise'. But guess what, if we were 4-12 every year from 1993-1999, it wouldn't make any difference because Belichick would have still shown up in 2000 and the rest is history. There was no 'saving' of the franchise, just a few years where we contended, just like the past.

5-11
10-6
6-10
11-5
10-6
9-7
8-8
5-11

Those are the Bledsoe years. For every Minnesota game you want to throw out there there was a 7-6 loss to Pitt in the playoffs when Bledsoe couldnt get the ball in the end zone with Terry Glenn, Sawn Jefferson, Troy Brown and Ben Coates to throw to, and where we lost because he got picked by 320lb DL.
Hey, I liked the guy. He gave us something to root for. But look up there, thats the legacy. We were up and down (.500 all told) for 4 years culminating in a 4 Int SB loss, then declined steadily until he was replaced.

It is what it is. Revising history and making genitalia-related insults doesnt change that.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Shows how forgetful and ignorant some fans are in here.

I can bet my bottom dollar that some of the fans in here mocking what Drew did for this team in 2000-2001 in this thread were the same azzwipes who were licking Drew's nads in the mid 90s.

What people forget was Drew was the anchor of pulling out this team from being a laughingstock around the league from his rookie season to almost Elite status in 2 years and then although the team went downward during the late 90s he still kept them in good to mediocre status during this time up until 2001.

Also some of us forget that a crap coach like Pete Carroll was a good reason why the team did not perform well or have a good offense like they did under Parcells.

Some of us forgot the miraculous comeback by Drew against Minnesota when he almost by himself brought the team back from a near unsurmountable lead by Minny to a victory and throwing 70 times and 45 completions to do it.

Drew had a lot of great games as a Patriot and yet even though we are talking about 2000 where Drew was playing his last games as a starter here, we still hear disrespect over a man who took New England from ashes to the mountaintop.

Realistically if you put Cassel and Bledsoe in the same time frame (2000-2001) - Cassel would not be able to carry Drews jockstrap .... I am done with this dumb comparison.

No, I think people are just living in reality on this thread. Drew did a ton for this franchise, and I liked him as a person and as a player, but he was a deeply flawed QB, and the game evolved past people like him. You can't be a slow, immobile QB who makes slow decisions in today's NFL.

When it's all said and done, I think that Cassel will be a better QB--for today's NFL--than Bledsoe could ever be. And Cassel's already a better QB for the type of game that Belichick likes to play (minimize mistakes, commit fewest penalties, and win on the little things) than Bledsoe ever was. Bledsoe was just a different type of QB.

And for all those awesome moments that you cited (and they were great), once again: how about you actually read the question that the OP was asking before you call anyone else an asswipe? The poster asked who the second best QB of the 2000s was. Pretty much every event that you mentioned happened in the 90s.

 

[Ring 6]

Realistically if you put Cassel and Bledsoe in the same time frame (2000-2001) - Cassel would not be able to carry Drews jockstrap .... I am done with this dumb comparison.

How much worse could it have been? We were 5-13 with Bledsoe. You seem to think there was something good to compare Cassell to.

 

[BOSTN BEANER]

But you are revising history. Bledsoe was actually a petulant, whining, self-indulged teammate who went ot the owner to try to get him to order the HC to let him start.
Under aboslutely no circumstances did Drew Bledsoe COACH Tom Brady. Bill Belichick did that, it is well-documented that Belichick met daily with Brady that season and was his direct coach and teacher.
I understand there are fond feelings toward Bledsoe around here, but why make things up to justify them?

Im not making things up, ive seen on so many different occasions that year Bledsoe during the game with a headset on, or on the sideline with Brady talking to him about a mistake he made or somethings that he could do better after the Pats stalled on a drive.. Bledsoe never went to the media and blew it up like a lot of people would have and it woulda torn the team apart.. sure he went to Kraft to try and get his job back as starter but he never went to the media when he was told no he wasnt gona be the starter and tried to sabotage the team. After Kraft said no thats Belichicks call not mine Bledsoe sucked it up and stayed quiet until the offseason and he helped Brady, maybe not as much as Belichick helped Brady but u gota believe that Bledsoe played some part in Brady being so good.. even if it was the simple fact that Brady sat on the bench and watched him play for a couple years, Bledsoe did help Brady somewhat to be the player he is.

 

[RDS11]

Those are the Bledsoe years. For every Minnesota game you want to throw out there there was a 7-6 loss to Pitt in the playoffs when Bledsoe couldnt get the ball in the end zone with Terry Glenn, Sawn Jefferson, Troy Brown and Ben Coates to throw to, and where we lost because he got picked by 320lb DL.

You might want to look at that 1997 playoff game again. Martin was injured and didn't play. Cullors was the starting HB. Glenn and Coates were both injured during the game and were not on the field on that last drive. Brown reputation wasn't that great in 97, in fact Brisby played more in that game.
Bledsoe and many shortcomings, but he played with a B team on offense that day.

 

[TheGodInAGreyHoodie]

Why this is even a legitimate question boggles my mind. Drew would have been in the prime of his career in 2000, had he had the supporting cast that Cassel did, or had the Drew of 2000 been last year's quarterback his stats would have been much more comparable to Brady's of 07.

Regarding the supporting cast.

Cassel did have basically the same teammates that Brady took to the SB and lost the SB with. With that cast of characters Cassel won 11 games and was a 3rd tie breaker from winning the division.

But Bledsoe had the same teammates Brady took to the SB and won. With that cast of charcters Bledsoe won 5 games in 2000 coming in 5th in the divsion and lost the first two games in 2001.

 

[Ring 6]

Shows how forgetful and ignorant some fans are in here.

I can bet my bottom dollar that some of the fans in here mocking what Drew did for this team in 2000-2001 in this thread were the same azzwipes who were licking Drew's nads in the mid 90s.

What people forget was Drew was the anchor of pulling out this team from being a laughingstock around the league from his rookie season to almost Elite status in 2 years and then although the team went downward during the late 90s he still kept them in good to mediocre status during this time up until 2001.

Also some of us forget that a crap coach like Pete Carroll was a good reason why the team did not perform well or have a good offense like they did under Parcells.

Some of us forgot the miraculous comeback by Drew against Minnesota when he almost by himself brought the team back from a near unsurmountable lead by Minny to a victory and throwing 70 times and 45 completions to do it.

Drew had a lot of great games as a Patriot and yet even though we are talking about 2000 where Drew was playing his last games as a starter here, we still hear disrespect over a man who took New England from ashes to the mountaintop.

Realistically if you put Cassel and Bledsoe in the same time frame (2000-2001) - Cassel would not be able to carry Drews jockstrap .... I am done with this dumb comparison.

You might want to look at that 1997 playoff game again. Martin was injured and didn't play. Cullors was the starting HB. Glenn and Coates were both injured during the game and were not on the field on that last drive. Brown reputation wasn't that great in 97, in fact Brisby played more in that game.
Bledsoe and many shortcomings, but he played with a B team on offense that day.

He could have gotten a TD. He could have avoided being picked by a 320 lb DL.
At some point if you want to call the guy great, you have to stop accepting excuses for horrible failure. 6 points all day in a playoff game, regardless of who the other 10 players are is awful. If you are a journeyman QB you can blame who was on the field with you, if you are supposed to be a star, you overcome it.
Antowain Smith, Troy Brown, Jermaine Wiggins, David Patten, Marc Edwards, Charles Johnson, Rod Rutldege, JR Redmond were the players that Brady led to a title.

 

[RDS11]

How much worse could it have been? We were 5-13 with Bledsoe. You seem to think there was something good to compare Cassell to.

Let see this year if Cassel can do anything in KC. For now, he has been in the league for 5 years with one good season. Bledsoe might not have been that great with the Pats in 2000-01, but once he got traded to Buffalo the team went from 3-13 to 8-8, threw for 23 TDs, 4300+ yards and went to the Pro Bowl. Never was one of the greatest QB, but each time he took over a team they did better with him than the guy before. Now it's Cassel turn to prove he can be good without an all-star cast.

Cassel's 11-5 record is the worst since 2002, so it's not like this is a great accomplishment. This is also the only QB I can think of who was benched during mop-up duty...