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

[Water Boy]

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...

If not for Brady, he'd probably be considered the best QB in Pats history. He absolutely put up monster numbers. He played with pin in his finger. He was a class act.

 

[Grogan14]

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

true. But great should be reserved for players who consistently excel over a prolonged period.
In my opinion "great" is an overused word

 

[Bill Lee]

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

We mostly agree. It's just the degree of goodness/greatness that we do not agree on. I feel Drew is very good, but not great. I feel he was a huge factor in putting the Patriots franchise on the right path. I feel we would not have gotten to SB36 without him. I'm perfectly happy with him in the Patriots HOF. I would like him in the NFL HOF but I understand why that isn't going to happen. I say this without comparing him to Brady. It's OK if we don't agree.

 

[Grogan14]

If not for Brady, he'd probably be considered the best QB in Pats history. He absolutely put up monster numbers. He played with pin in his finger. He was a class act.

Absolutely not....That would be Babe Parilli

 

[Water Boy]

I really liked "The Blade" Tony Collins.

https://youtu.be/Ux8ZxNv8WdQ?si=Mpq-5Six7_gdLNxp

 

[TheRainMaker]

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?

I've been going back in time and watching 90s's games and you can see the difference when Parcells was there to when Carroll was there and even in Bill's early years. Bledsoe's mechanics were getting very sloppy by 1999 and it's only standing out now because Brady has warped our minds with his level of play.

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.

Bledsoe had a fine year in Buffalo in 2002, but even then he looked really shaky and he struggled after that.

 

[Steve102]

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

Great is a relative term IMO. Greats of the game is one group. Greats of all sport is another. Bledsoe is in neither. Brady has so far eclipsed everyone else. He's in a class with Michael Jordan, Babe Ruth, Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Muhammad Ali. Bledsoe is seated at the table with Matt Ryan, Phillip Rivers, Jim Kelley, Boomer Esiason and Maybe Rich Gannon. Still really really good, but not great.

 

[Pape]

Bledsoe's mechanics were getting very sloppy by 1999 and it's only standing out now because Brady has warped our minds with his level of play.

I'd say he really fell off in '98... Ernie Zampese was sleep waking thru the job in the late 90's...

 

[TheRainMaker]

I'd say he really fell off in '98... Ernie Zampese was sleep waking thru the job in the late 90's...

I agree. I noticed it then, but ignored it. However, it was glaring for me in 1999.

Zampese was living off the Dallas success.

 

[maust]

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...

I think that's where the bullet hits the bone when it comes to Bledsoe, it's about 'here'. After the dog's breakfast of QB's that played for the Pats in the 2 years before Bledsoe arrived, Drew was great at just being a legit starter here. His presence made us feel like maybe there was at least hope the Pats could again become semi-respectable as an NFL team after trotting out combinations of Zo, Millen, Hodson, Wilson and f'n Carlson masquerading as starting QB's. For that reason alone Bledsoe qualifies in my mind as a lowercase 'great' Patriot

 

[sb1]

Felt like BB with the Jets created the book on defending Bledsoe. He seemed to struggle a lot against them in the late 90's.

 

[sb1]

I read that the Bills signed their backup QB to an extension with the expectation he'd start then traded for Bledsoe shortly after that lol.

That QB happens to be our old friend AVP. Heh.

 

[TheRainMaker]

Felt like BB with the Jets created the book on defending Bledsoe. He seemed to struggle a lot against them in the late 90's.

Yep. It was the MNF game in 1999 that started it all. Teams copied that and focused their pressure up the middle. With that said, their team were 2 kicks away from being 10-6 and even 11-5 had they not collapsed against Miami at home.

 

[Nikolai]

I don't see how a player that they literally designed a new KO coverage formation around was "bad."

It wasn't a serious post lol

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

Mack Herron- average for 2 years ( 3.7 ypc) but at 5'5 he proven he could play but was a fumbling machine.

 

[1960Pats]

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.

Drew was overrated because of where he was drafted.

 

[Grogan14]

Mack Herron- average for 2 years ( 3.7 ypc) but at 5'5 he proven he could play but was a fumbling machine.

I loved mini mack, he was dynamic and fun to watch

 

[Grogan14]

I'd say he really fell off in '98... Ernie Zampese was sleep waking thru the job in the late 90's...

Bledsoe while on pats 166 touchdowns, 138 interceptions.

 

[Pape]

Bledsoe while on pats 166 touchdowns, 138 interceptions.

from the AFL/NFL merger to 1992, the Patriots qualified for the playoffs 5 times... In the first 8 years ('93-'00) of Bledsoe's run, the Patriots qualified for the playoffs 4 times... I am not going to add 2001 to the mix because Brady lead that charge, but it has to be acknowledged that Bledsoe absolutely contributed to the playoff run...

Bledsoe elevated this franchise... He ranks second in the pantheon of Patriot QBs, firmly behind the GOAT, but well ahead of everyone else... He's great in my book Sam... ymmv on that but i don't think there is an argument you could make to dissuade me from that opinion...

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

I loved mini mack, he was dynamic and fun to watch

Led the league in kickoff returns on 73.... Unfortunately life after football wasnt kind to him...