Bledsoe Looking For Redemption Excited By New Offense

Drew Bledsoe acknowledges the obvious. He did not enjoy a career-best season as quarterback of the New England Patriots last fall.

Once he began stumbling, it wasn’t long before the Pats followed, tumbling from a division-leading 6-2 at midseason to an out-of-contention 8-8 finish that prompted owner Robert Kraft to hire Bill Belichick in place of Pete Carroll as head coach.

But as he approaches the start of his eighth NFL season, Bledsoe, 28, claims he doesn’t feel as if he’s lost any of the passing skills that make him heir to Dan Marino as the fastest gun in the AFC.

On the contrary, Bledsoe claims his self-confidence wasn’t fatally shaken in ‘99 and he firmly believes he has the stuff to lead the Pats to the conference championship that has eluded them since Belichick’s mentor, Bill Parcells, left town.

“I believe I can play this game and I believe I can play it as well as anybody,” the 6-foot-5, 233-pound former Washington State standout said. “In spite of the tough second half I had last year, I believe I have what it takes to get us to a championship.

“If the time ever comes when I don’t feel that way, I’ll walk away.”

Bledsoe indicated he has spent time reviewing tapes of the disappointing season, and he sounded more than willing to accept his share of responsibility for the club’s down-the-chute slide.

“It was apparent that for whatever reason, whether it was on me or whether it was a combination of things, something needed to change,” he said. “Hopefully, the change in scheme with this offense with Charlie (Weis, the new offensive coordinator) is what we need.”

Bledsoe implied he respects and believes he can work well with Weis, whose wide-open philosophy is more in tune with his own.

“You’ll see some changes, although I think last season we tried to be a little more creative with our formations and personnel groups on the early downs,” the quarterback said. “You’ll see more personnel groups, more formations and more motion from us this fall, especially on the early downs.

“You never really know what you’ve got coming into a new season, but I feel like we’ve got the talent at the right positions to make a run.

“Maybe this is the window for us,” he continued. “ I believe we have the talent and the people in place to compete for a championship. Now we’ve got to go out and prove it.”