1999 Patriots Position Analysis: QBs
Follow us
Follow Us
🕑 Read Time: 6 minutes
Posted Under: 1999 Patriots Season
HOME > Patriots Blog > 1999 Patriots Season
This is the first of a multi-week series on the analysis of every position on the Patriots in 1999. This week’s subject: quarterbacks.
Did we once say that there is absolutely no quarterback controversy in New England?
For the moment? No. Positively not. It’s Drew Bledsoe and no one else, barring injury. Period.
For the moment.
Six months ago, as the Patriots headed to Smithfield to begin training camp for the 1999 season, Bledsoe was never more the man in charge than he was at that time. Fans remembered his heroic struggles with his broken finger in 1998, and those electrifying wins over Miami and Buffalo which proved to everyone that Bledsoe was indeed a man who could take us all the way.
The team welcomed all players to camp. Old ones. New ones. Big ones. Little ones. Mostly big ones.
Among the “new ones” were two heralded first round picks named Damien Woody and Andy Katzenmoyer. They drew all the fanfare back in April when they were chosen in the draft. Woody filled a huge hole at center, and Katzenmoyer surprised everyone by merely being available at 28. With second round pick Kevin Faulk, the Patriots had some intriguing youngsters coming in to camp this year, and it gave the fans hope that the Patriots would again contend for the playoffs in 1999.
The second day of any NFL draft is usually a forgettable day. Rounds four through seven come and go, and no one pays real attention outside of the teams themselves or the football fans who have no life. And that is why when the Patriots made the first of their two seventh-round selections, nobody made much of a big deal that the Patriots selected Kansas State quarterback Michael Bishop.
This is a man who guided the Wildcats to a 23-3 record in his tenure at Manhattan, Kansas. He finished second in the 1998 Heisman Trophy voting. But since the Patriots had Bledsoe, and since he was a seventh rounder, no one really thought much of the pick. Except to say “Yeah, he’ll just battle Jim Murphy for third string.” That is, unless you were one of the fans who said “Michael who?”
Bledsoe needed a backup. Scott Zolak, who played bravely but pitifully down the stretch in 1998, was let go. Enter veteran John Friesz, who would step in and be the solid backup Bledsoe needed. Now, if Bledsoe hurts his finger in 1999, the Patriots would be set. Patriot Nation breathed a little easier.
And so, the Patriots began exhibition season. Washington, Tampa Bay, Dallas and Carolina. The exhibition games revealed an offensive line that was more out of shape than the Pillsbury Dough Boy, and a run defense that paled to Hans Brinker and his talents. A nice-looking win over the Dallas scrubs was sandwiched between three anemic efforts against the other teams.
Anemic, that is, until the fourth quarters of each game.
The Washington opener might go down as one of the more important Patriot games of recent memory. For the first time since he was drafted in 1993, Bledsoe no longer was the lone focus at quarterback for the Patriots, and was no longer a player that you never dared benching. Bishop was unveiled, and every Patriot fan immediately stood up and took notice.
Bishop played in all fourth quarters. He turned on his new fans with his total package. He could run. He could throw. He looked unstoppable and unpredictable. You looked at him and thought “Slash”. Nowadays, with the decline of Kordell Stewart, you might look at Bishop and think “Steve Grogan with more speed and accuracy”.
Whatever the case, he became the talk of Patriot Nation in August. Folks loved Bishop. They wondered at how Pete Carroll and Ernie Zampese would use him in 1999. Third down slot receiver? Red zone quarterback? Option threat? The possibilities were interesting and fun to peruse.
As things turned out, Carroll and Zampese turned a blind eye to all these delusions. Bledsoe took all but two of his teams’ snaps in 1999, even in the final two meaningless games against Buffalo and Baltimore. Fans simmered over Carroll’s unwillingness to showcase Bishop, and Friesz became a totally forgotten figure on the Patriot sideline.
Actually, fans had been clamoring for Bishop all year. They wanted more of what they saw in August. They wanted to use Bishop to confuse defenses, the Jets’ in particular. When Bledsoe went into the tank after the bye week, the outcry for Bishop began to grow and grow.
This is something that Bledsoe never had to deal with in his Patriot tenure. Bledsoe was as sure as a sure thing gets. He was the clear and established leader of the team. But Patriot Nation was forgetting all that Bledsoe was capable of doing, and instead turning their attention on some rookie who had some fun in August against players who never made it to the regular season with those teams.
Bishop has yet to see NFL action against front-line NFL defenses. No one knows what his abilities are like in the real heat of battle. No one knows if Bishop can read NFL defenses and react properly. No one knows if he can take the pounding that Bledsoe took this year.
All Patriot Nation knows is that Bishop is dynamite against scrubs and players with no future. And that seems to be good enough for everyone.
So, going into 2000, with Bill Belichick and Charlie Weis aboard, what does this all mean for Bishop?
Weis made some comments recently about Bishop, and how intrigued he is by him and what he might be able to do. This set off Patriot Nation in a fit of glee. Before you pencil Bishop in as the new starting quarterback, take a few deep breaths and calm down.
Bledsoe will still be the starter, bar none. But Weis will perhaps look at Bishop very closely, and try and involve him in the offense in 2000. Bishop might be brought in for certain situations which, as Weis said, “might help us win a game”. In other words, Weis may implement Bishop in these “third down slot receiver” plays that we thought Zampese would use last year.
That’s fine. Bring up Bishop’s role in the offense. But you cannot ignore Bledsoe’s needs, and the fact that he still is the man and Bishop is not.
Belichick brought in Dick Rehbein to be the new quarterback coach. Rehbein is experienced, but in other areas of position coaching. It is important that he and Bledsoe hit it off, and that Bledsoe works on his technique with diligency this year. Part of Bledsoe’s problem lies in regaining his lost confidence, but he can use more tutelage in reading blitzes and cutting down on his tendencies to eat too many sacks.
Friesz will perhaps stick around, but it is likely that he could wind up as the number three man if Bishop proves to be more than just a novelty. Being backup to a man like Bledsoe is a tough job for anyone, but if Friesz gets knocked down a rung on the depth chart, he would be justified if he asked for a trade.
In evaluating the quarterbacks for the near future, it still comes back to Bledsoe, whether you like Bishop or not. True, Bledsoe looked just plain dismal in the final half of 1999. But you could lay the blame at the feet of several persons, most notably Carroll, Zampese, and anyone who tried to block for Bledsoe this year.
It is nice that Weis is willing to explore what Bishop can really do for this team other than to hold a clipboard. Bishop will play in NFLE this spring, after saying that he’d rather play baseball than go to Europe. Belichick, Weis and Rehbein will be looking closely at how Bishop does overseas, and it is hoped that Bishop will figure more prominently in the offensive plans of the Patriots this fall.
But the fortunes of the team still rest on Bledsoe’s shoulders. There is too much money tied up in him, and too much proven ability and experience to make a change at this time. Bledsoe still is every much the top quarterback on this team. What he lacks in mobility he more than makes up for in most every other area of expertise.
The coaching staff needs to develop a system that Bledsoe will succeed in, and put his supporting cast in roles that they can handle. If Bledsoe is not as harried by blitz after blitz like he was in 1999, you should see a fairly quick return to old form. And with Bledsoe’s number one defensive nemesis now on his side as the head man, that can only help.
And going further, if I were Bledsoe, I would swallow just a bit of pride and not complain if a key play for this situation and that situation involved Bishop at the helm. This is not to say that Bishop would make inroads on the starting job, just for certain specific situations that might be the key to victory in a particular game. Bishop perhaps won’t turn out to be an indefensible player, but who’s to say.
Right now, Bledsoe is tucked away in the boonies of Montana somewhere with Maura and his family. His wounds are healing, and hopefully so is his confidence.
Bishop will soon learn about such things as “Europass”, “Eurorail” and “Eurowomen”. He’ll be up to snuff on such things as how soon the countries over there will combine their monetary units into one unified currency, how Tony Blair feels about becoming a daddy again, and who’s the next fool brave enough to try and swim the channel. He’ll have to do his best to avoid Italy, and all that deliciously fattening food they got over there.
Friesz? No idea. Haven’t the foggiest. If he’s in the northern USA, he’s probably Friesz-ing. That’s the best I can do.
Next week: Running backs.
From our archive - this week all-time:
April 2 - April 17 (Through 26yrs)
Join 2,000+ fans getting exclusive stats, analysis, and insights delivered straight to their inbox every week. Never miss a play.