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.
20 years ago today: #Patriots QB Drew Bledsoe was knocked out of the game after this hit by #Jets LB Mo Lewis.
Tom Brady would replace Bledsoe.
The rest is history.
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) September 23, 2021
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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