Happy Mo Lewis Day
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I had the same injury around the same time. The pins remained protruded from the skin for the entirety of the healing process so they could remove them - inelegantly with pliers - when the knuckle healed.GeorgeCostanza said:
I wonder if his finger is still as mangled as mine is 17 years later:
I was 10 when they drafted Bledsoe and spent the next 8-9 years absolutely idolizing the guy. I spent the fall of 2001 hoping he'd take back over for Brady too. Enjoyed the fuck out of the AFC Championship game with Drew helping them beat Pittsburgh. They owed us one after that 7-6 playoff game with Kordell Stewart running for a TD a few years earlier.
Now, things have turned out pretty well since they handed the keys to Brady. But I'll always love Bledsoe.
Now, things have turned out pretty well since they handed the keys to Brady. But I'll always love Bledsoe.
I've said it before, but Bledsoe coming in to throw a TD against Pittsburgh in the AFC Championship game was my favorite moment of that Playoffs (save Vinatieri's SB winner).
I recall a quote from a Pitt player after the game that was something like "Believe me, absolutely nobody on our bench was excited to knock Brady out to see Bledsoe come in."
I'm sure, in the moment at least, the 2001 run must have been somewhere in between humiliating and bittersweet for Bledsoe, but I always felt that at least he got that moment; at least he was able to contribute in a meaningful, crucial, way toward that Championship. His ring wasn't some consolation prize for being a good soldier or anything, he earned it on the field, even if it wasn't in the way he might have hoped.
I recall a quote from a Pitt player after the game that was something like "Believe me, absolutely nobody on our bench was excited to knock Brady out to see Bledsoe come in."
I'm sure, in the moment at least, the 2001 run must have been somewhere in between humiliating and bittersweet for Bledsoe, but I always felt that at least he got that moment; at least he was able to contribute in a meaningful, crucial, way toward that Championship. His ring wasn't some consolation prize for being a good soldier or anything, he earned it on the field, even if it wasn't in the way he might have hoped.
drleather2001 said:
Not only that, he had some clutch completions in the 2nd half of that game to sustain drives, milk the clock, and stave off a potential Steeler comeback. I remember one perfectly placed floater to Troy Brown on 3rd down deep in Pats territory.
Not to mention the WTF no-look falling down toss that, fortunately, fell incomplete. Never change, Drew.
I had the same injury around the same time. The pins remained protruded from the skin for the entirety of the healing process so they could remove them - inelegantly with pliers - when the knuckle healed.
I wonder if his finger is still as mangled as mine is 17 years later:
Index finger I assume? Mrs. Kenny appreciate the extra girth? I have a Larry bird like pinky from a break years ago
This was me as well. In fact, I remember not enjoying the Super Bowl win as much as I should have because I felt so strongly that it was Drew's team to lead. I feel pretty stupid looking back at it but in my social circles I wasn't the only one who thought this way. But we were a bunch of dumb 22 year olds so we had that going for us. Never have I been so happy to be so wrong. Ok maybe last year when I was convinced my 23yo gf was pregnant. I really need to get snipped.Number45forever said:
I was 11 when they drafted Bledsoe and this is pretty much spot on. Prior to that my memories of the Pats are losing every week, games being blacked out and driving to New Hampshire to watched blacked out games in the winter with no heat or my dad on the roof trying to get out of market games on the antennaGeorgeCostanza said:
The Miami game seems like yesterday.
Yeah, the pin was against the Rams I think, was Robert Edwards one really big day as a pro. Bledsoe tried to tough it out but he couldn't throw in one direction (cant remember if it was left or right) with the pin in so that was....problematic. I think after the game he had a new pin put in that was sticking like an inch out of his finger, I remember one of the local reporters asked if he was going to play against the Niners and laughing at the question.
Wasn't a Patriots fan before Bledsoe.
Grew up in sports watching family that didn't have any particular rooting interest other than watching great sports.
Watched lots of playoff games, Super Bowls, etc, but never had anyone in family that was a religious watcher.
I grew into watching a lot more as I got older.
Bledsoe and Parcells came around my formative sports watching years late junior high to high school. They were fun to watch.
The rest is history.
Grew up in sports watching family that didn't have any particular rooting interest other than watching great sports.
Watched lots of playoff games, Super Bowls, etc, but never had anyone in family that was a religious watcher.
I grew into watching a lot more as I got older.
Bledsoe and Parcells came around my formative sports watching years late junior high to high school. They were fun to watch.
The rest is history.
I always liked Bledsoe. I had a nice time at a game where he beat the fish in OT and then went home to watch the Jets play the night game and get beat out of the playoffs by Houston. That was horrible but at least Buddy Ryan punched Kevin Gilbride in the face. I wonder if all these facts are correct as this is about a 20 year old memory.
My friends dad always said Bledsoe had a million dollar arm and a ten cent head.
A young Bledsoe had a great duel against Marino in Miami where he came up short. Both guys threw the ball like 60 times. I have to look this stuff up. These facts could be wrong
Edit: Bledsoe threw it 51 times, Marino 42. I remember them making a huge deal about Bledsoe's attempt number so 50 must have been more rare back then.
My friends dad always said Bledsoe had a million dollar arm and a ten cent head.
A young Bledsoe had a great duel against Marino in Miami where he came up short. Both guys threw the ball like 60 times. I have to look this stuff up. These facts could be wrong
Edit: Bledsoe threw it 51 times, Marino 42. I remember them making a huge deal about Bledsoe's attempt number so 50 must have been more rare back then.
Yeah, but was it rare up to that point? I'll check if this game is on YouTube because I thought a big deal was made of it at the time. This shit makes me feel old. I can picture the room I was sitting in and it was 21 years ago.Stitch01 said:
Rarer than today for sure and probably rare for a 22 year old in his second season. It was a big deal as it was happening, the old/young guns slinging it around in a shootout, and it was big enough that, like you, I can remember exactly where I watched that game.
luckiestman said:
Go look around the NFL today and I'd take Bledsoe over half of the QB's in the league. I think a 10 cent head is discrediting him. He's not a top tier mind like Brady, Manning etc. but he's not a dope. Not saying your friend's dad was wrong, but I just don't think it's accurate. Could he have been better? Absolutely
Million dollar arm I'd put in the Jeff George category or Weeden based upon this week. I'd put Favre in that category too but some how he succeeded with his 10 cent head.
Looking at #1 QB's since Drew was drafted: Peyton, Tim Couch, Vick, Carr, Carson Palmer, Eli Manning, Alex Smith, Jamarcus Russell, Stafford, Bradford, Newton and Luck.
Bledsoe is probably in the middle of that class. There's no one really great outside of Manning (the good one), A bunch of middling guys a few shitty ones.
And then there's Jamarcus Russell. He's worse than shitty. Isn't he the main reason why rookie deals are structured the way they are now?NortheasternPJ said:
NortheasternPJ said:
I think he's much closer to the top of that class. Bledsoe had a better career than Couch, Vick, Palmer, Smith, Russell, Stafford, and Bradford. Jury is out on Newton versus Bledsoe but Newton is on his way and Luck is on a stronger trajectory, too. And then there is Peyton and Eli.
Bledsoe was pretty damn good and while he might have slung it a bit on occasion, he didn't have a ten cent head.
The stat basically bear that out, though it's really close: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/play-index/psl_finder.cgi?request=1&match=combined&year_min=1993&year_max=2015&season_start=1&season_end=-1&age_min=0&age_max=99&league_id=&team_id=&is_active=&is_hof=&pos_is_qb=Y&c1stat=&c1comp=gt&c1val=&c2stat=&c2comp=gt&c2val=&c3stat=&c3comp=gt&c3val=&c4stat=&c4comp=gt&c4val=&c5comp=&c5gtlt=lt&c6mult=1.0&c6comp=&order_by=pass_rating_index&draft=1&draft_year_min=1993&draft_year_max=2015&type=&draft_round_min=0&draft_round_max=99&draft_slot_min=1&draft_slot_max=1&draft_pick_in_round=0&draft_league_id=&draft_team_id=&college_id=all&conference=any&draft_pos_is_qb=Yjohnmd20 said:
It's crazy how close these guys are. Just using Rating+ (like OPS+ but for QB rating), Palmer is at 104, Newton 99, Bledsoe, Luck, Eli, Smith at 98, Stafford and Vick 97, Couch 95, Bradford 93, Carr 92. Bledsoe had his decline phase while the rest of these guys haven't, though Luck and Newton figure to have good days ahead.
The guy that's 0-2 in the playoffs and can't get to the playoffs in a QB driven league?DrewDawg said:
Seems reasonable to my troglodytist [just coined it] eye test. I was 30 when Bledsoe was drafted so I never fell prey to the poster-on-the-wall, my-guy-ism that seems to afflict a fair amount of the younger posters here. I always liked the fella and I always rooted for him but I was more able to quickly see his faults than I did for Plunkett or Grogan. Of course, hindsight has changed that viewpoint.
Gun to my head, one of these fellas not named Peyton for the championship of the universe? I'd probably go with Drew since, shit, that's where I'm from. But Palmer might be 5% or so better and that doesn't surprise me.
Gun to my head, one of these fellas not named Peyton for the championship of the universe? I'd probably go with Drew since, shit, that's where I'm from. But Palmer might be 5% or so better and that doesn't surprise me.
I'm not Palmer's biggest defender, but this stat is pretty unfair. He helped lead Cincinnati to the playoffs in 2005, his second year as a starter, and that was their first playoff appearance in 15 years. Then he got hurt early on - his line for that game was 1 of 1 for 66 years - so calling that an L on his resume is silly. They did make the playoffs and lose in 2009 and he played crappy there, so that's a legit L. After 2010 he went to Oakland in the throes of their dysfunction, and after 1.5 crappy seasons with the Raiders he's been really good in Arizona. They went 10-6 in 2013 but missed the playoffs, and last year they went 6-0 in his starts but he got hurt and missed the playoffs.NortheasternPJ said:
Palmer's playing maybe the best in his career, certainly the best since his early days with the Bengals. The Cardinals are 15-2 in his last 17 starts and Palmer has completed 64.5% of his passes at 7.9 YPA with 34 TD / 13 INT and a 99 QB rating. A weird career - he was probably overrated in his Cincy days but has been underrated for five years.
I was a big Bledsoe guy after coming of age in the Kiam years. Who wouldn't be? I loved the guy and defended him against all haters.
As happy as I was when he threw the TD pass vs. the Steelers, my most inedible memory from that game was when Drew took the kneel down and cradled and huddled over the ball as if he would never let it go and bowed his head. You could tell at that moment he was overcome with emotion and I remember getting choked up myself. It is absolutely one of my top-10 sports' fan memories.
EDIT: You know Drew was never a Brady. He was never a guy who was going to eat and breathe football 24/7 and study tape until his head hit the table in front of him. I remember him saying how he really looked forward every year to driving home to the Pacific NW to start his offseason vacation. He was probably a guy who never quite understood New England's obsession for sports. But, dammit, he's like the one Boston area athlete who could say and think such things and I don't care. That's how bad things were before he arrived and how great things have been ever since he was drafted.
As happy as I was when he threw the TD pass vs. the Steelers, my most inedible memory from that game was when Drew took the kneel down and cradled and huddled over the ball as if he would never let it go and bowed his head. You could tell at that moment he was overcome with emotion and I remember getting choked up myself. It is absolutely one of my top-10 sports' fan memories.
EDIT: You know Drew was never a Brady. He was never a guy who was going to eat and breathe football 24/7 and study tape until his head hit the table in front of him. I remember him saying how he really looked forward every year to driving home to the Pacific NW to start his offseason vacation. He was probably a guy who never quite understood New England's obsession for sports. But, dammit, he's like the one Boston area athlete who could say and think such things and I don't care. That's how bad things were before he arrived and how great things have been ever since he was drafted.
Some late hit comments:
Bledsoe is definitely the 2nd best Pats QB ever, although I can understand folks picking Grogan there as well. I will remember all the talk about whether the Pats should take Bledsoe with that #1 pick. There were a lot of calls for the Pats to trade down in that draft, as many teams wanted either Bledsoe or Mirer and were willing to give up a king's ransom to get either one. After the Pats traded down in 3 successive drafts to pick up Ray Agnew, Chris Singleton, Leonard Russell, Pat Harlow (who was half-decent), and the circus that was the Eugene Chung draft, I for one was ecstatic that Parcells decided on Bledsoe.
Bledsoe did not outwardly exhibit the fire that Grogan had or that Brady has today, but he was by no means not dedicated to his craft. Parcells lauded his work ethic on multiple occasions, and he took many a hit over the years and always came back for more. Anyone who thinks he wasn't tough is an idiot.
Bledsoe was well in his decline when the 2001 season started. I read somewhere the Belichick felt that Brady outplayed Bledsoe during the preseason, and would have been named the started had it been an open competition. There's a reasonable chance that Brady may have become the starter sometime later that season, which would have certainly created it's own media firestorm that would have made the Deflategate one proud.
Bledsoe was not happy when he did not get his job back after coming back. His first press conference consisted of a bunch of terse "no comment's" and "ask the coach" when Brady was named the starter for the remainder of the season. And he did request a trade once the Super Bowl celebrations were over. However, he kept his composure, supported Brady all the way, and he QB'ed that key TD drive against the heavily favored Steelers. Interestingly, his numbers that day were not very good: 10-21, 102 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT. The 2nd half drives that game consisted of a 4-and-out turnover on downs after Bruschi recovered a Pittsburgh fumble, a 3-and-out, field goal, punt, missed FG, and the kneel down. But his play was good enough to get into the Super Bowl, and was still 31 more yards than Tony Eason threw during the previous time the Pats played the AFCCG on the road.
One remaining legacy from the Bledsoe era is that his trade caused Borges to go on at least one annual tirade against Belichick, some of which will remain part of SoSH lore forever (e.g., his analysis of the Seymour and Light picks will always be one of my all time favorite Borges article).
Bledsoe is definitely the 2nd best Pats QB ever, although I can understand folks picking Grogan there as well. I will remember all the talk about whether the Pats should take Bledsoe with that #1 pick. There were a lot of calls for the Pats to trade down in that draft, as many teams wanted either Bledsoe or Mirer and were willing to give up a king's ransom to get either one. After the Pats traded down in 3 successive drafts to pick up Ray Agnew, Chris Singleton, Leonard Russell, Pat Harlow (who was half-decent), and the circus that was the Eugene Chung draft, I for one was ecstatic that Parcells decided on Bledsoe.
Bledsoe did not outwardly exhibit the fire that Grogan had or that Brady has today, but he was by no means not dedicated to his craft. Parcells lauded his work ethic on multiple occasions, and he took many a hit over the years and always came back for more. Anyone who thinks he wasn't tough is an idiot.
Bledsoe was well in his decline when the 2001 season started. I read somewhere the Belichick felt that Brady outplayed Bledsoe during the preseason, and would have been named the started had it been an open competition. There's a reasonable chance that Brady may have become the starter sometime later that season, which would have certainly created it's own media firestorm that would have made the Deflategate one proud.
Bledsoe was not happy when he did not get his job back after coming back. His first press conference consisted of a bunch of terse "no comment's" and "ask the coach" when Brady was named the starter for the remainder of the season. And he did request a trade once the Super Bowl celebrations were over. However, he kept his composure, supported Brady all the way, and he QB'ed that key TD drive against the heavily favored Steelers. Interestingly, his numbers that day were not very good: 10-21, 102 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT. The 2nd half drives that game consisted of a 4-and-out turnover on downs after Bruschi recovered a Pittsburgh fumble, a 3-and-out, field goal, punt, missed FG, and the kneel down. But his play was good enough to get into the Super Bowl, and was still 31 more yards than Tony Eason threw during the previous time the Pats played the AFCCG on the road.
One remaining legacy from the Bledsoe era is that his trade caused Borges to go on at least one annual tirade against Belichick, some of which will remain part of SoSH lore forever (e.g., his analysis of the Seymour and Light picks will always be one of my all time favorite Borges article).
Thanks for rekindling some of those Drew memories, and I also hope that someday his number is retired by the Patriots. I was in college when he was drafted and remember well the chaos of the franchise from the '80s and into the early '90s. I always had that feeling that we just needed that Montana/Rice, Marino/Clayton, or Kelly/Reed type of duo, and Drew certainly provided that glimmer of hope (teamed with Ben Coates of course). Parcells coming in and having control of that first draft brought a lot of hope, especially with the Mirer/Bledsoe debate (and I recall many feeling that Mirer would fit better with the "smash mouth" style that Parcells preferred). Like any #1 pick, there was tons of hype that summer of '93, but a few things really stood out. My first preseason game was the last one that year and they played Kansas City with Montana. Although they lost, Bledsoe was throwing darts all game, which was in sharp contrast to Montana at that time. Despite the 5-11 season (with many very narrow defeats), they finished with that four game winning streak and the final home game felt partially like a Super Bowl combined with so much fear of the team moving unless a "megaplex" was built. We finally had the coach and a star young QB; but now we might lose the team? The overtime win against Miami fueled a three-week frenzy in January 1994 that ended with Kraft making the surprise purchase of the team (I remember getting a phone call returned from a State Representative trying to calm my fears of the team moving, which was pretty cool).
That whole period had so many emotions, and ended with a lot of hope for the franchise that was finally stable. And there was a time period in there when Drew was a top level QB; I recall during the '94 season an analyst saying that he would select Bledsoe first out of all NFL players if he was starting a franchise). Even when things got rough, he never asked out or complained (I could recall many comments by him stating he wanted to be here for a very long time). Like many have posted, that Pittsburgh AFC Championship Game really felt good as it made him an integral part of completing the mission he started in '93. And now he still actively supports the Patriots even after they moved on with Brady. The impact of Bledsoe to the franchise definitely went beyond the wins and losses...consistently professional and a class act.
That whole period had so many emotions, and ended with a lot of hope for the franchise that was finally stable. And there was a time period in there when Drew was a top level QB; I recall during the '94 season an analyst saying that he would select Bledsoe first out of all NFL players if he was starting a franchise). Even when things got rough, he never asked out or complained (I could recall many comments by him stating he wanted to be here for a very long time). Like many have posted, that Pittsburgh AFC Championship Game really felt good as it made him an integral part of completing the mission he started in '93. And now he still actively supports the Patriots even after they moved on with Brady. The impact of Bledsoe to the franchise definitely went beyond the wins and losses...consistently professional and a class act.
I was also at this game and I genuinely got choked up. Drew bringing the Pats to the Superbowl against the Packers was the start of everything awesome that followed.Jungleland said:
And he was Brady before Brady with the media. Always said the right thing and always put the team first.