Volume CXXXI, Number 23 April 26, 2002 f

Rooting for Drew Bledsoe
GIL BARNDOLLAR
CONTRIBUTOR

My first reaction when I heard that Drew Bledsoe had been traded to the Buffalo Bills last Sunday was relief. Relief for him more than anything else. A year after his season from hell, the man who was the New England Patriots for the last decade would have a chance to play football again.

From the moment the Patriots selected him as the first pick of the 1993 NFL Draft, Bledsoe was anointed as the franchise's savior. And for eight seasons, he did a pretty good job of it. In 1994, his second year in the league, he threw for over 4500 yards and led the Patriots to the playoffs.

New England, a perennial doormat since joining the old AFL in 1960, suddenly became interesting. The Pats showed their drafting smarts by adding players like Ty Law, Curtis Martin, and Terry Glenn to the mix as well.

In 1996, driven by Bledsoe's arm, the Patriots were in the Super Bowl. They fell 35-21 to the Green Bay Packers, but the future looked bright for long-suffering Pats fans.

Then, it all slowly went south for Drew. Head coach Bill Parcells, arguing with owner Bob Kraft, left for New York after the Super Bowl loss. Pete Carroll took over, and the discipline and fire of the Parcells years ebbed away. Bledsoe's protector, left tackle Bruce Armstrong, and his favorite target, tight end Ben Coates, both got old. Two of the team's biggest impact players, Glenn and defensive end Willie McGinest, were dogged by injuries.

The running game, which had enjoyed a brief resurgence with Martin at tailback, disappeared again with his departure to the Jets. And Bledsoe, the Patriots' Hall of Fame-bound gunslinger, suddenly looked human.

The Patriots went 8-8 in 1999, then 5-11 in 2000. Bledsoe was sacked an even 100 times over the two seasons.

Last season, at just 29, Bledsoe watched as his New England career came to an abrupt end. After nearly being killed by a hit from Jets linebacker Mo Lewis during the second game of the season, he watched from the sidelines as backup Tom Brady led the Patriots to an unexpected playoff trip and then a miraculous Super Bowl win.

Through it all, he was the consummate team player, never speaking out about his benching or questioning the coaches. Being the class acts that they are, New England fans booed him during the Patriots' November win over the Saints.

Bledsoe will start for division rival Buffalo next season, a sure sign that Bill Belichick and the Patriots' brain trust don't really fear him.

But Belichick is taking a bit of a gamble by having no real insurance behind center for his Super Bowl MVP. The Patriots won their world championship on the backs of an opportunistic, overachieving defense, not the passing of Tom Brady. They scored only three offensive touchdowns in the playoffs, and one of them was thrown by Bledsoe.

Brady, Pro Bowl berth and all, was markedly less effective as the season wore on. Bledsoe, for all the talk of his shell-shocked condition from the pounding he's taken in the last couple of seasons, threw for 17 touchdowns and over 3000 yards for a bad team in 2000.

In the end though, none of that matters. The quarterback controversy in New England is over. One guy's in and one guy's gone. Drew Bledsoe has taken his cannon arm and virtually every franchise passing record and gone north. All fans have left are the memories.

I won't remember Drew Bledsoe as the young gunslinger of the 1996 Super Bowl season, or as the battered veteran of the last couple of seasons. My defining memory of Drew comes from a cold Monday night during my junior year of high school. The Patriots and their fans were suffering through the Pete Carroll Era, and the team had started a mediocre 5-5. Just a few days before the game, Bob Kraft, frustrated by the intransigence of local politicians in getting a new stadium deal done, had signed a preliminary agreement to move the Patriots to Hartford, Connecticut.

My dad, two friends and I had tickets to the Monday night game against the Dolphins. The fans were bitter and rowdy, security was tighter than normal, and no one was too optimistic about the season or even the future of the team. With no running games to speak of, Bledsoe and Dan Marino fought a running duel throughout the night.

Then, with less than three minutes left, it happened. The Patriots were trailing 23-19, 80 yards from the end zone, and unbeknownst to those of us in Foxboro Stadium, Drew had broken the index finger on his throwing hand on a Dolphin's helmet. Ignoring the pain, he led his team down the field, converting on two fourth downs and two third-and-longs. With under a minute to play, Drew hit Shawn Jefferson for a 25-yard touchdown to win it.

Those kind of moments stay with you. And that's why I'll be rooting for Drew Bledsoe when he steps on the field with the Bills this fall.