Tom Brady, Drew Bledsoe reflect on pivotal hit 15 years later

[SVN]

Tom Brady, Drew Bledsoe reflect on pivotal hit 15 years later

lot of articles on this today
Drew Bledsoe and the Hit That Changed Everything | The MMQB with Peter King

Bledsoe's brush with death that launched Tom Brady

 

[patfanken]

I would like to think that people here would remember that Drew Bledsoe was a VERY good NFL QB. He might not have been Tom Brady, but he was the guy who led this franchise out of the "desert". Like Moses, he didn't get us to the "promised land", but pretty damned close.

And while we are talking about a QB missing a game, we should be thankful that for more than 2 decades we have had two of the toughest QB's in the league playing for this franchise.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Tom Brady, Drew Bledsoe reflect on pivotal hit 15 years later

lot of articles on this today
Drew Bledsoe and the Hit That Changed Everything | The MMQB with Peter King

Bledsoe's brush with death that launched Tom Brady

This is spooky.

15 years ago today Drew gets rocked by an AFC East linebacker and TB12 comes in.

Today Jimmy G goes down- by a linebacker in the AFCE East and JB plays.

 

[Foxypats]

Drew was mainly responsible for Gilette being built, he helped turn the franchise around and was a very good QB for a long time. I was in the camp that wanted him to regain his job and did not like the fact that this 'young punk' should just snatch it away from him. That seems like eons ago !

 

[oldrover]

This is spooky.

 

[Fencer]

Interesting tidbits from later on in the MMQB piece:

• Josh Kline looks to already be starting due to injury of the guy ahead of him.
• Arians says that he interfered with the defensive game plan vs. the Pats to an uncharacteristic extent, and that what went wrong is consequently his fault.

 

[pazrul72]

I love drew, incredibly exciting player to watch and he is one of the biggest reasons I am a pats fan today. Brady is clearly the better player and it's not even debatable and I wouldn't want anyone else leading the team in a game that matters. However from a pure entertainment standpoint, in like a pro bowl game or something like that, Drew is still my favorite. Tall, rocket arm, smart....just wish he had half of Tom's heart and dedication. Still impressive person and I got nothing but love and respect for #11.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

Ugh. How do I respond to this without piling up my dislikes and disagrees...probably impossible.

Offhand I cannot count the number of teams that progressed from 1-15 to Super Bowl champs, but it's several...to the consternation of franchises like Minnesota, Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo who've never won one. But, they all have long (and distinguished) histories.

Drew Blesdsoe was a big kid with a strong arm who was drafted #1, and played his best here. He was an above-average quarterback. He is by all accounts a nice man. Along with coach Parcells (and coach Belichick) he led a team to two home playoff victories en route to a Super Bowl appearance. He also seems to have handled being absolutely worshipped by Robert Kraft and Orthwein-bred* fans well, considering.

*JBO's declaration of ignorance accepting as fact the media's (and the league's) perpetration that the Patriots were somehow "special", "different", "worse" than any other team that lost veterans and leadership, and went through economic struggles and a bad stretch including a 1-15 season.

However it would eventually (mercifully) happen, Bledsoe leaving was going to coincide with us turning toward being seriously competitive. It just so happened, that his immediate replacement was well, probably the GOAT. I have nothing personal against Drew, any more than I have against Neil Lomax, or Tony Eason.

I've made a couple of evaluations/ratings of Patriots' all time quarterbacks here, and while resume and accomplishments are taken into account, the big factor is chances of winning the ball game. Hey, I rooted for the Bruins in the 80's too, and the Red Sox in the 90's, but I never kidded myself.

In terms of ability, toughness and leadership, Bledsoe is not in the same class as Parilli, Plunkett or Grogan.

 

[farn]

Bledsoe came in to finish the Pitt game - in Pitt - to help the team get to the SB. He isn't Brady, but some have underrated him.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

Robert Kraft - alone - built CMGI Field. And of course I saw the '02 AFCCG. We barely hung on. Very nice story about him getting back in there, throwing a TD, contributing.

 

[oldrover]

This thread is incomplete without:

And... to be fair... from the 2001 AFCCG...

Drew gave us hope. Tom gave us hardware.

 

[SVN]

Bledsoe deserves a lot of credit for the way he came in the 2001 AFCCG and took over brady. His TD to patten was absolute beauty. But as the game went on, he threw more than a few balls which shouldve been intercepted. The final result obviously is what matters but he wasnt like great/perfect in that game throughout IIRC.

 

[Uptown]

Really appreciate Bledsoe, but thank the Dear Lord for Mo Lewis & **** Rehbein!

 

[XLIX]

To quote one of the resident geniuses (I believe it was Felger):

"Is it possible to have a collapsed lung and then not have a collapsed lung?"