Today In Patriots History 20 years ago today… the legend begins with the Mo Lewis hit

[sb1]

20 years ago today....

New York Jets at New England Patriots - September 23rd, 2001 | Pro-Football-Reference.com

New York Jets 10 at New England Patriots 3 on September 23rd, 2001 - Full team and player stats and box score

www.pro-football-reference.com

 

[sb1]

The hit:


And Drew took a hit just like that in the AFC Championship game and that time he got right up as a FU to the Steelers. Loved how Brady was just as fired up about that.

 

[203Pat]

I still remember hearing that hit on TV. It was just an abrupt thud that sounded like Drew got hit with a bat. If I recall correctly he played the next series still. Bledsoe had his ups and downs but I always liked him and thought he was a big part of making this franchise relevant.

 

[Kontradiction]

Best thing to happen to this franchise. 5-11 in 2000 and an 0-2 start in 2001. Things were looking pretty bleak. Maybe Bill would have went to Tom eventually and maybe he wouldn’t have. Had he stuck with Bledsoe, it’s likely another disappointing season and then we all know how 2002 went even with Brady.

 

[Simpelton]

Lest we forget, Bledsoe took us to the Superbowl in 96, which for the Patriots at the time was the high water mark. He got beaten by Favre in his prime, but he still won enough to get us there which put him in pretty rarified air in the pre-Brady era..

 

[sb1]

Was it really a "genius" move of Bill to go to Brady?

I thought so at first but when you think about it - maybe it was a no brainer. I think a lot of coaches could have done the same.

 

[XLIX]

Was it really a "genius" move of Bill to go to Brady?

I thought so at first but when you think about it - maybe it was a no brainer. I think a lot of coaches could have done the same.

I am not entirely sure what you mean by this. Obviously when Drew Bledsoe got hit so hard that he could have died without medical attention then yes, most coaches not named Mike Tomlin would probably put the backup QB in to finish the game.

But let us not employ revisionist history. As the season progressed and Bledsoe recovered, Belichick was under TREMENDOUS pressure (from some) to give the starting job back to Bledsoe, and TREMENDOUS criticism (from some) when he didn't. An awful lot of coaches would not have stayed with Brady.

 

[sb1]

am not entirely sure what you mean by this. Obviously when Drew Bledsoe got hit so hard that he could have died without medical attention then yes, most coaches not named Mike Tomlin would probably put the backup QB in to finish the game.

Yes of course. Lol Tomlin.

I mean naming Brady the starter permanently even when Bledsoe was healthy again. Brady and the team were winning and then post Super Bowl the writing was on the wall. I know there was pressure but is Bill really the only coach that would stick with Brady while the team was winning? And while to be honest the team looked like night and day compared to the previous QB. I don't know if he is. Genius to me would be doing something crazy and off the wall and having it work. This isn't that crazy to me.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

I was at that game.
Emotional, as it was the post 9/11 game. And vs my most hated Jests. Jets flyover. Andruzzi NYFD brothers honored at halftime. Drew threw one of his archetypical INTs to a stand alone Jests LB. Most interesting was the Pats D causing Jests QB Green Testicles to fumble and Pats D recover the ball only to have the refs make up some BS Tuck Rule call I never heard of and give the ball back to the Jete. I was wicked pissed!
An original Brady's Lady from summer camp where out of work that summer I watched Drew get outplayed by the FNG Brady, but when Drew was injured and we lost, starting the season 0-2 I forgot everything I'd seen and remarked to my buddy, "Season's OVAH!!!"

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Drew played one more drive too, before finally agreeing to come out

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Was it really a "genius" move of Bill to go to Brady?

I thought so at first but when you think about it - maybe it was a no brainer. I think a lot of coaches could have done the same.

The team averaged 8ppg more under Brady than Bledsoe. No brainer.

Similar to 2007/08 averaging 10 ppg more with Brady than Casell or the 2016 team averaging 10 ppg more with Brady than Garopollo/Brissett.

 

[sb1]

I still remember hearing that hit on TV. It was just an abrupt thud that sounded like Drew got hit with a bat. If I recall correctly he played the next series still. Bledsoe had his ups and downs but I always liked him and thought he was a big part of making this franchise relevant.

2:08:20 - you're right about the sound of the impact. As brutal as any hit I've ever heard. Yep he did play the series after.

Forgot Milloy was hurt too afterward

 

[RobertWeathers]

Sorry but i'm not big on this day as Drew came within an hour or so of dying.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

But he didn't so I'm OK with that. Moe Lewis Rocks.

 

[sb1]

Sorry but i'm not big on this day as Drew came within an hour or so of dying.

BB on Drew going back out for another series: “I shouldn’t have put him out there,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said in his postgame press conference. “Watching him play, he wasn’t himself. He got his bell rung. When I went over to him he seemed coherent and said he was O.K. But after watching him I didn’t think he was. I told him what decision I had made. He understood.”

Wise decision I'd say.

 

[sb1]

Bledsoe's brush with death that launched Tom Brady

The famous hit on Drew Bledsoe that launched Tom Brady's career also served as a valuable lesson for the sports medicine community.

www.si.com

“He just couldn't get comfortable, so I took him into the locker room,” says Gill. “Drew’s a very laid back guy. And he was just not himself. Even in kind of the wildest game situations, he was always kind of laid back. I remember him being in the locker room and being really agitated. And his brother [Adam] came in to see what had happened. And he was like, ‘Come on, let’s get you out of here, let’s get you home. I don’t want the media seeing you, I don’t want people taking pictures of you hurt. Let’s get you out before too many people start bugging you about what’s wrong.’

“Drew starts to pack up and get ready but he just wasn’t himself. He kept saying, ‘My shoulder hurts, my shoulder hurts.’ I said, ‘Wait a minute, let’s just settle down and figure out what’s going on.’

“I started examining him and it was pretty clear to me that his shoulder was not the main issue. I actually thought he may have had an abdominal injury or ruptured his spleen and I called our internist over, Jim Dineen, to look at him as well. I said, ‘I think something’s going on with his abdomen. Could be his chest, but I think it’s probably a ruptured spleen.’ Our internist looked at him and said, ‘Yeah, I agree. There’s something going on here.’ Then we took his vital signs and his pulse was high, and he was breathing kind of rapidly. We got the ambulance in, we told his brother to step out for a second. We put him into the ambulance for Mass General.”

At that point, Gill called a colleague and former Harvard classmate, David Berger, at home. This wasn’t a “Hey, what did you think of the game?” chat between old college buddies.

“I said, ‘Can you meet Drew over at MGH emergency room? I think something bad happened, like he ruptured his spleen. But can you take a look at him?’ And he said, ‘Sure,’” says Gill.

Bledsoe had suffered a hemothorax, and his abdomen was filling with blood.

“Drew could have died,” says Gill. “He ended up having about three liters of blood in his chest. He had torn one of the blood vessels behind his rib that was then pumping blood into his chest. They got a CAT scan of his belly, and you can see the bottom of the lung fields and they could see that was filled with fluid. So then they extended the study up the chest and saw what the problem was. They were able to drain the blood out and immediately once that happened, he started feeling better, his breathing was under control, his blood pressure stabilized. But it was really dicey. I don't even think Drew knows how serious it was. But he really could have died.”

 

[RobertWeathers]

BB on Drew going back out for another series: “I shouldn’t have put him out there,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said in his postgame press conference. “Watching him play, he wasn’t himself. He got his bell rung. When I went over to him he seemed coherent and said he was O.K. But after watching him I didn’t think he was. I told him what decision I had made. He understood.”

Wise decision I'd say.

That's not my point.

 

[203Pat]

Sorry but i'm not big on this day as Drew came within an hour or so of dying.

I don't necessarily like celebrating Mo Lewis and what happened to Drew as I was a kid and a huge Drew fan but it is definitely a strange part of the Brady story. Even looking back on it now that year still seemed like a a fairy tale. Starting 0-2, Drew going down, Patten unconscious on the sideline with the ball under his leg, the snow, the tuck rule. I still remember where I was for a lot of those games even 20 years later.

 

[oldrover]

20 years ago today....

New York Jets at New England Patriots - September 23rd, 2001 | Pro-Football-Reference.com

New York Jets 10 at New England Patriots 3 on September 23rd, 2001 - Full team and player stats and box score

www.pro-football-reference.com

One hit... changing franchise history... kind of eerie.

 

[reflexblue]

But he didn't so I'm OK with that. Moe Lewis Rocks.

What ever happened to Mo Lewis Rocks, and for that matter Icy Patriot?