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Well said. Bledsoe - likely to this day - feels that if he had been in any of those games that season, and in subsequent seasons with the team that was built in New England, he would have been as successful, if not more successful than Brady.
While I'd disagree with his assessment, the fact that he potentially believes that is what I'd expect from Bledsoe - and is in part why I've always liked and admired Bledsoe.
He was a tough, talented QB - and could well have brought us a Super Bowl. But the bottom line is that Brady was better - therefore things also worked out exactly as they should have as far as I'm concerned.
With me the fact that he believes that is why it could never be, here or elsewhere. One of the big differences between Drew and Tom was while one was confident the other was arrogant and entitled. Tom never had anything handed to him, beyond a shot at proving his critics wrong. He always believed he could, but he also acknowledged they were on point in most every criticism of him and therefore he committed to improving his game right down to the minutae at every level, even including after he was in posession of multiple rings. Drew got this far based on a perception that his talent alone made him special. He was no slouch in season, but he preferred to fish in the off season. He never believed he had anything pressing to work on. It was always the organization that needed to step up it's game.
We did see that it wasn't totally impossible for him improve his own individual performance when committed to doing so in the first half of Buffalo's 2002 season. But like another entitled gunslinger we all know and love...he could never wrap his head around the real need to do that consistently. Give him a motive like revenge and he could and would at least ramp up his preparation at the outset. But once he re-established himself as a starter, he rapidly reverted to entitlement form.
One of the reasons I respected Favre when he FIRST retired was he acknowledged in his initial farewell address that after just one season of that committment level he couldn't do what guys like Brady and Manning do, it was too mentally draining and it took all the joy out of football for him even as it paid off for his team on the field. Of course that is also one of the reasons I now detest Favre, since after further evaluation he has chosen to essentially perpetuate a fraud. At least Drew opted to exit the game (although the fact that after Dallas as a FA no one was chasing him with a starters job probably facilitated his decision making.)
Smart organizations and savvy HC's like the one here will take the guy with a hair less measurables and a boatload more intangibles any day. One may have a slightly higher floor while the other has a much higher and more sustainable ceiling.











