Comments on: Drew Colors

By: The Sunday Links, October 28, 2007 : Patriots Daily

The Sunday Links, October 28, 2007 : Patriots Daily — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 11:55:41 +0000

[...] article in, of all places, a literary review based on Whitefish, Montana, and turned it into Drew Colors, still the most heavily trafficked post we’ve had yet. In it, Dan asserted that [...]

By: James

James — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 13:34:09 +0000

mjd, well said. I think alot of the venom is a result of Bledsoe-worshippers seeing Bledsoe in a different light than what he really was. We had people in the media and fans who didn’t want to accept Tom Brady as being great. After bashing these people over the head with 3 Super Bowl trophies, it finally sank in to most of these people.

I still remember Drew’s fumble in the Pittsburgh playoff game, carrying ball like a loaf of bread, rolling out to the right and totally unaware of Mike Vrabel bearing down on him to strip the football and win the game for the Steelers in the final two minutes. It was classic Drew, just looking downfield without having any awareness of what was going on around him. The picks at the most critical times were countless, not to mention the sacks he took. People, please spare us the offensive line excuses and no RB excuses and all the other excuses that we’ve heard over the years. Look at the QB, remove the blinders.

Here’s an incredible stat: Think about this for a minute. People often like to compare Bledsoe to being a poor man’s Marino (which is being quite kind). Dan Marino dropped back to pass 8358 times in his career, as slow-footed as Dan was, he was only sacked 270 times. Now compare that to Drew, who dropped back to pass 6717 times and was sacked (this is not a typo) 467 TIMES. This is almost twice the amount of sacks of Marino even with 1600 LESS passing attempts.

Here’s another one for you. In his career, Marino threw 40% more TD passes than INTs (420 TD/252 INTS). Drew, get this one, 18% more TD passes than INTs (251 TD/205 INT). The ratios are mind-boggling.

Fumbles in their careers, (Marino 110 in 8358 passing attempts), (Bledsoe 123 in 6717 passing attempts). You can do the math on that one.

By: mjd

mjd — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 22:11:15 +0000

Bledsoe was a good quarterback for a bunch of years for the Patriots…nothing more and nothing less. He came along at a time when the fans were down and needed some excitement and Parcells and Bledsoe were the answer. Was he Tom Brady, no….was he Tony ‘turtle’ Eason, no….he was tough and played to win and tried to thread the needle too often resulting in a lot of interceptions….sounds alot like Grogan [who people either loved or hated during his playing days] but now is revered because he is retired….the thing I find odd is that people can’t just prefer Brady over Bledsoe…they have to CRUSH Bledsoe as if he was a bad quarterback [which he wasn't]…he gave us alot of excitement when we needed it….why the venom? I’ll bet the same people stomping on Bledsoe probably do the same to Nomar who also gave us a lot of excitement before he lost his job….

By: Will

Will — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 18:39:39 +0000

I agree with you both on the improbable 2001 victory and how we really didn’t have a “good” team following the 5-11 season in 1999-2000. I also agree that our team was declining at a pretty alarming rate under Pete Carroll. A young Tom Brady willing to do the little things at QB and a defense that was coming into its own under a defensive genious were the keys to revitalizing the team. In my original post I was referring to Bill Belichick taking over and changing our team from an offensive oriented team to a defensive team. Pete Carroll left New England after an 8-8 season in which the first half of the season we looked like a playoff team and the 2nd half we couldn’t buy a win. Because of the mounting mental errors and penalties that the team was making, Carroll was booted. Belichick was hurt by the Robert Edwards injury when he took over, but he wanted a more conservative offensive attack for Bledsoe. No more offensive weapons were drafted or brought in through free agency. The weapons we already had were either leaving or too old. It was Belichick who led the team to a 5-11 year while the team was transitioning. It was obvious that Bledsoe did not belong in the new system and that was very clear when a young QB was able to come in and be more successful immediately. The new short passing scheme and 3-step drops were not meant for a QB like Bledsoe. Not to mention the defense was awesome in 2000-2001…we were the only team that could stop St. Louis that year. As a result, Bledsoe was shipped off to Buffalo because Belichick knew his weaknesses…and soon everybody did. Maybe this post is more absurd than the last, but I didn’t want you to think that the 5-11 team was the “good” team I was referring to. And the 0-2 start was the exclamation point on Bledsoe’s career with the Patriots coming to an end.

By: tommyfw

tommyfw — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 14:02:11 +0000

The Patriots were 5-11 with Saint Drew in 2000. In fact their rush to mediocrity after the 96 Super Bowl season was pretty stunning, 10-6, 9-7, 8-8, 5-11, 0-2 with Drew in 01. Or should that be 0-1.5 since Huard came in after the Mo Lewis hit? To call the 01 Patriots a “good” team is a stretch coming off of that 5-11 season.

The 01 Patriots is easily the most improbable Super Bowl winner. This team had some really good players and others that finally started living up to their potential (Willie). Rod Rutledge and Jermaine Wiggins were the TE’s and the WR core was stunningly average outside of Troy Brown.

By: Box Score

Box Score — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 16:56:02 +0000

Will,

That whole “However, in order to take a team to the next level, you need to start at some level…and they were granted a team already at a “good” level” thing ?

Well, that’s pretty much the most absurd comment in the 60 that have been left about the post.

Well done. I think you’re now eligible to win a signed Dave Megget sexual misconduct complaint at the next Patriots Daily raffle.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 16:28:36 +0000

You are what your record says you are, as D.C. Parcells once said. And not just yards passing or TD passes (or picks) but sacks/yard lost. And I have NO idea about how hard Bledsoe worked, or didn’t work, in the offseason.

But starting with Game 3 of the 2001 season, Tom Brady inherited what had been a MORIBUND offense and a team that had lost 19 of its previous 26 starts, went 14-3 the rest of the way, and ran the table. (In the AFCCG, Brady was injured while the Pats held the lead.)

I have never looked back.

By: Will

Will — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 15:30:16 +0000

As a loyal Patriots Fan for the past 20 years, I remember the down years of the late 80’s and early 90’s. I still watched every game and looked for something to get excited about. There wasn’t much, but I still thought Marv Cook was great and Leonard Russell/John Stephens were stars in the making. I even thought Tommy Hodson, Hugh Millen, and Scott Zolak could be good enough QB’s to help us win. It was my duty as a loyal fan to remain optimistic no matter what the cost. Watching losing season after losing season…there was always hope for next year. Finally when Bill Parcells and Bob Kraft arrived, things were looking up. Parcells wanted Drew Bledsoe over Rick Mirer and that is who we got. Bledsoe’s rookie year was better than the previous years and it brought some excitement. We actually had a QB that could make a difference in our offense. He accomplished a lot in his 2nd season and the team had a winning record for the first time in years. Finally people in New England were talking about the Pats in a good way again. The next few years saw more wins than the organization had seen in a while and pro-bowlers flourished. Bledsoe never won us a Super Bowl, but he was a part of the reason why fans believed in the Pats again. Curtis Martin, Ben Coates, Terry Glenn, Willie McGinest, Ty Law, Lawyer Milloy…all of these guys brought Patriot pride back into New England. That is why I will always see Bledsoe as part of the success that put Pat’s fans back in the seats. Even if you didn’t like his style, we finally had a QB post-Steve Grogan who could make some big throws and win a game by himself. Bill Belichick and Tom Brady did take the Pats to a whole new level. However, in order to take a team to the next level, you need to start at some level…and they were granted a team already at a “good” level. Success breeds success and Bledsoe was a big reason for the success of the organization for a number of years. That is why I will always appreciate what Bledsoe did for the New England Patriots.

By: James

James — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 13:45:10 +0000

Every year it was the same thing, the blame for Drew’s ineptness was blamed on the following: bad offensive line……….Ah Drew, your pancake syrup-like mobility made the best of offensive lines look bad. I’ll never forget the time in Buffalo when Drew took yet another sack after holding onto the ball for about 7 seconds, finally Reuben Brown couldn’t take it anymore after the sack, he looked over to his coach on the sidelines and went into a tirade and ripped his helmet off in disguest over Drew Sloth taking yet another sack. The excuses were endless. It was “Well if Drew had an all-pro tight end, Ron Yary and Orlando Pace at tackle and the 1982 Kellen Winslow and Jim Brown, you watch, he’ll do something, you just watch, he just needs the pieces around him.” What a joke, Tom Brady has been winning superbowls for the most part throwing to Division 3 wideouts. Give me a break Drew worshippers, wake up.

By: RL

RL — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 13:18:18 +0000

Some where out there, our good friend Ron Borges and his old side-kick Nick Carfardo are in complete disagreement with this. Accoring to these two guys, when the Patriots traded Drew and decided to stay with some guy named Tom Brady, they informed all of us that the Patriots made a major mistake and kept the wrong guy. Ah, OK…………..