Tag: Drew Bledsoe

A look at some of the best and worst uniforms in Patriots and Buccaneers history

Now that the New England Patriots have undergone a uniform redesign, take a look at the best and worst unis in Pats and Bucs history.

Both the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New England Patriots are dealing with quarterback Tom Brady in different ways this offseason. The Patriots said goodbye to the six-time Super Bowl champion after his 20-year run with the team, while the Bucs openly welcomed Brady to the bay to spearhead Bruce Arians’ offense and get Tampa Bay back to the postseason.

And, it seems both teams felt it appropriate to undergo a uniform redesign this offseason, too. The Buccaneers unveiled their new threads a few weeks ago, while the Patriots just announced today that their color rush uniforms will now be their primary ones. Both the Bucs and Patriots’ redesigns are major upgrades from what they had before, but it’s not the first time each franchise has undergone a change.

With that, let’s take a look at some the best and worst uniforms in the Patriots and Buccaneers’ history.

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Tom Brady shares the play-call sheet from his first career start

In honor of Flashback Friday, QB Tom Brady took to Instagram to share the play-call sheet from his first career start with the Patriots.

Tom Brady joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this offseason after a 20-year career with the New England Patriots that produced nine Super Bowl appearances, including six championships. It’s a dynastic run we’ll likely never going to see again, but it all started back in Week 3 of the 2001 when Brady got his first career start against the Indianapolis Colts.

The week before, Brady entered the game after starter Drew Bledsoe went down with an injury. From then on, it was Brady’s team for the next two decades. Today, in honor of Flashback Friday, the future Hall of Famer posted the play-call sheet from that first start against Indy.

Take a look.

For the record, the Patriots beat the Colts 44-13, Brady’s first win over then-Colts QB Peyton Manning. Brady finished the game just 13-for-23 for 168 yards. Not exactly Hall of Fame numbers, but then again, everyone just assumed he was keeping the seat warm until Bledsoe’s return.

Well, we all know what happens when you assume…

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Bucs handed Bill Belichick his first loss as Patriots head coach

The Bucs have Tom Brady as their quarterback now, but it turns out they also played a big role in Bill Belichick’s career with Pats.

Now that Tom Brady is officially a Buccaneer, the debate will rage on about who the true mastermind was behind the New England Patriots’ dynastic run over 20 years that produced nine Super Bowl appearances and six championships. Was it Brady or Patriots head coach Bill Belichick?

Brady and Belichick were joined at the hip for nearly two decades, but Brady wasn’t the original quarterback Belichick worked with in New England when he arrived as head coach in 2000. That would be Drew Bledsoe, the top pick of the 1993 NFL draft who led the Patriots to an appearance in Super Bowl XXXI following the 1996 season, where they lost to Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers.

Belichick and Bledsoe struggled in their first season working together, as the Patriots finished with a record of just 5-11. And, the first game Belichick ever coached as head man of the Patriots was against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 1 of the 2000 season. The Tony Dungy-led Bucs downed Belichick’s Pats at the old Foxboro Stadium, 21-16.

Take a look at a screenshot from the game book of that game below, courtesy of NFL GSIS. Notice the highlighted name under “Not Active.” Just some random sixth-round pick who probably won’t even be on the roster at the end of the year, right?

As we all know by now, Bledsoe was injured early in the 2001 season by New York Jets linebacker Mo Lewis, paving the way for Brady to begin his legendary run with the Pats. New England finished the 2001 season by upsetting the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI. Brady earned his first Super Bowl MVP award and the rest, as they say, is history.

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Drew Bledsoe says he once thought Tom Brady would never be a starter

“He’s never going to be a starter.”

When Tom Brady entered the NFL, there can’t have been many people who believed he would be a starting caliber quarterback. Every NFL team, including the Patriots, passed on him in the draft until he fell to 199th overall in the sixth round. So as quarterback Drew Bledsoe reflected upon Brady’s career, Bledsoe was honest about the early days.

“Here’s the real truth of it,” Bledsoe said before making his confession. “So when he was on the practice squad his rookie year, I actually called my financial advisor about him like, ‘Hey, I really like this kid. He’s never going to be a starter. He’s just going to be Jason Garrett or one of those guys who are just around forever, but you’ll really like the kid.'”

Bledsoe and Brady have had a long-standing friendship, even after Brady supplanted Bledsoe in 2000 and went on to win the franchise’s first Super Bowl (with five more coming later).

“Tommy was a young kid out of Michigan, a skinny little twerp,” Bledsoe told me in 2019. “The one thing that stuck out about Tommy when he was a young kid was that he was immediately an extremely hard worker and had a great personality about him. People naturally gravitated toward him. None of us — at that point — thought he would be something special.”

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Drew Bledsoe admits that he never thought Tom Brady would be an NFL starter

“He’s never gonna be a starter.”

Tom Brady’s legendary NFL career seemingly came out of nowhere — the ultimate product of circumstance.

Brady was a second-year backup quarterback when Patriot starter Drew Bledsoe went down with a chest injury early in 2001. By now, most know the story: Brady took over as the starter and led the Patriots to their first Super Bowl title. Bledsoe never started another game for New England.

Six Super Bowl titles later, Brady’s career remains surprising to Bledsoe. And in an interview with ESPN, Bledsoe admitted that he never thought Brady would be an NFL starter, seeing him more as a career backup like Jason Garrett.

Bledsoe said:

“When he was on practice squad his rookie year, I actually called my financial advisor about him. ‘Hey, I really like this kid. He’s never gonna be a starter. He’s gonna be Jason Garrett or one of those guys who’s just gonna be around forever. You’ll really like the kid.'” And we really did. We kind of brought him in. We had him over for dinner probably at least every other week. But just really liked him — and still do. Nobody outside of maybe Tom himself could ever have predicted that he was going to go on to be a starter in the league and be in the conversation as one of the greatest of all-time.”

In a separate interview with For The Win, Bledsoe said that nobody thought Brady was something *that* special.

“Tommy was a young kid out of Michigan, a skinny little twerp,” Bledsoe said. “The one thing that stuck out about Tommy when he was a young kid was that he was immediately an extremely hard worker and had a great personality about him. People naturally gravitated toward him. None of us — at that point — thought he would be something special.”

The full ESPN interview airs Sunday at 7 p.m. ET.

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Tom Brady has an unparalleled ability to mentor young quarterbacks

Tom Brady is known for many things, but his ability stay relentlessly locked in, while mentoring young quarterbacks is often overlooked. 

Tom Brady is known for many things, but his ability stay relentlessly locked in, while mentoring young quarterbacks is often overlooked.

The 42-year-old quarterback has spent 20 seasons with the New England Patriots and has been at the helm for 18 of those years. Brady spent most of the 2001 season on the bench behind Drew Bledsoe and he missed 2008 with an ACL injury.

This has left no room for his backup quarterbacks to shine in New England, but many of them have went on to have successful careers. Guys like Matt Cassel and Brian Hoyer went on to have successful careers as journeymen — while Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett are doing pretty well in their roles as starting quarterbacks. There were players like Rohan Davey and Ryan Mallett, who didn’t find their way in the league.

But, as Brady’s wisdom increased as a quarterback and mentor, his peers’ ability to branch off and become successful increased as well. Brissett and Garoppolo are the best examples of this.

Brissett was thrown into the starting role with the Indianapolis Colts in 2019 after Andrew Luck announced his retirement at the very last minute. He threw for 2,942 passing yards, 18 touchdowns and six interceptions. This was  with an injured T.Y. Hilton, who played in 10 games and only had 500 yards. Brissett had minimal time to prepare as the team’s starter, and he pulled away with a 7-8 record. His composure under pressure and ability to gain trust from his team is the reason that the Colts will be in good hands in 2020.

Garoppolo was a star in the making and he spent three seasons learning from Brady. He devoured information and was shaping up to be the Brady’s successor, but he found himself with the San Francisco 49ers before that could transpire. Now, Garoppolo and the 49ers are en route to the Super Bowl and he boasts a career record of 24-5.

After three years in the same locker room, Garoppolo spoke highly of Brady and his work ethic.

“That’s the impressive thing. After so many weeks in the season, guys start to get tired and pack it in. He just keeps grinding,” Garoppolo said. “To do it for such a long time — I’m telling you. It’s one of those things you feel like a robot doing it for 17 weeks straight. (His preparation) is impressive.”

He’s been like a big brother to me,” Garoppolo continued. “It’s very competitive. Arguments break out and stuff like that, but it’s just very competitive. It’s just great being around (Brady and Brissett).”

Brady isn’t always the serious and fierce competitor, he likes to have fun and even prank his teammates. In a feature by our own, Henry McKenna, he elaborates on a time Brady pranked Cassel. Brady removed the tires from his car, three of which were in his locker, and the fourth was hidden elsewhere in the facility.

“I go outside and my car is on blocks,” Cassel said. “Everyone’s laughing. I had to get a ride home from my roommate, because he wouldn’t give me my tire back.”

Above all, Cassel explained how Brady treats his teammates and doesn’t put himself on the pedestal.

“He is what you would hope someone of his stature in the game would be,” Cassel said. ”He’s a solid guy who treats people with respect. … They don’t understand how loyal he is with his friends.”

Whether it’s time to be serious or joke around, Brady is engaged and playing a leadership role for his peers. His most recent task is Jarrett Stidham, who was drafted by the Patriots in the fourth round in 2019. For the first time in Brady’s career, he’s entering free agency. If Brady were to leave, Stidham would be the only quarterback who was with the team in 2019 — potentially leaving him with the starting gig.

Stidham elaborated on the knowledge he learned from Brady in 2019.

“It was priceless,” Stidham said. “It’s going to be really cool one day when I can sit there and tell my children, or my grandkids one day, that I got to be in the same quarterback room and talking about coverages and different passing concepts with Tom.”

Brady’s future is unknown with the Patriots, but it’s hard to believe he left his current successor without the tools to lead this team. Brady, the six-time Super Bowl champion, made sure to put intention and care into everything he’s done — including the nurturing of his backup quarterbacks.

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Drew Bledsoe names two teams that fit for Tom Brady in free agency

“If he does decide he’s going to go someplace else, it has to be a very specific fit.”

Past and present New England Patriots have their attention fixed upon the pending decision of quarterback Tom Brady. He could leave the franchise where he’s played for the last 20 seasons when free agency opens in March. The Patriots are still an option, but Brady could entertain the possibility of entering free agency. That strikes former Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe as “weird.”

“I think it would be strange for everybody if that happened,” he told the Zach Gelb Show Tuesday. “If he does decide he’s going to go someplace else, it has to be a very specific fit. They’ve got to have most of the pieces in place already. He’s not going to go to a rebuild. Outside of [Los Angeles and Indianapolis], it’s kind of hard to envision him going someplace else.”

The Chargers boast a strong group of skill players, with receivers Keenan Allen and Mike Williams and tight end Hunter Henry. The downsides in L.A. include a struggling offensive line and a coaching staff which may not have a good system in place for Brady.

The Colts have a strong group of offensive line, and while their best pass-catcher is T.Y. Hilton, they have plenty of draft capital and cap space to acquire a solid group of offensive skill players.

As weird as it is to imagine Brady playing for one of those teams, Bledsoe was willing to admit he was curious to see if it might answer the question: who is more to thank for the Patriots’ dynasty, Belichick or Brady?

“I do think there’s some intrigue, probably on both sides of that thing, to see if they can do it without the other guy – for Tom, to see if he can without Bill, and for Bill, to see if he can win without Tom,” Bledsoe said. “I think there’s probably some intrigue on both sides of that thing to see where the credit really lies in that situation. I truly have no idea what’s going to happen. It’ll be interesting to watch.”

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