Bledsoe's favorite place to play

[BuffAlone]

Was in Buffalo. Say's by far. Say's "if Bills ever get over the hump and win a championship,  he may even paint his face. "

That's pretty amazing considering he played in NE and Dallas but loved playing in Buffalo by far. 

Sorry I cant upload the link, but it's on the Bill's homepage

Edited February 7, 2018 by BuffAlone

[Process]

Hasn't this guy bashed buffalo in the past? Don't remember when or where I saw this. 

[BuffAlone]

Just now, Process said:

Hasn't this guy bashed buffalo in the past? Don't remember when or where I saw this. 

Not that I recall. But its there to see if interested. Nobody wants to come to Buffalo, until they're here. Then they want to stay. Funny how that's always worked lol

[Steptide]

10 minutes ago, Process said:

Hasn't this guy bashed buffalo in the past? Don't remember when or where I saw this. 

I'm sure when he was let go after 2004, he was a little bitter. 

[eball]

9 minutes ago, Process said:

Hasn't this guy bashed buffalo in the past? Don't remember when or where I saw this. 

 

He had an understandable reaction when the Bills drafted Losman and basically pushed him out.  That doesn't mean he isn't capable of reflection.

[Corp000085]

5 minutes ago, Process said:

Hasn't this guy bashed buffalo in the past? Don't remember when or where I saw this. 

He did bash buffalo pretty hard when he went to Dallas. However he was ripping management. He was right in hindsight but unprofessional as to how he aired his laundry in the media. 

[Steptide]

Imo, letting bledsoe leave set this team back 2 or 3 years. Had bledsoe stayed, we probably would've been alot better in 05 and 06. Bledsoe leaving started a bad history of qbs in Buffalo 

[Best Player Available]

37 minutes ago, Process said:

Hasn't this guy bashed buffalo in the past? Don't remember when or where I saw this. 

IIRC When he left Buffalo. His attitude towards Buffalo was way different. 

Than now. He was pimping his winery once on a show. I thought he may have joked about Buffalo.

Over course the clown twins had the reins then. 

[Victory Formation]

37 minutes ago, Steptide said:

I'm sure when he was let go after 2004, he was a little bitter. 

I thought we let him go 2 years early. I always liked Drew.

[I_want_2_BILL_Lieve]

48 minutes ago, BuffAlone said:

Was in Buffalo. Say's by far. Say's "if Bills ever get over the hump and win a championship,  he may even paint his face. "

That's pretty amazing considering he played in NE and Dallas but loved playing in Buffalo by far. 

Sorry I cant upload the link, but it's on the Bill's homepage

 

If he's being interviewed by a Bills media source, what is he supposed to say? I never thought Drew was all that smart, but he's savvy enough to respond to that softball question. 

 

 

[BuffAlone]

11 minutes ago, I_want_2_BILL_Lieve said:

 

If he's being interviewed by a Bills media source, what is he supposed to say? I never thought Drew was all that smart, but he's savvy enough to respond to that softball question. 

 

 

It was with John Murphy. But he says "when people ask me where my favorite place to play was, I always tell them Buffalo."

Cool to hear all the love once "superstars" join the team,sometimes via trade(and somewhat disgruntled) ,to have them fall in love with this city. 

[WhoTom]

The Bills did him a favor when they let him go. What they should have done, in the interest of the team, was have an open competition for the starting QB position. If Losman won, so be it, but at least they'd have had Bledsoe to take over when JP failed.

 

Drew didn't want to be a backup, so they released him. He was still under contract, so they could have traded him or kept him. Releasing him was good for Bledsoe and bad for the Bills.

 

 

[Kelly the Dog]

You can despise the management you thought screwed you and still love the place you played in. 

[Mr. WEO]

1 hour ago, Steptide said:

Imo, letting bledsoe leave set this team back 2 or 3 years. Had bledsoe stayed, we probably would've been alot better in 05 and 06. Bledsoe leaving started a bad history of qbs in Buffalo 

"Started"??

 

Todd Collins, RJ, AVP, Flutie were all before Bledsoe.

 

Fun Facts:  In 6 fewer starts, TT won as many games and had only 4 fewer TDs than DB.  He also had a better completion % (63 v. 59), far fewer INTs (16 v. 43!).  TT's YPA was also better (7.2 v. 6.6).

 

Bledsoe wasn't very good with the Bills.

[hondo in seattle]

23 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

"Started"??

 

Todd Collins, RJ, AVP, Flutie were all before Bledsoe.

 

Fun Facts:  In 6 fewer starts, TT won as many games and had only 4 fewer TDs than DB.  He also had a better completion % (63 v. 59), far fewer INTs (16 v. 43!).  TT's YPA was also better (7.2 v. 6.6).

 

Bledsoe wasn't very good with the Bills.

 

He was very good for the first half-season or so.

[Steptide]

20 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

"Started"??

 

Todd Collins, RJ, AVP, Flutie were all before Bledsoe.

 

Fun Facts:  In 6 fewer starts, TT won as many games and had only 4 fewer TDs than DB.  He also had a better completion % (63 v. 59), far fewer INTs (16 v. 43!).  TT's YPA was also better (7.2 v. 6.6).

 

Bledsoe wasn't very good with the Bills.

 

I do agree that bledsoe wasn't great. However, what mularky did with the bills was good and the team was on the rise. That 04 team had a ton of talent and I have no doubt that we wouldve been better in 05 with bledsoe. I think the front office was the biggest issue. The bills did not draft qbs nearly as much as they needed to. Losman, Edwards, Fitz, Ej. Other than Ej, the bills never took a 1st round qb after losman. That is truly absurd 

[Mr. WEO]

1 minute ago, Steptide said:

 

I do agree that bledsoe wasn't great. However, what mularky did with the bills was good and the team was on the rise. That 04 team had a ton of talent and I have no doubt that we wouldve been better in 05 with bledsoe. I think the front office was the biggest issue. The bills did not draft qbs nearly as much as they needed to. Losman, Edwards, Fitz, Ej. Other than Ej, the bills never took a 1st round qb after losman. That is truly absurd 

 

He couldn't beat the Steelers bench warmers to walk into the playoffs. 

 

The Bills didn't need to take a QB in the 1st round to be set at QB right now...

[GaryPinC]

1 hour ago, Steptide said:

Imo, letting bledsoe leave set this team back 2 or 3 years. Had bledsoe stayed, we probably would've been alot better in 05 and 06. Bledsoe leaving started a bad history of qbs in Buffalo 

 

Can't agree with you.  He was decent his first season but our line couldn't protect him and he started getting PTSD his second year, once the defense got that first good hit on him he started throwing off his back foot, usually to check-downs and was kind of useless.

We actually did him a favor sending him to Dallas because they were able to better protect him and he did better for a time.  But even there, once he took a solid hit/sack he got jittery and mostly ineffective.  I don't think he was ever mentally the same after that sheared artery.  Pretty scary stuff.

[stony]

His winery puts out some of the best Cab in the country.  So he's got that going for him.  

 

My two favorite games of Bledsoe were the Minny game we won in OT, and the snow game in Buff vs Miami, where Ricky ran for 200+.  He chucked the ball all over the field in those games.  Fun to watch.  

[corta765]

2 hours ago, Steptide said:

Imo, letting bledsoe leave set this team back 2 or 3 years. Had bledsoe stayed, we probably would've been alot better in 05 and 06. Bledsoe leaving started a bad history of qbs in Buffalo 

 

I've kinda always thought that also and the playoff drought would've been more like 11-12 years had Bledsoe stayed. When Bledsoe left the team the defense was playoff caliber and the offense with him could do enough to make some noise as a whole. Losman was just a year with the team and basically on sabbatical year one due to the broken leg. Even one more year of seasoning wouldn't have hurt Losman and for the veterans on the team keeping Drew would have given them one more chance to do something. From what I have read most of the veteran players were furious when Drew was released because they knew it would be a step back with a rookie QB and most likely a wasted a year. I want to say it was Matt Bowen who said something to the effect.

[corta765]

37 minutes ago, Steptide said:

 

I do agree that bledsoe wasn't great. However, what mularky did with the bills was good and the team was on the rise. That 04 team had a ton of talent and I have no doubt that we wouldve been better in 05 with bledsoe. I think the front office was the biggest issue. The bills did not draft qbs nearly as much as they needed to. Losman, Edwards, Fitz, Ej. Other than Ej, the bills never took a 1st round qb after losman. That is truly absurd 

 

Agreed. And with Bledsoe and Fitz they moved on far too soon. Both times the team was better with those guys at QB and letting JP/EJ sit and get seasoned like that, but instead cut them for money reasons and to had the new car to a shiny new guy who had no experience.

[BillsSbSoon]

Wasnt he really miserable when he was traded here? Couldve sworn i read before he used to drink JD while watching film lol. Anyways he fell apart after the first half of '02

[LabattBlue]

Bledsoe got off to a great start in Buffalo(2nd game...OT road win against the Vikings).  Overall, despite having some great weapons in Moulds, Price and Evans, his Buffalo stay had more downs than ups. His lack of mobility and bad decision making had a big part in that.

 

3 seasons... 55 TD's, 43 INT's & 140 sacks.

[Mopreme]

2 minutes ago, LabattBlue said:

Bledsoe got off to a great start in Buffalo(2nd game...OT road win against the Vikings).  Overall, despite having some great weapons in Moulds, Price and Evans, his Buffalo stay had more downs than ups. His lack of mobility and bad decision making had a big part in that.

 

3 seasons... 55 TD's, 43 INT's & 140 sacks.

Now that was a very nice receiving core.  

[corta765]

11 minutes ago, ScottLaw said:

Kelly Holcomb was better than Bledsoe here.

 

Keeping Bledsoe for that 2005 season would've done absolutely nothing. The defense fell off a cliff that year thanks to some questionable personnel decisions by Donahoe in the offseason which ultimately got him fired.

 

That's not the point and you can't judge everything in a prism. Bledsoe being let go was part of a system of moves by the Bills stemming back to where they let Peerless Price go where the Bills didn't want to pay to keep a lot of good players and were trying to get young. I will defend the younger part, but the Bills were notorious at the time for being cheap and not willing to bring in talent/keep it over a certain $ tag.

 

Truthfully I have no clue with Bledsoe would've been that much of an increase but I do believe he would've been better the JP who like EJ I really wish they took more time to let set and learn. I am a believer with a guy like Bledsoe who was a leader despite declining skills you probably would've seen at least a better team W/L wise. QB's are the face of a team and with rookies it takes time for them to learn that stuff.

 

The worst thing with Donahoe's failure is it scared Ralph for a few years from bringing in outside help at a time where they desperately need a fresh set of eyes. 05-09 IMO was the worst part of the drought with how irrelevant the team was and how badly they drafted.

[row_33]

3 hours ago, BuffAlone said:

Not that I recall. But its there to see if interested. Nobody wants to come to Buffalo, until they're here. Then they want to stay. Funny how that's always worked lol

 

To those who don't know Buffalo it's not seen positively. 

 

 have always enjoyed my time in Buffalo for the hundreds of road trips for sporting events since the early 1970s and defend the city when required.

 

So experience makes one wiser.

 

 

[yungmack]

1 hour ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

He was very good for the first half-season or so.

He fell apart in the second half of the Raiders game and that was that.

[Reed83HOF]

3 hours ago, eball said:

 

He had an understandable reaction when the Bills drafted Losman and basically pushed him out.  That doesn't mean he isn't capable of reflection.

 

He has had a right to feel pissed he was replaced with, well, JP Losman...

[Buftex]

I remember reading Bill Parcells book, years ago...sorry, can't recall the name.  But, in it, he said that Buffalo was his favorite place to play, on the road.  He said that it was the most unique place to play, and he wouid use his teams performance in Buffalo, as a gauge as to how good they really were. He said, even moreso than Green Bay, Buffalo just epitomized a hard-core football town. He said he always considered Buffalo as the "best football city" in the NFL. He said if a player couldn't get up for a game in Buffalo, he wasn't his kind of player, If they played well, he knew he had a good team..if they got toasted, he knew it was going to be a long season.  Of course, as I recall, this was way back when Parcells was coaching the Jets, so a lot has happened since,

4 hours ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

He was very good for the first half-season or so.

I would argue that Bledsoe's first half of his first season in Buffalo was likely the best QB play we ever saw in Buffalo, even better than Kelly,  But, he couldn't sustain it.  I do think they should have held on to him for another season.  If JP Losman was ever going to be ready to be a leigit NFL starter, it certainly wasn't the 2005 season.

Edited February 7, 2018 by Buftex

[Buffalo Barbarian]

Most ex Bills agree

 

 

[Capco]

5 hours ago, Mr. WEO said:

"Started"??

 

Todd Collins, RJ, AVP, Flutie were all before Bledsoe.

 

Fun Facts:  In 6 fewer starts, TT won as many games and had only 4 fewer TDs than DB.  He also had a better completion % (63 v. 59), far fewer INTs (16 v. 43!).  TT's YPA was also better (7.2 v. 6.6).

 

Bledsoe wasn't very good with the Bills.

 

Tbf, that was a different era in football. I don’t think a 2004 version of TT puts up those numbers.

 

Bledsoe set 10 franchise passing records in 2002.

Edited February 7, 2018 by Capco

[Manther]

6 hours ago, Steptide said:

Imo, letting bledsoe leave set this team back 2 or 3 years. Had bledsoe stayed, we probably would've been alot better in 05 and 06. Bledsoe leaving started a bad history of qbs in Buffalo 

Agreed

[Kirby Jackson]

6 hours ago, Steptide said:

Imo, letting bledsoe leave set this team back 2 or 3 years. Had bledsoe stayed, we probably would've been alot better in 05 and 06. Bledsoe leaving started a bad history of qbs in Buffalo 

Bledsoe was the start of the bad play. Assuming my numbers are right after the first 8 games in a Bills uniform Bledsoe was:

18-22, completed 57.87% of his passes, threw for 191.28 yards per game, 39 TDs, 38 INTs and lost 13 fumbles. He was sacked about a zillion times too and made no plays with his feet to offset it. 

 

He was a terrible QB that we thought was good because he was 6 years earlier. He was no better than Losman, Edwards or EJ after the 1st half of his 1st season. 

[Rico]

4 hours ago, ScottLaw said:

?

 

Bledsoe sucked. He should've been let go after that absolutely awful 2003 season. 

This.

 

TD’s biggest mistake by far was extending him after 2003. 

[Mr. WEO]

13 minutes ago, Capco said:

 

Tbf, that was a different era in football. I don’t think a 2004 version of TT puts up those numbers.

 

Bledsoe set 10 franchise passing records in 2002.

 

 

Come on, it was only 15 years ago.  And 2002 wasn't even his best year--he did better back in 1994. 

 

In 2003 and 2004, Bledsoe averaged 460 attempts (it Bledsoe 610 attempts in 2002 to crack 4300 yards!!) for an average of 2900 yards.

 

TT over 3 seasons averaged 412 attempts for an average of 2950 yds per year.

 

The football wasn't heavier, nor was the earth's gravitational force more powerful 15 years ago.  Bledsoe threw more often for fewer yards than TT.

 

 

[Pete]

5 hours ago, Mr. WEO said:

"Started"??

 

Todd Collins, RJ, AVP, Flutie were all before Bledsoe.

 

Fun Facts:  In 6 fewer starts, TT won as many games and had only 4 fewer TDs than DB.  He also had a better completion % (63 v. 59), far fewer INTs (16 v. 43!).  TT's YPA was also better (7.2 v. 6.6).

 

Bledsoe wasn't very good with the Bills.

Amen.

2001 Bledsoe gets hurt in playoff game losing to Pittsburgh.  Backup Tom Brady leads New England back to victory.  Bledsoe is traded to Bills, costing us a 1st round pick.   New England just played their 10th Superbowl.  We just made playoffs for first time this millenium

[corta765]

55 minutes ago, ScottLaw said:

Think you got your history a little backwards.

 

The Bills didn't start becoming "cheap" until Donahoe was fired. After that Ralph was basically milking it until he died. 

 

 

And I agree he would've been better than JP Losman. That's not really saying a lot. The Bills still would've went no where that year because their defense was trash thanks to some crucial injuries and bad personnel decisions. 

 

My point was basically Bledsoe sucked and keeping him another year wouldn't have made a difference.

 

They didn't resign Antoine Winfield because they felt he wasn't worth the money which resulted in Nate Clements pick. Clements was decent enough but Winfield was a far better and had a much longer career. Price was also not resigned because of money although at least they got a pick for him at the time.

 

I would never say Ralph milked it because he did want to win but I think between the CBA agreement which he was firmly against and Donahoe not working out he became very very stubborn until the end. I remember the one off season when they spent like 90 million on offensive line help, but he wouldn't sign Jason Peters. In 2010 he did want Bill Cowher but Cowher didnt want to coach and the Bills were in a real shoty place roster wise. I think he just really didn't like the structure of contracts until the rookie wage scale came in. The time between post Donahoe 2006 to 2012 really stick out as the dark ages of irrelevance especially with the ownership uncertainty. Once they signed Mario Williams I think it finally signaled a fundamental shift in the organization to at least acting a bit like a 21st century football team. They still have a ways to go now and I would never say Mario Williams signing was a true success, but that really to me sticks out now as the end of the really dark days.

Edited February 7, 2018 by corta765

[Georgia Bill]

Didn't everyone start calling him "statue" because he got sacked so much, with no mobility?

[Clyde Smith]

I still remember watching the draft when his trade was announced. I was in shock the whole day.

[Moose]

I never much cared for having Bledsoe come to Buffalo. As a QB for the Patriettes, he never scared me and always seemed beatable (unlike Mr. Bundchen). Anyway, someone gave me a bobblehead of Bledsoe in a Bills jersey. I kept it until, with little time left during a meaningful game, he threw a pass OUT OF BOUNDS on forth down! That's when I ran over that stupid bobblehead multiple times and tossed it in the trash with my dog's poop bags.

 

 

BTW, I honestly wish the Bills organization would prohibit any player from wearing #11 - ever!

 

Edited February 8, 2018 by Moose