Drew Bledsoe Comments on Buffalo

[Red_Tory]

I was listening to my beloved University of Western Ontario Mustangs on the radio two weeks ago for their season opener, and Doug Flutie happened to be at the game. Sideline reporter was able to grab him for an on air conversation. Now I have no interest in starting a discussion about the merits of Doug Flutie as a Bill, but he had absolutely nothing but extremely positive things to say about the city of Buffalo and his time as a member of the Bills. Called Bills fans the best fans in the NFL. Talked about how the fans deserve a winner, and that the organization is moving in the right direction.

 

Cheers,

 

Chris

[notwoz]

I was listening to my beloved University of Western Ontario Mustangs on the radio two weeks ago for their season opener, and Doug Flutie happened to be at the game. Sideline reporter was able to grab him for an on air conversation. Now I have no interest in starting a discussion about the merits of Doug Flutie as a Bill, but he had absolutely nothing but extremely positive things to say about the city of Buffalo and his time as a member of the Bills. Called Bills fans the best fans in the NFL. Talked about how the fans deserve a winner, and that the organization is moving in the right direction.

 

Cheers,

 

Chris

I think that just goes to show that Flutie is much more plugged in to the benefits of good PR tactics than Drew. After all, we had Flutie Flakes and not Bledsoe Bran Flakes. I guess if I had to choose, I'd say I enjoyed watching Flutie a lot more than I did watching Bledsoe. Nonethless, it's good to hear him say good things about B-lo.

And I took a double take when I saw your closing, because that's how I end most emails.

 

Cheers,

 

Chris

[EasternOHBillsFan]

I was listening to my beloved University of Western Ontario Mustangs on the radio two weeks ago for their season opener, and Doug Flutie happened to be at the game. Sideline reporter was able to grab him for an on air conversation. Now I have no interest in starting a discussion about the merits of Doug Flutie as a Bill, but he had absolutely nothing but extremely positive things to say about the city of Buffalo and his time as a member of the Bills. Called Bills fans the best fans in the NFL. Talked about how the fans deserve a winner, and that the organization is moving in the right direction.

 

Cheers,

 

Chris

 

Let's see what Andre Reed and Thurman Thomas have to say about Doug Flutie... that will sum up how I feel about him.

[Red_Tory]

Let's see what Andre Reed and Thurman Thomas have to say about Doug Flutie... that will sum up how I feel about him.

 

 

Again, went out of my way to try and avoid getting into this tired old discussion - pretty sure this thread wasnt about our views on past QBs, but on their views on the fans.

 

 

if you dont want a former player speaking positively about the Bills, thats totally your call of course.

[San Jose Bills Fan]

Let's see what Andre Reed and Thurman Thomas have to say about Doug Flutie... that will sum up how I feel about him.

All due respect to two of the Bills all-time greats, very little of what those guys could say would have any bearing on how I feel about Flutie.

[Red_Tory]

I think that just goes to show that Flutie is much more plugged in to the benefits of good PR tactics than Drew. After all, we had Flutie Flakes and not Bledsoe Bran Flakes. I guess if I had to choose, I'd say I enjoyed watching Flutie a lot more than I did watching Bledsoe. Nonethless, it's good to hear him say good things about B-lo.

And I took a double take when I saw your closing, because that's how I end most emails.

 

Cheers,

 

Chris

 

Say Chris - I wouldnt want to give the impression the London, Ontario area is full of Bills fans any longer. So I dont think he was trying to score points with Bills fans, to me he just sounded sincere. Spoke fondly of his time in the CFL (which given the audience may have been a PR consideration), and focused on his return to the NFL in Buffalo. I wont deny the guy is a huge self promoter, but this did seem real to me.

 

Cheers,

 

Chris

Edited September 17, 2011 by Red_Tory

[EasternOHBillsFan]

Again, went out of my way to try and avoid getting into this tired old discussion - pretty sure this thread wasnt about our views on past QBs, but on their views on the fans.

 

 

if you dont want a former player speaking positively about the Bills, thats totally your call of course.

 

I made a simple statement, since you did bring him up. This was about Bledsoe after all, and I wasn't the one who mentioned the F word.

[Red_Tory]

I made a simple statement, since you did bring him up. This was about Bledsoe after all, and I wasn't the one who mentioned the F word.

 

Well, there we have found something we can agree on: your comment certainly was simple.

 

Cheers,

 

Chris

[KidFromLewy]

The Truth About Bledsoe - he thought he was smarter than everyone else, and he's really just an arrogant dumb ___: Peter King's story:

 

 

I think it's good to be reminded that this is the 10-year anniversary weekend for the Drew Bledsoe hit by Mo Lewis that led to the ascension of Tom Brady -- thanks, Adam Schefter -- but we all should remember one thing that, for some reason, seems to have been washed away by time. Brady's time was coming whether Bledsoe got hurt or not.

 

The Patriot staff, Bill Belichick and Charlie Weis most notably, were tiring of studying tape and installing a game plan during the week, then having Bledsoe change an inordinate number of plays and make decisions outside of the progressions Weis wanted in the passing game. Unless Bledsoe led the Patriots to the same Super Bowl victory Brady did in 2001, I believe the Patriots would likely have made the quarterback change before the 2002 season.

 

Bledsoe was a very good player for the Patriots, to be sure. But even in Buffalo, the staff tired of him taking such strong control of the offense -- and other things. The Bills let Bledsoe walk after some big losses in his third year with the team, 2004. None bigger than the last one, a loss to Pittsburgh on a windy day in Buffalo.

 

Winds were whipping up pretty strong that day, and before he walked out to midfield for the flip, Bledsoe was advised by coaches to choose to defend the east goal if Pittsburgh won the toss and elected to receive. (Though the official play-by-play listed the wind as coming from the south that day, Buffalo coaches felt it was an easterly wind.) That way, the Steelers wouldn't be wind-aided when they took the ball. Pittsburgh won the toss. Pittsburgh elected to receive. Bledsoe said Buffalo would defend the west goal. West?

 

Bledsoe explained that when he got to midfield, it seemed to him the wind was whipping around differently than the way the coaches thought, and so he picked the opposite goal to defend. Bledsoe had a seesaw 16-of-30 day and Pittsburgh won 29-24. Bledsoe never played again for Buffalo.

 

Bledsoe is very smart, but on a few occasions, thinking differently than his coaches hurt his employment career. And it affected the balance of power for years in the AFC East.

 

 

 

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/peter_king/09/26/Week3/index.html#ixzz1Z4G1mok0

[C.Biscuit97]

The Truth About Bledsoe - he thought he was smarter than everyone else, and he's really just an arrogant dumb ___: Peter King's story:

 

 

I think it's good to be reminded that this is the 10-year anniversary weekend for the Drew Bledsoe hit by Mo Lewis that led to the ascension of Tom Brady -- thanks, Adam Schefter -- but we all should remember one thing that, for some reason, seems to have been washed away by time. Brady's time was coming whether Bledsoe got hurt or not.

 

The Patriot staff, Bill Belichick and Charlie Weis most notably, were tiring of studying tape and installing a game plan during the week, then having Bledsoe change an inordinate number of plays and make decisions outside of the progressions Weis wanted in the passing game. Unless Bledsoe led the Patriots to the same Super Bowl victory Brady did in 2001, I believe the Patriots would likely have made the quarterback change before the 2002 season.

 

Bledsoe was a very good player for the Patriots, to be sure. But even in Buffalo, the staff tired of him taking such strong control of the offense -- and other things. The Bills let Bledsoe walk after some big losses in his third year with the team, 2004. None bigger than the last one, a loss to Pittsburgh on a windy day in Buffalo.

 

Winds were whipping up pretty strong that day, and before he walked out to midfield for the flip, Bledsoe was advised by coaches to choose to defend the east goal if Pittsburgh won the toss and elected to receive. (Though the official play-by-play listed the wind as coming from the south that day, Buffalo coaches felt it was an easterly wind.) That way, the Steelers wouldn't be wind-aided when they took the ball. Pittsburgh won the toss. Pittsburgh elected to receive. Bledsoe said Buffalo would defend the west goal. West?

 

Bledsoe explained that when he got to midfield, it seemed to him the wind was whipping around differently than the way the coaches thought, and so he picked the opposite goal to defend. Bledsoe had a seesaw 16-of-30 day and Pittsburgh won 29-24. Bledsoe never played again for Buffalo.

 

Bledsoe is very smart, but on a few occasions, thinking differently than his coaches hurt his employment career. And it affected the balance of power for years in the AFC East.

 

 

 

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/peter_king/09/26/Week3/index.html#ixzz1Z4G1mok0

 

I read that this morning. There is little question Bledsoe left here a bitter man. OF course, it's one thing to get replaced by Tom Brady. Quite another to lose a job to JP Losman.

[BuffOrange]

Bledsoe, before the injury, was twice as good as Romo ever thought about being. That said, his comments were quite uncalled for.

 

That's the thing - he wasn't that good pre-injury. His 2nd yr in '94 he carried an upstart team without much defense to the playoffs. OK, good. In '95 they fell back to 6-10. OK, that happens with upstart teams.

 

Now on to '96 - the SB year he gets so much credit for - he had a good year, but how good? They were fortunate to get a 1st round bye @11-5, which usually doesn't happen. They were fortunate their defense and Curtis Martin destroyed the Steelers. To Drew's credit he played pretty well in that game too in less than optimal conditions - but that game was probably the highlight of his postseason career. The next week vs. Jacksonville was a 13-6 game before the defense clinched it with a TD. The 94 playoff exit was a 13-3 loss in Cleveland. The '97 exit was a 7-6 loss in Pittsburgh after the Pats defense won a low-scoring wildcard game vs. Miami. NE's defense by this time was legit. And the offense was loaded with a HoF RB, a great TE, and a good OL. In '98 they were giftwrapped a playoff birth by the refs, as we all know. And then they became an irrelevant franchise mostly in '99. Too bad for Romo the Cowboys defense couldn't hold the Seahawks or Giants to 3 and 6 points in the postseason, or maybe Bledsoe would have the same "playoff choke" rep.

[2003Contenders]

That's the thing - he wasn't that good pre-injury. His 2nd yr in '94 he carried an upstart team without much defense to the playoffs. OK, good. In '95 they fell back to 6-10. OK, that happens with upstart teams.

 

Now on to '96 - the SB year he gets so much credit for - he had a good year, but how good? They were fortunate to get a 1st round bye @11-5, which usually doesn't happen. They were fortunate their defense and Curtis Martin destroyed the Steelers. To Drew's credit he played pretty well in that game too in less than optimal conditions - but that game was probably the highlight of his postseason career. The next week vs. Jacksonville was a 13-6 game before the defense clinched it with a TD. The 94 playoff exit was a 13-3 loss in Cleveland. The '97 exit was a 7-6 loss in Pittsburgh after the Pats defense won a low-scoring wildcard game vs. Miami. NE's defense by this time was legit. And the offense was loaded with a HoF RB, a great TE, and a good OL. In '98 they were giftwrapped a playoff birth by the refs, as we all know. And then they became an irrelevant franchise mostly in '99. Too bad for Romo the Cowboys defense couldn't hold the Seahawks or Giants to 3 and 6 points in the postseason, or maybe Bledsoe would have the same "playoff choke" rep.

 

And... if Willie McGinest doesn't intercept a Kelly pass and run it back for a TD with a minute or so to go, the Bills -- and NOT the Patriots -- win the division in 1996.

[BuffOrange]

And... if Willie McGinest doesn't intercept a Kelly pass and run it back for a TD with a minute or so to go, the Bills -- and NOT the Patriots -- win the division in 1996.

 

Correct. That was a Sunday night rematch of a 17-10 shootout win for the Bills.

[Buftex]

I haven't read this whole thread, but doesn anyone have a link to what Bledsoe said, with him saying them? No offense to OP, but people here tend to hear what they want to hear...

 

He was on ESPN on Friday, via phone, talking about the anniversary of the "hit" that started the Tom Brady era in New England....he said he was bitter toward the Pats for a while, but in retrospect, he wouldn't change anything that happened, because it gave him a chance to play for some other "great organizations". Now, he only played for Buffalo and Dallas, after New England, so one would presume he was talking about those two organizations...I can't believe how petty people are...