Happy Mo Lewis Day

[Hombre]

14 years ago today, the play that changed everything.

The NYJ dealt NE Belichick the year before, launched Brady's unparalleled career on this historic anniversary.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNzd9Xd0who
 

 
 
Game recap:
 
http://espn.go.com/nfl/recap?gameId=210923017

 

[Ed Hillel]

Yay!

 

[caminante11]

That article was about the last time these words appeared in print:  "The Patriots don't have a great offense"

 

[E5 Yaz]

And it simultaneously ruined the market for unopened packages of Drew Bledsoe action figures

 

[IdiotKicker]

It's funny how Bledsoe actually looks mobile compared to Brady.

 

[Bongorific]

And it simultaneously ruined the market for unopened packages of Drew Bledsoe action figures

I have found great use for mine.

 

[tims4wins]

BB: I really dont think Im going to be standing here week after week talking about the problems that Tom Brady had. I have confidence in him.

Bob Kravitz: The number tells me three things:

* The Colts have moved up to the national A list of serious Super Bowl contenders.

* The Patriots, who stunk when Drew Bledsoe still was in possession of all his internal organs, will be woeful with somebody named Tom Brady.

* The Colts ought to win this game. Easily.

 

[DJnVa]

He had his flaws, but Bledsoe helped bring this franchise back.
 
  

 

[CaptainLaddie]

Drew Bledsoe's the second best QB (sorry Grogan) in NE history and a top-10 all-time franchise player.
 
Anyone who ever shits on Drew Bledsoe deserves a fate worse than death.  He was one of the biggest reasons this franchise had relevance, probably second after Bob Kraft.

 

[SeoulSoxFan]

Shitting on Bledsoe is a tell-tale sign of a Pats Pink Hat.

 

[Koufax]

I think highly of Drew Blesoe but its hard for me to let go of Steve Grogan.  He wasn't as talented at throwing the ball, but he called his own plays and was a great leader.  At least that's how it seemed from the cheap seats.  OK,OK, Bledsoe was better.  But Grogan was close.

 

[Marciano490]

Drew Bledsoe's the second best QB (sorry Grogan) in NE history and a top-10 all-time franchise player.
 
Anyone who ever shits on Drew Bledsoe deserves a fate worse than death.  He was one of the biggest reasons this franchise had relevance, probably second after Bob Kraft.

Yeah this thread is pretty shitty. Happy day a genuinely good guy who kept the franchise relevant, played through shitty teams and took the Pats to their first Super Bowl in my conscious years got his lung punctured and almost died so Tom Brady could come in and win more football games while Bledsoe graciously stepped aside. Hooray!

 

[Rasputin]

You can celebrate the start of a glorious career without it being a denigration of the career that preceeded it.

 

[E5 Yaz]

Who shit on Bledsoe?

 

[DeJesus Built My Hotrod]

Drew Bledsoe's the second best QB (sorry Grogan) in NE history and a top-10 all-time franchise player.
 
Anyone who ever shits on Drew Bledsoe deserves a fate worse than death.  He was one of the biggest reasons this franchise had relevance, probably second after Bob Kraft.

 

Shitting on Bledsoe is a tell-tale sign of a Pats Pink Hat.

 

Yeah this thread is pretty shitty. Happy day a genuinely good guy who kept the franchise relevant, played through shitty teams and took the Pats to their first Super Bowl in my conscious years got his lung punctured and almost died so Tom Brady could come in and win more football games while Bledsoe graciously stepped aside. Hooray!

 
These posts are spot on.  I recall the first Patriots pre-season game that Drew QB'd being a big deal for the franchise - for the first time in essentially an NFL generation, the Patriots had a legit blue-chip QB and not some cast-off or wanna-be.  People forget that he handled the loss of his job due to injury with class and dignity.  And don't forget that without him, the Patriots may not have defeated Pittsburgh in the 2002 AFCG that got them to the Superbowl vs the Rams.  He came in for Brady and while he wasn't lights-out, he did enough to win the game.  
 
What I am trying to say is, screw Mo Lewis, even if he inadvertently ushered in the glorious era of TB12 

 

[Pilgrim]

Drew Bledsoe owns.  This thread is now a Bledsoe appreciation zone.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQFsjlzZQig
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zchF-gvGla8

 

[Pilgrim]

hell yes
 
https://youtu.be/8vEYZldnRz8?t=840

 

[DeJesus Built My Hotrod]

hell yes
 
https://youtu.be/8vEYZldnRz8?t=840

 
I just watched that whole thing and it was so, so awesome.  Bledsoe was good enough, I heart Troy Brown and Tebucky Jones and the rest of that completely underrated defense and the scrappy offense was just so fun to watch.  Stewart aside, that Pittsburgh team was insanely talented. 

 

[Papelbon's Poutine]

 
 
 
These posts are spot on.  I recall the first Patriots pre-season game that Drew QB'd being a big deal for the franchise - for the first time in essentially an NFL generation, the Patriots had a legit blue-chip QB and not some cast-off or wanna-be.  People forget that he handled the loss of his job due to injury with class and dignity.  And don't forget that without him, the Patriots may not have defeated Pittsburgh in the 2002 AFCG that got them to the Superbowl vs the Rams.  He came in for Brady and while he wasn't lights-out, he did enough to win the game.  
 
What I am trying to say is, screw Mo Lewis, even if he inadvertently ushered in the glorious era of TB12 

I love Drew Bledsoe with fire of a thousand suns. He was my first real home team football star and to this day his name or number are incorporated with many passwords or pins or whatever. The man will always be a hero to me. I was one of the ones saying they should keep him because Brady was nothing more than a younger Trent Dilfer at the time of the trade and was heartbroken to see him go.

That being said, if you read Patriot Reign, while he handled it well with the media, he didn't apparently handle it so well in the locker room. I don't blame him one bit, but the man was certainly not a saint when it came to losing his job.

Again, I don't begrudge him one bit because end of day he supported Brady at the same time, he's since said BB made the right call and there nothing more that I enjoyed than seeing him sub in in that Pitt game to at least contribute. He kept his shit to a minimum and I love the dude for it.

God bless Drew Bledsoe. I wish they hadn't given Edelman your number because I always wanted to see it retired.

 

[Hombre]

Absolutely loved Drew Bledsoe. He, along with Kraft and Parcells, brought legitimacy to this franchise. As good as he was, Brady taking the reigns for good has brought unparalleled success.

 

[johnmd20]

Yeah this thread is pretty shitty. Happy day a genuinely good guy who kept the franchise relevant, played through shitty teams and took the Pats to their first Super Bowl in my conscious years got his lung punctured and almost died so Tom Brady could come in and win more football games while Bledsoe graciously stepped aside. Hooray!

 
On a site that takes the time to annually celebrate the death of Thurman Munson and mocks those who memorialize 9/11, I think it's safe to say this isn't the thread that took this site beyond the pale.

 

[tims4wins]

Ya he was awesome
 
https://youtu.be/8vEYZldnRz8?t=17m7s

 

[chief1]

LOL!  I thought the video was going to be the INT he through at the end of the game against the Steelers when he though it right into the arms of, I believe it was Loyd. I dint remember how many times I said during a game, Bledsoe s...s. It would be revisionist history for me to now say he was great. Great statistics! Otherwise, not so much.

 

[NortheasternPJ]

Let's just be thankful they didn't draft this guy:
 

 
I have that card somewhere. I'm sure its worth a ton!
 
I loved Bledsoe. I now have memories of him patting the ball and throwing untimely interceptions, but as a kid he was by far my favorite player. I have a Bledsoe Bills jersey around here somewhere as well. 

 

[tims4wins]

Kevin Henry had the 1997 pick. In the pantheon of Bledsoe stupid decisions montage

 

[CaptainLaddie]

Let's just be thankful they didn't draft this guy:
 

 
I have that card somewhere. I'm sure its worth a ton!
 
I loved Bledsoe. I now have memories of him patting the ball and throwing untimely interceptions, but as a kid he was by far my favorite player. I have a Bledsoe Bills jersey around here somewhere as well. 

 
"Cause hype gets you Rick Mirer'd every single time"
 

 

[Dick Drago]

Read the ESPN article at the top, I'd completely forgotten Bledsoe played another series after the hit.  Particularly amazing after hearing the story about his internal injury, and how dangerous the injury actually was.

As for Grogan, I grew up loving the guy.  He just played too hard, he'd go out of his way to crash into guys when he was running.  I think if he hadn't hurt his knee he would have been a top-notch QB in his later days, since he was such a great leader and became a smarter player.  He just couldn't zip the ball as much with his neck/knee injuries.  He was great during that run to the super bowl in 1985.
 
 Too many interceptions, but he was starting in his 2nd year which I don't believe was as common in the 1976 NFL.  I can remember the poor guy playing in his neck brace his final year; the one really good game he played was the only win of the season.  I think the next week his nerve injury was too much and we were relegated to Marc Wilson the rest of the year.  They had to tear the jersey off...I think McPherson cut him the next year, but he was still planning to play.

 

[Ralphwiggum]

Loved Bledsoe.  He and I are about the same age, I remember being in college when they drafted him at the absolute darkest times for the franchise, and then hitching my wagon to him from Day 1, hating Rick Mirer and desperately wanting Bledsoe to be the better QB (recall it wasn't that clear who was better at the outset, particularly their rookie year).  Then hoping that he'd make the leap and develop into a franchise QB, probably overrating him a little in those prime years and not wanting to listen to detractors, and definitely being in denial about how he was trending the last couple of years.  But until TB12 came along he was my absolute favorite Patriot ever.
 
All of that said I have no problem recognizing the giant stroke of luck it took to usher in the greatest era of football in modern NFL history.  Maybe Happy Mo Lewis day is a bit callous, and maybe Brady finds his way into the starting lineup in 2001 anyway, but given Bledsoe's contract and stature with the fans and media in New England, Mo Lewis' hit had to happen for Brady to be given the chance at that particular time.
 
So thanks Drew Bledsoe.  And thanks Mo Lewis.

 

[weeba]

When i was in High School, Drew Bledsoe moved to town, and paid for our new football field.  He's a good dude.
 
Reposting from some other thread:
 
http://web.archive.org/web/20010929194915/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/news/2001/09/25/power_rankings/
 





New England Patriots (0-2)
This is sad. Drew Bledsoe took a big hit and is out indefinitely. Honestly, I don't know what weapons they have with which to win a game.

 

[JohnnyTheBone]

Read the ESPN article at the top, I'd completely forgotten Bledsoe played another series after the hit.  Particularly amazing after hearing the story about his internal injury, and how dangerous the injury actually was.

 
Very few people seem to recall this, but a Marc Edwards fumble quite possibly saved Drew Bledsoe's life.  On the first play after Bledsoe re-entered the game, Edwards fumbled the ball away and the Jets took possession.  Bledsoe then went to the sidelines and never returned. Had Edwards not fumbled and Bledsoe subsequently took another hit, or simply overexerted himself, he probably dies.  Crazy.

 

[Jungleland]

I was lucky enough to be at Gillette for opening day a few years ago when Bledsoe was honored at halftime (inducted into the pats hall?) and it was a glorious event with one of the most genuine moments of crowd appreciation I've seen in foxboro. Overall I think the fanbase largely appreciates the shit out of the guy and he deserves it. That he was able to play important snaps in the afc championship is one of the more fitting aspects of that storybook run to the first bowl.

 

[RoyHobbs]

Even to this day it doesn't get much better than Bledsoe to Coates.

 

[Marciano490]

I very, very vaguely remember this, but wasn't there a game against Buffalo where Bledsoe had a broken finger and led a fourth quarter comeback capped off by a TD pass to Coates as the Buffalo D stood there with their thumbs up their asses?

 

[E5 Yaz]

I very, very vaguely remember this, but wasn't there a game against Buffalo where Bledsoe had a broken finger and led a fourth quarter comeback capped off by a TD pass to Coates as the Buffalo D stood there with their thumbs up their asses?

 
Yes
 
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bledsoes-heroics-stun-buffalo/

 

[Al Zarilla]

Even to this day it doesn't get much better than Bledsoe to Coates.

In those days, if you were out of the NE area, you felt lucky when you saw a Monday night game on the schedule, or Pats TV coverage of one of those Saturday games the NFL scheduled after the college season ended. Sunday Pats telecasts were rare in CA. It's so different now with the Pats always challenging for the whole thing (knock wood), Sunday, Monday and Thursday night games and all of the TV options to see your team. I hardly remember what Ben Coates even looks like.

 

[Leather]

He had big pads.

 

[Hoya81]

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/199411130nwe.htm?mobile=false

Bledsoe going 45-70 to beat the Vikings in overtime was the first great Pats game I ever saw.

 

[In Vino Vinatieri]

 
Yes
 
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bledsoes-heroics-stun-buffalo/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBdw4_gBwZo#t=6m53s
 
 
Wade Phillips.. stunned!

 

[8slim]

As a kid who grew up in Foxboro the combo of Parcells and Bledsoe bringing credibility to a severely damaged franchise was almost surreal to me. I wore my #11 jersey, the first version of the new Pats logo with the red numbers, for years. Bledsoe never made the leap that we hoped for, but he was a helluva gunslinger who QB'd some damn fun Pats teams. He's aces in my book.

 

[Ed Hillel]

I will never forget that Bills game. Forget the PI, Shawn Jefferson was both out of bounds and a full yard short of the marker. Good times.

 

[Ralphwiggum]

Also the ridiculous pass interference on the Hail Mary. If that ever happened now ESPN would have a field day connecting the attenuated dots between the officials and Bob Kraft.

 

[Strike4]

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/199411130nwe.htm?mobile=false

Bledsoe going 45-70 to beat the Vikings in overtime was the first great Pats game I ever saw.

Watched that game with my dad at the old Commonwealth Brewery.

 

[Leather]

As a kid who grew up in Foxboro the combo of Parcells and Bledsoe bringing credibility to a severely damaged franchise was almost surreal to me. I wore my #11 jersey, the first version of the new Pats logo with the red numbers, for years. Bledsoe never made the leap that we hoped for, but he was a helluva gunslinger who QB'd some damn fun Pats teams. He's aces in my book.

I dunno. If by "the leap" you mean "became a HOF QB", then ok. But he was an excellent QB for 4-5 years for the Pats before he got shell shocked.

Most franchises would kill for a 3x in 5 years pro bowl QB.

 

[8slim]

I dunno. If by "the leap" you mean "became a HOF QB", then ok. But he was an excellent QB for 4-5 years for the Pats before he got shell shocked.

Most franchises would kill for a 3x in 5 years pro bowl QB.

Well, yeah, kinda. I mean he was a #1 pick. He had a great run and I was a big fan. But he didn't become an all-timer, or anything close to that. I didn't think I was saying anything controversial.

 

[Dollar]

I very, very vaguely remember this, but wasn't there a game against Buffalo where Bledsoe had a broken finger and led a fourth quarter comeback capped off by a TD pass to Coates as the Buffalo D stood there with their thumbs up their asses?

As amazing as it was, it still wasn't as great as his comeback against Miami a week earlier.  I'm 99% sure it was a Monday night game, because I vividly remember sneaking my Walkman into bed to listen to the final minutes on the radio after my bedtime (yeah, I was 13).  
 

Drew Bledsoe shook off a fractured finger and gave Patriots fans a dramatic victory to remember if the team finally leaves for Hartford.
 
Bledsoe took New England on a 15-play, 80-yard drive in just 2 minutes 53 seconds and hit Jefferson as he broke free into the end zone. To keep the drive alive, Bledsoe completed passes on third-and-11, third-and-10, fourth-and-10 and fourth-and-7.

 

[GeorgeCostanza]

Drew Bledsoe's the second best QB (sorry Grogan) in NE history and a top-10 all-time franchise player.
 
Anyone who ever shits on Drew Bledsoe deserves a fate worse than death.  He was one of the biggest reasons this franchise had relevance, probably second after Bob Kraft.

Well said Captain. I've only been to 1 Pats game in the past 5 years or so and it was fortunately Drew's Pats HoF night. Place went bananas for him and rightly so. Still have my #11 Drew jersey.

 

[Papelbon's Poutine]

The 94 opener with the shootout with Marino was a perfect microcosm of 90s QB play.

 

[Jimbodandy]

In addition to helping to get the franchise on the road to respectability (not responsible, but certainly helping), he also carried himself with class during what must have been a difficult transition for him.  He had legitimate all-star cred and fairly prolific numbers and lost his job to injury (sooner than he would have at least) to a kid with no pro resume and a modest college one.  And he then publicly (and supposedly privately) stood up for the kid, helped in any way he could, and stepped in to finish off the AFCCG.  He could have been a monumental distraction, and it would have been at least somewhat understandable.  He did his job, and he left us with some pretty cool memories along the way (those broken finger games, one with the pin sticking out supposedly).
 
I'm glad for how things ended up for us fans, and I don't begrudge people an affinity for some gallows humor.  But any actual complaints against this guy for his performance as a Patriot seem misguided.

 

[GeorgeCostanza]

(those broken finger games, one with the pin sticking out supposedly).
 

I remember they showed pictures on the broadcast. The pin was definitely sticking out. My internet searching for the picture is currently fruitless however.

 

[Morgan's Magic Snowplow]

As amazing as it was, it still wasn't as great as his comebackagainst Miami a week earlier.  I'm 99% sure it was a Monday night game, because I vividly remember sneaking my Walkman into bed to listen to the final minutes on the radio after my bedtime (yeah, I was 13).  
 

One of my favorite Pats games of the 1990s. I watched it drunk off my ass in a Portland sports bar but still remember that last drive vividly. Bledsoe was incredible.