Finally, Bledsoe Feels Like A Winner
In 3-1/2 years as an NFL quarterback, New England’s Drew Bledsoe has thrown a million touchdown passes, a half-million interceptions, made multi-millions of dollars.
And been a million miles out of first place.
Not anymore.
Bledsoe now is a winning, rich, statistical marvel.
At 5-3, New England has chucked aside an opening-day flop at Miami with impressive wins over Indianapolis and Buffalo, AFC East rivals and co-leaders.
“We’ve been on a real rollercoaster since I’ve been here,” the former Washington State Cougar said during a conference call on Wednesday, four days before the Patriots’ rematch with Miami.
“We had a great season in 1994, last year there were a lot of expectations and we didn’t do much. Since I’ve been here, we’ve never owned or shared first place so it’s a unique situation. Now we have to learn how to play from the front when everyone’s gunning at you.”
Actually, Bledsoe led New England to a 10-6 record in 1994, including seven straight wins to close the regular season. The Patriots tied Miami for first, but ended up being the wild card and lost to Cleveland in the playoffs. The high expectations for ‘95 weren’t met in a 6-10 season.
Bledsoe and the Pats have turned it around this season. He was the AFC’s lowest-rated QB last year, tied with Seattle’s Rick Mirer with a 63.7 efficiency rating. This year, Bledsoe has 12 touchdown passes, four interceptions and an 82.5 rating.
In the AFC, only Indy’s Jim Harbaugh (2) and San Diego’s Stan Humphries (3) have tossed fewer interceptions. Bledsoe has those two whipped in yardage and touchdowns.
“First of all, I’d like to think I’m playing a little smarter football and going to the right places with the ball,” Bledsoe said. “The second part is luck.”
The Patriots have supplied Bledsoe with a stable of receivers. Rookie Terry Glenn leads the club with 37 receptions, tight end Ben Coates has 36 and free agent signee Shawn Jefferson has 29.
“Our scouting department felt Terry was the best receiver in the draft and we got him,” Bledsoe said. “We have more weapons than just about anybody we face. Teams have to cover the whole field and can’t focus on one or two guys. We feel we can get mismatches in certain situations.”
New England is in the midst of a four-game AFC East swing. After wins over Indy and Buffalo, the Patriots face Miami and the New York Jets.
The Pats will be favored in both games.
“We kind of feel like that (24-10 loss to Miami) was a fluke. We played so poorly in so many areas,” Bledsoe said.
“Coach (Bill Parcells) told us these four games would really define our season. If we win this (Sunday), it’s another big swing game in the conference.”
And another week in first place.
, DataTimes