Great/average/bad all time Pats players who the fan base loved or hated

[PATSYLICIOUS]

by me... i hated the way he ran

I liked him for a while in 2013 but he would disappear in the playoffs and it would piss me off (unless we were playing the colts who even that jonas/jonah guy could run all over). His fumble against Atlanta was a killer and i also remember the first drive of that game was a 3 and out because he had one of the softest rushes ive ever seen on 3rd and inches

 

[NFL Mystique]

Maybe I am arguing semantics over what "great" constitutes. But...if Brady is "great", Bledsoe should not be "great". Brady's worst season would be a top three season for Bledsoe. Other teams feared the ball in Brady's hands at the end of a game. The fear was real and Brady delivered consistently. Not to mention Brady won league MVP's and wasn't inferior to Manning, Rodgers etc.

Was Bledsoe ever considered the best of the best? I don't think he was in that Favre/Young/Marino group. He didn't necessarily make good players great. Or average players good. Brady did. Over and over again.

 

[Bill Lee]

Coaches:

Fairbanks (loved, good)
Erhardt (divided, average - he's a better OC)
Meyer (divided, anyone that triggers Shula with the snowplow is automatically "great" by my ranking)
Berry (divided, good)
MacPherson (hated, bad)
Rust: (hated, bad)
Tuna: (loved until he left, great)
Pete: (divided, not ready for prime time)
BB: (loved, one of the coaching GOATs)
Mayo: ( lol, )

Should probably bring in some assistant coaches to that: Scar, Weiss, BB's two sons, etc.

 

[sb1]

Maybe I am arguing semantics over what "great" constitutes. But...if Brady is "great", Bledsoe should not be "great". Brady's worst season would be a top three season for Bledsoe. Other teams feared the ball in Brady's hands at the end of a game. The fear was real and Brady delivered consistently. Not to mention Brady won league MVP's and wasn't inferior to Manning, Rodgers etc.

Was Bledsoe ever considered the best of the best? I don't think he was in that Favre/Young/Marino group. He didn't necessarily make good players great. Or average players good. Brady did. Over and over again.

Good points, that thought crossed my mind too. Even for bad... there's Bailey Zappe "bad" where at least he won a few games as a starter vs Cassius Marsh bad where he did nothing except trash talk the Patriots after he left.

I'd consider Bledsoe "great" with respect to the Patriots franchise and how he was perceived throughout the league. Brady could be a ranking or 10 above that but not many players would be in the same category.

 

[NFL Mystique]

Good points, that thought crossed my mind too. Even for bad... there's Bailey Zappe "bad" where at least he won a few games as a starter vs Cassius Marsh bad where he did nothing except trash talk the Patriots after he left.

Yeah it's just semantics I guess.

There are different tiers of "great". Brady is "GREATTT". Bledsoe is at least three tiers below and "Great".

In NFL circles, Bledsoe would be looked at as a very good QB. Maybe like a Matt Ryan or Stafford guy. But never generational great like Brady.

 

[Real fan 02]

Tebow (loved*, bad)

*by the Tebowites. Hi Christiancat!

Redirect Notice

 

[TheRainMaker]

Was Bledsoe ever considered the best of the best? I don't think he was in that Favre/Young/Marino group.

He was considered among the best for a very short period of time between 1997-1999. Tom has played at such a high level it changes our perspective on Bledsoe and scrutinize others.

 

[TheRainMaker]

Not sure if BJGE was mentioned. He seemed to be well liked by fans even though he was pedestrian.

Jordan Richards was hated the day he was drafted.

N’Keal Harry got turned on pretty quickly due to his poor attitude and lack of urgency /motivation.

Myles Bryant, Eric Alexander and Steve Martin are others that came to mind that were hated.

 

[Pape]

Damn, almost forgot:
Mark Henderson loved/great

you win the thread with that one, lmfao

 

[Bill Lee]

Yeah it's just semantics I guess.

There are different tiers of "great". Brady is "GREATTT". Bledsoe is at least three tiers below and "Great".

In NFL circles, Bledsoe would be looked at as a very good QB. Maybe like a Matt Ryan or Stafford guy. But never generational great like Brady.

The game was changing. Drew was a true pocket passer in the era when 'dink and dunk' was becoming more and more in vogue. Drew was lanky and slow. He made Brady look mobile. He had a cannon arm, and liked to use it, perhaps more than he should. Also he was put into the position of needing to do something special to win perhaps more than he should have, especially in the Carrol era. He had a big contract for the era, and perhaps that pressured him to try to play hero ball. Yet he was tough as nails and a real game changer for the Patriots franchise. He went on to BUF and DAL and didn't do much, which is a good way to answer the question about if he was a generational talent or not, he wasn't.

He was considered among the best for a very short period of time between 1997-1999. Tom has played at such a high level it changes our perspective on Bledsoe and scrutinize others.

True. It makes it easier to forget that the tide really began turning for the franchise in the BP era. When BB showed up, many of the pieces he used to put together the 2001 team were already in place. BB had the cast-iron balls to keep Brady in when Drew was coming back from injury, but Drew saved our bacon in the AFC title game vs Pittsburgh.

 

[Pape]

Maybe I am arguing semantics over what "great" constitutes. But...if Brady is "great", Bledsoe should not be "great". Brady's worst season would be a top three season for Bledsoe. Other teams feared the ball in Brady's hands at the end of a game. The fear was real and Brady delivered consistently. Not to mention Brady won league MVP's and wasn't inferior to Manning, Rodgers etc.

Was Bledsoe ever considered the best of the best? I don't think he was in that Favre/Young/Marino group. He didn't necessarily make good players great. Or average players good. Brady did. Over and over again.

Great does not mean perfect... Was Drew perfect? no.... Was he great? You bet your damn bippies he was...

In the early to mid 90's Bledsoe was building himself into a great QB... he was throwing the eff out of the ball, and once he tamed those INT's he was really a powerhouse QB... He was a top 3 or 5 qb thru 97... right up there with the Favre/Young/Marino... after Pete came here, he fell off a bit, out of the top 5... what made Bledsoe great was that he carried the truly rebuilding Patriots on his back starting as a rookie... He is a cornerstone foundation player in New England

and saying Bradys worst season would not be a top 3 season for Drew, I have to ask - by what metric?

 

[maust]

Yeah it's just semantics I guess.

There are different tiers of "great". Brady is "GREATTT". Bledsoe is at least three tiers below and "Great".

In NFL circles, Bledsoe would be looked at as a very good QB. Maybe like a Matt Ryan or Stafford guy. But never generational great like Brady.

 

[Patjew]

I loved Givens and Branch. Good and very good, respectively IMO.

 

[Bill Lee]

In the early to mid 90's Bledsoe was building himself into a great QB... he was throwing the eff out of the ball, and once he tamed those INT's he was really a powerhouse QB... He was a top 3 or 5 qb thru 97... right up there with the Favre/Young/Marino... after Pete came here, he fell off a bit, out of the top 5... what made Bledsoe great was that he carried the truly rebuilding Patriots on his back starting as a rookie... He is a cornerstone foundation player in New England

To me your write-up reads as a description of very good, not great. As above, I think a great QB would have been able to move on to BUF and DAL and elevate those teams too. He played pretty well (but not great) for a year for each of them, then fell off a cliff and got released by both of them. I also wrote he was a game-changer for the Patriots franchise, but IMO this doesn't qualify him as great across all QB careers.

 

[sb1]

To me your write-up reads as a description of very good, not great. As above, I think a great QB would have been able to move on to BUF and DAL and elevate those teams too. He played pretty well (but not great) for a year for each of them, then fell off a cliff and got released by both of them. I also wrote he was a game-changer for the Patriots franchise, but IMO this doesn't qualify him as great across all QB careers.

Understandable that an aging Bledsoe would lose his starting job to a young Tony Romo but losing his starting job to JP Losman in Buffalo? Weird.

"Drew's" blog cracked me up back in the day: TonyHomo.com: Drew Bledsoe's Blog

"NBC = Need Bledsoe! C'mon!" lol

 

[Bill Lee]

Understandable that an aging Bledsoe would lose his starting job to a young Tony Romo but losing his starting job to JP Losman in Buffalo? Weird.

"Drew's" blog cracked me up back in the day: TonyHomo.com: Drew Bledsoe's Blog

"NBC = Need Bledsoe! C'mon!" lol

To me the Dallas situation was just as bizarre. The contract they gave him showed they thought he would be a franchise QB, not an aging dude playing out the string. His main achievement there was convincing them they needed to give Romo a shot at QB, another good but not great QB.

 

[Pape]

To me your write-up reads as a description of very good, not great. As above, I think a great QB would have been able to move on to BUF and DAL and elevate those teams too. He played pretty well (but not great) for a year for each of them, then fell off a cliff and got released by both of them. I also wrote he was a game-changer for the Patriots franchise, but IMO this doesn't qualify him as great across all QB careers.

I disagree. It takes most players a while to grow into being a great player... A lot of rookie QB's enter the league with the pressure of a rebuild forced upon them. Few have responded as well as Bledsoe did...

Don't make the mistake of comparing him to Brady - that's unfair to both of them... It strips Brady of his unique attributes (rivaled only by mahomie) and its not fair to Bledsoe because a player will always look worse when compared to the best to ever play the game... Brady would be on a level above great... He achieved GOAT status, ya know?

As for the rest of Bledsoe's career, quite frankly, I am not concerned with what happened after he left - just like I was not concerned with what Brady did after he walked away from New England... While he was here, Drew was top 3/5 QB in the league all day long. Took this team to a SB... If Tunas head had been in the game instead of being bent out of shape over having his ego bruised, we had a really good shot at beating the Packers - Reggie White be damned...

While he was here, Drew was a Great QB. If you disagree i dunno what to tell you except we view him in different lights...

 

[Grogan14]

I disagree. It takes most players a while to grow into being a great player... A lot of rookie QB's enter the league with the pressure of a rebuild forced upon them. Few have responded as well as Bledsoe did...

Don't make the mistake of comparing him to Brady - that's unfair to both of them... It strips Brady of his unique attributes (rivaled only by mahomie) and its not fair to Bledsoe because a player will always look worse when compared to the best to ever play the game... Brady would be on a level above great... He achieved GOAT status, ya know?

As for the rest of Bledsoe's career, quite frankly, I am not concerned with what happened after he left - just like I was not concerned with what Brady did after he walked away fromm New England... While he was here, Drew was top 3/5 QB in the league all day long. Took this team to a SB... If Tunas head had been in the game instead of being bent out of shape over having his ego bruised, we had a really good shot at beating the Packers - Reggie White be damned...

While he was here, Drew was a Great QB. If you disagree i dunno what to tell you...

He had some great games! But he was not consistently a great QB. Took a lot of sacks threw a lot of interceptions. Could not escape the pocket at all. Good guy and tough....but not a great QB.

 

[Pape]

He had some great games! But he was not consistently a great QB. Took a lot of sacks threw a lot of interceptions. Could not escape the pocket at all. Good guy and tough....but not a great QB.

not saying he did not have his faults. to quote myself "Great does not mean perfect".

 

[Grogan14]

Mosi Tatupu
Steve Grogan-
Ben Coates- borderline HOF
Andy Johnson

Fan favorites who were good players

Vilified
Tony Eason, Irving Fryar