Bledsoe Set On Vindication After Bad Year

If nothing else, Drew Bledsoe has proven that he’s got a level head on those separated shoulders.

He had several options following a 1995 season in which he signed a $42 million contract and then went out and suffered through a sub-par, injury-marred season.

He could have 1) shrugged his shoulders (although that movement reportedly occasionally caused a collarbone to pop loose) and run around screaming, “Who cares? I’m rich, I’m filthy rich, I’mrichI’mrichI’mrich!”

Or, 2) rummaged around inside himself to find that place where the pride and motivation are stored - where wealth has no currency - and dedicated himself to bouncing back to the Pro Bowl-caliber play he displayed the previous season.

Because it is his nature, Bledsoe, a Washington State product, chose the second path, and this week reported to the New England Patriots’ training camp more “excited going into this season than I have been for any other season since I’ve been in the league.

“I think everyone knows it is an important year for me; I know it’s an important year for me,” the fourthyear quarterback said. “I’ve got something to prove. I had a bad year last year and I want to prove this year that that was the exception rather than the norm.”

And, showing a surprising capacity for introspection by a 24-year-old multimillionaire, Bledsoe even suggested that his response to adversity could provide a defining moment for him.

“I think you’re always trying to find yourself by how you react to things,” he said.

Having already pocketed $16 million in signing bonuses, Bledsoe could afford to pay somebody else to do the “finding” for him.

Yet he seems to remain remarkably unaffected by his wealth, realizing that the sums of money he’s paid for being deft at throwing a football is “twisted” when viewed in the context of the salaries paid to educators like his parents.

And millions of the bucks from the Patriots have already been funneled to charities.

In the off-season, Bledsoe got married in Portland and honeymooned in Bali, Indonesia - a destination which, perhaps not coincidentally, is almost exactly halfway around the world from Boston.

But even that distance wasn’t enough to help him dust off the stubborn residue of a season in which he fell from being the brightest young star in the league to having the lowest quarterback rating of any regular in the AFC (tied with Seattle’s Rick Mirer at 63.7).

“It eats at you all off-season,” Bledsoe said. “And you’ve got to try to do everything to try to correct it. You have to do everything you can to prevent (a repeat).

“Last year was a tough season for me, but you’ve got to be able to take that one and build on it. You can’t let that one ruin your confidence and you can’t let one bad year have a negative effect on you.”

So, he reviewed tapes of his throwing motion and spotted some glitches to be smoothed out.

“Other than that, I worked hard on my strength and put on 7 or 8 pounds of muscle,” he said. “And also several pounds of not-so-good weight.”

Bledsoe is diplomatic about another change that could positively effect him this season: the move of receivers coach Chris Palmer to quarterbacks coach, where he takes over for Ray Perkins, who had been spread thin as both offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

“I made the Pro Bowl with Ray Perkins as my coach; Ray has taught me a lot,” Bledsoe said. “There is nothing wrong with that relationship, but it’s going to be nice to have Chris because he will be able to focus exclusively on our position. That’s going to be very beneficial.

“Last year, when my fundamentals started to fall off, it would have been good to have someone that was just a watch-dog for those kinds of things.”

Palmer, Bledsoe said, shares his calm temperament. Perkins was rarely touted for calmness.

“We just really relate well,” Bledsoe said of Palmer.

The additions of speedy draft choice Terry Glenn and free agent Shawn Jefferson will also take some of the load off Bledsoe’s shoulders - which, he said, are entirely healed.

So, the 1996 edition of Bledsoe is married, healthy, and most importantly, extremely motivated.

“This year, there’s no distractions. I’m ready to play football,” he said. “And I have something to prove.”