Tag: Drew Bledsoe

20 years ago on Sept. 23, Mo Lewis hit Drew Bledsoe and Tom Brady became the Patriots’ QB

20 years ago on Sept. 23, Tom Brady stepped in for an injured Drew Bledsoe and NFL history changed

On Sept. 23, 2001, Drew Bledsoe rolled out in the fourth quarter of a New England Patriots game against the New York Jets. He turned up field to run. It would become the play that changed NFL history.

Bledsoe headed toward the sideline and as he got there Jets linebacker Mo Lewis delivered a punishing shot.

The hit eventually drove Bledsoe from the game and sent the former No. 1 overall pick to the hospital. He played a series after the massive hit that gave New England’s big-money quarterback a concussion, a collapsed lung, and internal bleeding. Bledsoe nearly died from the violent collision.

Enter a sixth-round pick in 2000 from Michigan named Tom Brady and the rest became NFL and Super Bowl history.

 

NBC Sports Boston did an oral history on the play and what ensued.

The Patriots went one to lose the game, 10-3. And in the long run, they won, and won and won.

Why it’s not a ‘happy’ 20th anniversary for the Mo Lewis hit on Drew Bledsoe that started Tom Brady’s legendary run

Let’s remember that Bledsoe’s life needed to be saved after that hit.

It was 20 years ago on Thursday that one hit changed the course of sports history.

On September 23, 2001, the New York Jets faced the New England Patriots, and Pats QB Drew Bledsoe faced a 3rd-and-10 while down 10-3 late in the fourth quarter. The quarterback took off while looking for the first down, when he was met by Jets linebacker Mo Lewis. An absolutely devastating, horrifying hit sent an injured Bledsoe out of the game.

He was replaced by a young, unproven quarterback who was a sixth-round pick in 2000 out of Michigan: Tom Brady.

You know the rest of the story — the GOAT started his run exactly 20 years ago that’s still going.

But let’s not wish Brady a happy 20th anniversary or anything. Because then we’re all shoving aside what happened to Bledsoe.

ESPN’s Seth Wickersham published a story on the hit on Thursday that reminds us that it wasn’t all about Brady taking over and becoming the NFL’s greatest quarterback ever. Here’s what happened to Bledsoe that could have ended the QB’s life:

Bledsoe lay on the turf after the hit. It was clear he was hurt, but nobody knew that he was bleeding internally, with a torn blood vessel in his chest. At the time, he had the dull gaze in his eyes. Moments later, Brady noticed he was slurring his words and struggling to discuss the team’s audible system. …

[Bill] Belichick inserted Brady for the rest of the game. As Bledsoe walked to the locker room for team prayer after the 10-3 loss, one of the Patriots doctors noticed that Bledsoe was looking suspiciously ill and asked him to follow him instead into the medical room, a decision that likely saved Bledsoe’s life. Bledsoe’s heart was racing, the opposite of what typically happens with a concussion. Soon, Bledsoe was in an ambulance. He started to fade out of consciousness. His younger brother Adam implored the driver to go faster, as Bledsoe’s eyes closed and didn’t open until hours later. Doctors later discovered the he was bleeding a pint of blood every hour and had suffered a hemothorax, with blood filling in his chest. When Bledsoe woke up, he was at Massachusetts General Hospital with a tube inserted in his chest, hooked up to a machine that pumped blood out of his body, cleaned it and cycled it back in — and the world as he knew it had started to change.

So while it’s a day we frame as the one that changed everything for Brady, let’s not forget what led to it and about what Bledsoe went through. Thank goodness he survived.

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Are the Patriots throwing more at Mac Jones than they did at Tom Brady to start?

“There was a different strategy when Tommy started playing because we were loaded on defense.”

Mac Jones’ path to becoming a starter in the NFL is unprecedented.

The No. 15 overall pick beat out Cam Newton for the role and he’s the first rookie to start under Bill Belichick for the New England Patriots. Even the route he took to fall down to the Patriots in the draft was unlikely. And now, he’s been given the keys to lead the Patriots following an era that consisted of winning and excellence from Tom Brady.

Brady, who’s the greatest player to touch an NFL field, still didn’t have the magnitude of responsibility that’s on Jones’ shoulders when he first became the starter. Former Patriots offensive coordinator Charlie Weiss joined WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” Friday morning and explained this in further detail.

“There was a different strategy when Tommy started playing because we were loaded on defense. So the way we played at that time, at least when Tommy first started the year, was very conservative,” Weis said. “We were dinking and dunking, everyone was saying, ‘The guy can’t throw the ball down the field’ because we weren’t throwing the ball down the field. Obviously, the Patriots now are doing a lot more of exposing Mac to everything than we did to Tommy at the start of the year.

“Now, by the end of the year the guy is running two-minute to win the Super Bowl. Obviously, we went a long way from when he first went in there. Mac/the Patriots are ahead of the curve as far as all the stuff they are doing with him already in games where probably it took us half the season before we got there with Tommy.”

Following the much-anticipated Week 1 matchup, Weiss believes the Patriots will continue to add to Jones’ responsibilities.

“I think the philosophy there has always been find out what they can do and do that, and then expand from there,” he said. “I think Josh [McDaniels] and the rest of the staff — Josh, Bill [Belichick] and everyone else — is starting to feel comfortable. ‘OK, these things we know he’s comfortable with. Now we can grow from there.’”

Jones threw 29 of 39 for 281 yards and a touchdown, while converting 11 of 16 third downs in the Patriots’ 17-16 loss to the Miami Dolphins last week. He was cool and collective while spreading the ball around and he’ll have an easier matchup this week against the New York Jets.

From the looks of things currently — Jones could look like a true seasoned veteran mid-season.

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Drew Bledsoe offers his take on Patriots quarterback battle

Drew Bledsoe knows who he wants to see the Patriots start under center.

Quarterback play has been a hot-button issue surrounding the New England Patriots this training camp, and one former legend knows who he wants to see under center.

Drew Bledsoe is no stranger to quarterback battles. Playing for the Patriots from 1993 to 2001, he held the position until Week 2 of the 2001 season.  An injury forced him out of action, and led the way for Tom Brady’s emergence.

In speaking on the radio earlier this week, Bledsoe indicated that he wants to see Cam Newton under center for New England. With more weapons for Newton, Bledsoe believes that the quarterback will be in a better position for success in 2021.

“I think they’ve got to let Cam go a little bit, and I would personally really like to see Cam get a full year,” he said. “Last year, the cupboard was kind of empty up there, and I think everybody recognizes that now. There wasn’t a lot, in terms of weapons for him. They went and got some weapons, and I think it’d be great to see Cam get to get back out there and show why he was an NFL MVP.”

“It’d also be pretty good for Mac to watch it for a year and then be ready to rock going forward,” he noted. “But I’d love to see Cam get a chance to get out there and get after it and show what he can really do.”

As the Patriots get set for their second preseason game on Thursday, the quarterback position is still very much under the microscope.

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3 Bills crack Mel Kiper Jr.’s 10 highest-graded QBs of all time

Buffalo Bills QBs Josh Allen, Jim Kelly, Drew Bledsoe among Mel Kiper’s all-time draft list.

ESPN NFL draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. took time out of his busy schedule at this time of the year to put together a pretty interesting list.

Kiper, one of the faces of the event each year, ranked his top 10 highest-graded quarterbacks ever heading into any draft. Of those 10, two were draft picks of the Buffalo Bills, while a third eventually suited up for the team.

The first appearance is Hall of Famer Jim Kelly. He came in at No. 5, but he isn’t the top-rated quarterback on Kiper’s list from his own draft class. The 1983 crew was perhaps the most touted QB draft class ever, and the Broncos’ John Elway takes the top overall spot on Kiper’s list.

Next, the signal caller Buffalo did not draft checks in: Drew Bledsoe. He was picked first overall by the Patriots in 1993. Bledsoe spent nine seasons in New England before he was traded to Buffalo prior to the 2002 season. Overall, Bledsoe was No. 7 on the rankings.

Finally, a name currently near and dear to Bills Mafia rounds out the list: quarterback Josh Allen slots in at No. 10 overall.

All things considered, the Bills’ connections here make the club look pretty smart. This list by Kiper wasn’t a “bragging” type of operation by him. He owned his misses too, as guys like Ryan Leaf, perhaps the biggest draft bust in NFL history, is No. 8 on the list.

All three QBs with links to the Bills, though? All pretty dang good in their own right,

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Quarterbacks born on Valentine’s Day have been the most prolific in NFL history

If your son or daughter is born on Valentine’s Day, the odds are pretty decent that you have a future NFL quarterback in your midst.

When you woke up this morning and realized it was Valentine’s Day, hopefully you weren’t in a panic about getting that special gift for your significant other. And if you woke up this morning with the awareness that you’re going to have a baby today… well, depending on all kinds of circumstances, you might be unleashing a highly prolific NFL quarterback on the world in the next 20 years or so. Per Chase Stuart of Football Perspective, the odds favor you and your progeny.

Three of the best quarterbacks of all time from a statistical perspective — Jim Kelly, Steve McNair, and Drew Bledsoe — were all born on February 14, and former Jaguars quarterback David Garrard also shares the birthdate. As Stuart points out, Valentine’s day is the only date of birth for four different quarterbacks who have thrown for over 16,000 yards — Garrard brings up the rear at 16,003. No other date of birth has four quarterbacks with even 7,500 yards between them.

The totals for quarterbacks born on Valentine’s Day, when you pack in Patrick Ramsey and a handful of other guys (including Jared Lorenzen, the “Hefty Lefty,” and former Dolphins quarterback/halfback/punter Larry Seiple)?

How about 11,723 completions in 19,916 attempts for 137,342 yards, 808 touchdowns, and 615 interceptions? That’s a lot of numbers.

If there’s a Fredo Corleone on the Valentine’s Day list, it’s unquestionably Christian Hackenberg, the former Jets second-round pick who never threw a regular-season pass, washed out of the NFL completely, and was last seen swearing his way out of the Alliance of American Football, and trying to become a major league pitcher.

But hey…. it’s a day of love, so let’s accentuate the positive. Are there future February 14th birthday kids with bright NFL futures? Don’t bet against it.

 

Drew Bledsoe gives shoutout to Josh Allen

Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen gets shoutout from Drew Bledsoe.

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Bills quarterback Josh Allen finished the 2020 NFL season with the fifth-most passing yards of any quarterback in the NFL, 4,544 in total. In terms of his team, it was much higher than No. 5.

Allen’s passing yards now sits alone at the mountain top in terms of Bills QBs, as he surpassed Drew Bledsoe’s previous single-season record in Week 17 against the Miami Dolphins. Allen, playing in half a game, had 224 passing yards, completing 18 of his 25 passes.

Following that effort, Bledsoe gave a tip of the cap to Bledsoe on social media, congratulating the QB and giving Bills fans a shoutout, too:

Bledsoe held that record since 2002 when he threw for 4,359 passing yards. That season was his lone Pro Bowl with the Bills. Allen earned his first Pro Bowl in 2020 as well.

Allen will look to continue surpassing Bledsoe this upcoming weekend, too. Bledsoe did not record a postseason win during his career and Allen hope for the first of his career against the Indianapolis Colts at Bills Stadium on Saturday.

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Bills’ Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs closing in on more franchise records

Buffalo Bills team record updates for Stefon Diggs, Josh Allen.

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It’s been a historical year for the Buffalo Bills, who’ve regularly silenced critics and won new fans alike all while setting franchise marks in several categories. At 11-3 with two games to go, might more benchmarks be broken?

Bills quarterback Josh Allen and wideout Stefon Diggs will likely do just that as the team has two games remaining. Both players have been gaining attention for their accolades on the field and are two of five Buffalo players heading to the Pro Bowl.

In the Bills’ final two contests, Allen is closing in on Jim Kelly’s record for touchdown passes. Currently at 30, Allen needs four more over the next two outings to break Jim Kelly’s record (33) from 1991. 

The other single-season milestone on the horizon is passing yards. After 14 games played, Allen’s sitting in second-place, all-time in team history at a clean 4,000 total passing yards so far in 2020. He entered Week 15 against the Denver Broncos at No. 5 on that list and added 359 passing yards at Mile High to his totals. 

Currently only Drew Bledsoe’s 4,359 passing yards from 2002 sit above Allen. This season Allen’s averaging 285.7 passing yards per game. 

In regard to Diggs, he already blew away one franchise record last week. He needed one catch to surpass Eric Moulds’ single-season catch record of 100.

Diggs had 11 against the Broncos and is up to 111, which currently leads the NFL. Moulds’ other record, receiving yards, was set in 1998 when he had 1,368 total yards. Diggs, with 1,314, only needs 55 more to break that record.

Stay tuned to see if these records get broken in the final weeks of the season.

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Multiple former Bills among top No. 1 pick ranking

Touchdown Wire’s list of former No. 1 overall picks and their rankings.

The Buffalo Bills have rostered a few players in their history that were former No. 1 overall picks in their respective NFL Draft years.

Draft Wire recently ranked the careers of every No. 1 overall pick since 1970 and put those 50 guys head-to-head. Four guys formerly of the Bills land on this list and three of the four landed in pretty good standing while another… not so much.

The first that appears on the list is the most obvious pick. He’s one of the best draft picks in team history, defense end Bruce Smith. The NFL all-time leading sack artist landed at No. 3 overall in this ranking, behind only two quarterbacks: John Elway and Peyton Manning at No. 1. Some very good company.

The next two ex-Bills joined the team via different means than Smith. At No. 15, quarterback Drew Bledsoe appears, the Bills QB from 2002-2004. Bledsoe just edges another former Bills player, the team’s highest-profile free agent addition, perhaps ever, defensive end Mario Williams. He lands at No. 16 on the ranking. Williams signed with the Bills prior to the 2012 season via the largest free agent contract ever at the time for a defensive player.

Rounding things out for Buffalo is one less-than-stellar pick for this list: Defensive end Walt Patulski. He was acquired the same was Smith was, the No. 1 overall pick in 1972. Patulski only suited up for the Bills for four seasons before being traded.

3/4 near the top isn’t bad, though.

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Tom Brady looks back on Drew Bledsoe’s prank that left his feet purple

Pranking rookies has been a norm in professional sports for quite some time. 

Pranking rookies has been a norm in professional sports for quite some time.

Tom Brady was on the receiving end of a prank that lasted for weeks. During “The Match” broadcast on Sunday, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback reflected on the time Drew Bledsoe left his feet purple.

“Yeah, when I was a rookie we had a lot of rookie pranks. And we went out for practice one day, we had this loop where we put our laundry after practice so it’s washed for the next day,” Brady said, transcribed by NESN. “And when I got my loop the next day there were no socks in it. So I went to the equipment manager and said, ‘I needed new socks.’ So he gave me a pair of socks. “And Drew Bledsoe had put this purple dye, it was like a powder, in my sock,” Brady continued.

“So I had practiced for two hours and I looked down at one point in practice and the purple started seeping through the shoes. And I said, ‘What the hell is going on with my shoes?’ Well, I got in the locker room and I had to peel my socks off of my feet. And I had this dark purple stain, my feet looked like Barney the Dinosaur for three weeks and man I scrubbed as hard as I could. I think I scrubbed with Clorox and just about anything else. But I finally got it off.”

Ruthless. Brady continued to discuss the pranks he had on rookies at later points in his career.

“I learned at a young age when people have a lot more money than you, you don’t prank back,” Brady said. “You just accept it and you move on. Fortunately, I had a few rookies when I was a little older and I had a couple more bucks in my pocket so they were on the butt end of a few pranks of mine.”

Chase Winovich’s haircut last season was just one small example of this.

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