Patriots QBs before Tom Brady

[p8ryts]

Great trip down memory lane. I saw them all.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

In the beginning there was nothing...

 

[maust]

In the beginning there was nothing...

And on the 8th day...

 

[sb1]

I think Matt Cavanaugh should have had his own MC12 brand.

 

[Simpelton]

That said, Steve Grogan was an absolute stud in his day.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

The first QB I remember was Tommy Hodson, TH13. He went 1-11. Being born in 82, I was 8 or 9 at the time, and I remember thinking, wow, quarterbacking is really hard, and even though Hodson sucked in retrospect (1-11 as a starter), I thought it was awesome watching him play just because he was the quarterback. Looking back now at pro-footballreference, looks like I missed Marc Wilson, who went 1-9. Epic TOURCH passing from Wilson to Hodson.

I remember the 91 season because my dad was all excited about "Coach Mac" **** MacPherson, and he was this old guy who got really excited. Improved from 1-15 to 6-10 under the great Hugh Millen, HM7. Looking back, I wonder what the twitter world would have done with poor Hugh since his name is just ripe for some type of "humiliation" nickname. Millen came crashing down to earth in 1992 with an 0-7 start, and there was a trio of bad QBs in Millen, Hodson, and Zolak all competing for the starting job. They were all terrible, but at the time I thought one of them must be good.

Of course there was the immortal Scott Secules, who started four games in Bledsoe's rookie year and went 0-4.

So of course when Bledsoe was drafted, I thought he was probably the best QB of all-time.

 

[Hyped]

Born in '73....

All I know is Grogan-Brady.

And yes.... @Ice_Ice_Brady I was also stoked about the McPherson/Millen Pats....6-10 was such an incredible achievement for us back then....amazing!

 

[stephens44]

It always bugged me that Flutie was a winner when he played here, but the brain trust decided to go with Eason and a hobbled Grogan back up instead.
I still feel that the current era was built off of the Kraft-Parcells-Bledsoe foundation, and Drew did win us 2 AFC Championship games.

 

[ivanvamp]

That said, Steve Grogan was an absolute stud in his day.

He really wasn't. He was tough as nails, a terrific athlete, but never an "absolute stud". He never made a single pro bowl, never made all-pro, and only one time in his entire career did he lead the NFL in any major passing category: 1979, he led the league with 28 touchdown passes. (he did lead the league in 1980 in yards per attempt, but that's the kind of stat that never gets seen by the public really)

He was a very good runner though. From 1976-1979 he rushed for 1,628 yards, 6.1 yards per attempt, and a whopping 20 touchdowns. So definitely gets credit for that. But consider 1979. He threw for 3,286 yards, ran for 368 more, but got sacked for 341 yards in losses. So he accounted for 3,313 total yards. That was his best season overall. And it was a fine season. But even then he threw 20 interceptions and had 12 (!) fumbles. So in his best season production-wise, he committed *32* turnovers.

So we all love Grogan and in his day was a perfectly fine NFL quarterback, and I have many fond memories of him. But he was never an "absolute stud".

 

[p8ryts]

He really wasn't. He was tough as nails, a terrific athlete, but never an "absolute stud". He never made a single pro bowl, never made all-pro, and only one time in his entire career did he lead the NFL in any major passing category: 1979, he led the league with 28 touchdown passes. (he did lead the league in 1980 in yards per attempt, but that's the kind of stat that never gets seen by the public really)

He was a very good runner though. From 1976-1979 he rushed for 1,628 yards, 6.1 yards per attempt, and a whopping 20 touchdowns. So definitely gets credit for that. But consider 1979. He threw for 3,286 yards, ran for 368 more, but got sacked for 341 yards in losses. So he accounted for 3,313 total yards. That was his best season overall. And it was a fine season. But even then he threw 20 interceptions and had 12 (!) fumbles. So in his best season production-wise, he committed *32* turnovers.

So we all love Grogan and in his day was a perfectly fine NFL quarterback, and I have many fond memories of him. But he was never an "absolute stud".

Grogan was tough and an excellent runner. His passing was inconsistent. When he was ON he was great but he had games where the ball sailed on him. The trajectory would inexplicably rise after about 20 yards. That kept him from greatness.

 

[RobertWeathers]

That said, Steve Grogan was an absolute stud in his day.

He was a bad ass but lets stop short of anointing him as a great QB

 

[RobertWeathers]

It always bugged me that Flutie was a winner when he played here, but the brain trust decided to go with Eason and a hobbled Grogan back up instead.
I still feel that the current era was built off of the Kraft-Parcells-Bledsoe foundation, and Drew did win us 2 AFC Championship games.

Tuna instilled some of the philosophical approaches to football in Kraft and Bru, Mac, Law, etc but BB improved on it by 100X. I wouldn't give Tuna and Drew too much credit for what has been going on these last 19 years.

Drew played a role but was riding the D's coattails in both AFCCGs.

 

[Patjew]

Born in '73....

All I know is Grogan-Brady.

Same here.

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

No love for Joe Kapp?????

 

[Patjew]

7:20 - kinda looks like Tom, no?

 

[italian pat patriot]

I started with Eason and Grogan and happy like an hell to reach a Super Bowl appareance in that great run

When Bledsoe arrived i was so happy too...a new start a new hope...

BRADY is BRADY...

I forget Parilli as he playied in another hera

 

[Patstastic]

Bledsoe was a darn good QB. Gave the Pats a legitimate pro bowl caliber QB. Unfortunately he will always be overshadowed by Brady. That's who he is compared to.

 

[turkeyneck]

Thanks for posting this.

A bittersweet trip down memory lane for those of us who lived thru the whole thing.

What a wasteland of QBs between Babe Parilli and Steve "Turkeyneck" Grogan.

 

[p8ryts]

Thanks for posting this.

A bittersweet trip down memory lane for those of us who lived thru the whole thing.

What a wasteland of QBs between Babe Parilli and Steve "Turkeyneck" Grogan.

Brief flashes of competence from Plunkett and Eason.

 

[RayClay]

Babe Parilli held the all time record for TD passes in a season for 43 years, until Randy Moss came along.