Rico Posted February 22, 2005 Share Posted February 22, 2005 since his last article got a lot of attention on this board. BLEDSOE'S PLACE IN HISTORY. From Scott M of Alexandria, Va.: "Where does Bledsoe currently rank on your list of all-time quarterbacks? I find it hard to believe he's a candidate for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but would appreciate your take on him.'' I think Bledsoe probably will end up, in history, somewhere between 30 and 50 at the quarterback position. Considering that there are now 29 quarterbacks (pre-modern era players included) in the Hall of Fame, I don't see how I could rate higher than that. I do not think he's a Hall of Famer right now, and he would have to play very, very well in his twilight to get there. As I wrote yesterday, his teams have finished last, last, last, third and third in his last five seasons played. And though he was brought in to lead a Buffalo team with talent to the playoffs and beyond, he went 23-25 in three years and never got the Bills to the postseason. He's 86-85 all-time. Sometimes big yardage numbers don't tell the whole story about a quarterback. He lifted the Patriots of the mid-'90s to respectability with some great days, but he's been, at best, a middle-of-pack player for the last six years. Overall, I think he's been a good quarterback. Occasionally great ... but not great often enough to be an all-timer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRH Posted February 22, 2005 Share Posted February 22, 2005 Didn't you just say Drew was ancient history? That poor horse! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gavin in Va Beach Posted February 22, 2005 Share Posted February 22, 2005 TD must be behind this!!! Is there no end to the evil this man will undertake in trying to drag the name of Drew Bledsoe through the mud!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rico Posted February 22, 2005 Author Share Posted February 22, 2005 Didn't you just say Drew was ancient history? That poor horse! 248877[/snapback] Oh, just trying to help others who may have missed this today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Playfair Posted February 22, 2005 Share Posted February 22, 2005 That sounds like a fair assesment to me. The difference btwn a good vs. a very good or great QB is the ability of the QB to feel the rush and release the ball before being sacked. Many QB's wait in the pocket or scrambel for more time, but only the exceptional ones feel the pressure and know when they MUSt release the ball to avoid a bad play. Bledsoe has lost that ability, and I dont see him being very good any longer, no matter what team he is on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LabattBlue Posted February 22, 2005 Share Posted February 22, 2005 Didn't you just say Drew was ancient history? That poor horse! 248877[/snapback] No...that was me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fake-Fat Sunny Posted February 22, 2005 Share Posted February 22, 2005 Boy hereally seems to have hard on against Bledsoe, He does try to cloth it in some damning him with faint praise laanguage that sounds like a politician in Congress praising his "good friend| before saying he isnt good enough, but he seems to take various fact in the worse light and actually seems to misinterpret facts to substantiate his point. For example,e he sites the last five seasons that Bledsoe played and their bad results, but conveniently for his argument leaves out any reference to 2001. This NE team was certainly far more Brady's team than Bledsoe's even if Belicheck built it with the though that Bledsoe at worst would lose his job eventually to the 2nd year 6th round pick Brady, but Belichick ultimately should hold a place of thanks in his prayers for Mo Lewis as the genius was on his way down the toilet bowl with Bledsoe as a starter. All that being said, it is at least disengenous and actually even worse for a reported not to include the real and quite essential role Bledsoe played in being part of an SB winner besides his ironic contribution of conveniently getting hurt so Brady could take over. i don't think a good writer can overlook: 1. Just as Belicheck is not stupid enough to count on a 2nd year QB leading his team to the SB or to contemplate adopting a JP losman development plan for this 6th round pick, there was a clear recognition that JP was not a vet yet and he and all involved give Bledsoe some rightfully deserved credit for helping Brady develop into the QB able to win the SB. Who knows what happened in their conversations and a million little things go into victory, but even though Bledsoe cannot do the right thing all the time and his brain clearly gets on overload and he falls back on operating in a bad way, he sees lots of stuff that a vet sees and Brady indicates that Bledsoe communicated those things to him effectively as only someone who has played the position with the same teammates can. Failing to help a guy competing with you for the same job is not unknown in the nFL and I think Bledsoe like the effective sounding board and watcher that Reich played for Kelly does deserve some credit for the team's accomplishments while he was hurt. 2. Even clearer than the coaching and clipboard contribution, Bledsoe actually played the majority of a must-win game for NE and threw the win ning TD. His average at best stats in the game point out the failings of Bledsoe running an offense not designed for his strengths and weaknesses. The other members of the Pats O were running a gameplan designed for Brady and Bledsoe has no choice but to run the Brady plan as best he could and he was not outstanding. However, the won a must win game coming from behind with Bledsoe at the helm and sheparding the team to a victory. Bledsoe would have gotten and deserved a ring merely for standing on the sideline,but he really deserve the ring by playing QB the majority of a must-win game. 3. The key to the Pats run 3 of the last 4 years is that they are a team first. Its hard to claim that Bledsoe clearly being a teamer rather than a cancer was a big part of setting the tone that year for the Pats. It is a tone that certainly outgrw and went beyond Bledsoe so he gets no credit for the last two wins, but the 2001 team was Brady's team, but was also Bledsoe's team in a real way. I agree that Bledsoe is not yet an HOF member in my book, however, the consideration of him does not start with the W/L that King sites which is feebly balanced by his stats and episodes of good play. His consideration actually starts with him leading a team to the Big Dance under Parcells though they lost (a rare occurence for many QBs) and him playing an essential role for a team that won the SB (a non-occurence for greats like Dan Marino). This counts and is a key part of the consideration Kings piece fails because it is lacking. Obviously being part of an SB winner does no gurantee entry and Marino is in for much more than leading a team to a losing berth. However, Bledsoe may start consideration somewhere near 50 on a list which only includes 29 entrants because of his longevity and occaisional episodes of Pro Bowl play, bu his record of getting to the Big Fance twice and being an essential part of a winner once moves him up from the 50 mark. Deserving a Pro Bowk berth his first year with the team (if you disagree please say who you think was left off who had a better season and deserved it more) really made him the Comeback player of year because so many folks had written him off as done. He certainly suffered a production outage later in the season, but the fact he was able to put up a good performance late uin the season against a pathetic Bengals team points to other factors legitimately cutting his production ranging from some fairly predictable play calling by Kevin Killdrive (exacerbated by the over-confidence of a pass happy Bledsoe who needs the offense simplified and his ability to audible controlled to allow him to be most effective) to several bad weather games noted as bad by folks such as Bret Favtre who also performed miserably that day nad a game in which Bledsoe performed poorly but outperformed the rookie Brees to a degree that Brees got yanked in the rain soaked game indicate to me that Bledsoe did not deserve to be dinged *and wasn't finged) for his Pro Bowl reserv berth. I think the ironic thing here is that I believe Bledsoe had a better shot at the HOF stying here as #2 behind Losman than heading off to find glory. I think if he fashions another Comeback year and led Dallas to the playoffs from 6-10 he probably add another feather to his cap which may well get him into theHOF if he is able to prodce a god statistical year, Parcells varies the O so its not as predictable as the Killdrive model, they do not play Belicheck for MM who can provide a template for exploting Bledsoe, and they rely on the team and win rather than over-rely on the QB wich has led to the eventual downfall of teams from Marino's Fins to Mannings Colts.. he can do it but I doubt it. However, if he stayed here as the #2 the game result would almost certainly be out of his direct hands, but he would get great credit for Losman development which i think will be good anyway. He would likely get into the game at some point due to a nick or the youngster needing a blow or to have his head readjusted and have a chance to put up some numbers before a D not prepared for him, He also would have cemented his rep as the ultimate team guy that would have reinforced what credit he will get for 2001 and Brady's team and built his fame which is critical to being in the hall of FAME and winning what is ultimately a popularity contest among the voting committee, rather than a comparison of raw stats that quite frankly cannot be accurately compared across the eras anyway. Kimg's article simply sucks coventiently leaving out a real assessment of 2001, fortaking an incorrect static view of what the HOF is all about and for a statement so stupid every Bills fan has to laugh of declaring the 3-13 GW led team he inherited when he got here as built for the playoffs. Please. TD made what I consider a mistake as extending Bledsoe for this year as this team was within a hair of making the playoffs, However, just as Bledsoe should not be given credit for carrying this team so close because it was the D and the ST that did that with Bledsoe as a ball-handling add-on, so too would it be a mistake to claim that Bledsoe lost the Piitsburgh game since the keys to me were he D unfortunately giving up running yardage to a scrub (as Bod Discerare points our in his questioning of the wind issue, Pittburgh completed all of 5 passes ncluding one for a yard or less in scoring almost all the points with the wind tjey ran all over us and the key play of the game was Lindell missing a chip shot FG and a Pitts team immediately racked up big yardage and i think even scored on our delated team. Bledsoe deserves ample blame for the loss as he never got the offense going in that game and in fact most of the season, but like HCs they get too much credit for wins and too much blame for kosses. It seems to me that as much as us fans want JP to be the second coming of Jim Kelly that isn't likely to happen at all (as Jimbo said in his HOF induction, a key to the HOF for him was playing with Thurman, and Andre, and Bruce, and Tasker and for Levy and with Talley and a host of others. Most doubt we will ever see such and assemblage and 4 SB berths in a row under the salary cap ever again (even a great NE team was denied not onlt 4 in a row but even a playoff berth in large part due to the accelerated cap hit from the stupid life contract triggered by the correct decision to go with Brady). The key for success for JP was shown by RoboQB in Pitts, just hand the ball off, rely on a top ranked D and do surgical strikes. When they foundered and had to rely on the yougn QB against NE the answer came back he was a young QB. If Loamsn plays like Bledsoe did last year he will be fine because a more monile QB should allow the OL to play better and the offense to perform better, but unless the D and ST are lights out again itwill be a long season, King needs to stop paying too much attention to Bledsoe and more attention to football. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fezmid Posted February 22, 2005 Share Posted February 22, 2005 BLEDSOE'S PLACE IN HISTORY. From Scott M of Alexandria, Va.: "Where does Bledsoe currently rank on your list of all-time quarterbacks? I find it hard to believe he's a candidate for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but would appreciate your take on him.'' I think Bledsoe probably will end up, in history, somewhere between 30 and 50 at the quarterback position. Considering that there are now 29 quarterbacks (pre-modern era players included) King is contradicting himself. He says Bledsoe isn't a candidate for the Hall, yet puts him at #30, right behind the 29 other QBs who ARE in the hall... And by saying "between 30 and 50" that still puts him right up there in HoF consideration. He then goes on to say that Bledsoe isn't that good. Does King even know what the hell he's talking about anymore? CW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thailog80 Posted February 22, 2005 Share Posted February 22, 2005 King is contradicting himself. He says Bledsoe isn't a candidate for the Hall, yet puts him at #30, right behind the 29 other QBs who ARE in the hall... And by saying "between 30 and 50" that still puts him right up there in HoF consideration. He then goes on to say that Bledsoe isn't that good. Does King even know what the hell he's talking about anymore? CW 249007[/snapback] Does he even know 31 other teams exist? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cutting Drew With Dignity Posted February 22, 2005 Share Posted February 22, 2005 The Taming of the Drew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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