The primary implication of Favre not retiring

[Pyrite Gal]

I have not taken a look at the roster of available QBs for HOF induction, (as really HOF membership is an issue of entertainment trivia rather than football play) but off hand my sense would be that with the induction of Jimbo and Elway that we are in what will be a lengthy period given the 5 years after retirement for hOF eligibility rule on no QBs making the HOF.

 

Thus, if Bledsoe were to retire this year after he was correctly sat by Parcells for the better playing and prospect Romo, Bledsoe were to retire he will enter the HOF popularity contest voting before the Committee a year earlier than Favre and thus get a shot at entry without a competition among voters with Favre he would almost certainly lose.

 

My guess is that if Favre stays and Bledsoe retires he likely get into the HOF on his first ballot, due to the glossy stats he has accumulated, and due to a drought in QB selections over the previous years.

 

In general, the primary driver of arguments against Bledsoe would be the ignominious end of his career he has had with his Dallas failure, but even this is likely to be outweighed in the committee vote by Favre also have his team produce like crap during the end of his career and 5 years of time simply causing the memory of this pratfall to recede compared to the memory of the historic Fame achieved by Bledsoe as he threw deep year after year and one of his teams getting an SB win with him playing the majority of a must-win game in relief of an injured Brady and even throwing the winning TD.

 

If Bledsoe retires and Favre does not, my guess is that one implication of this will be in 5 years that Bledsoe gets into the HOF on the first ballot. Particularly if he undergoes some trauma such as the heart-wrenching fight that Jim Kelly and his family waged raising bucks and conciousness about Hunter's Hope which I think took off a lot the harder edges of Kelly's career for HOF voters, then Bledsoe likely is in like Flynn if he does not have to compete against Favre for the voters hearts and minds.

[Corp000085]

Bledsoe's stats indicate that he's a sure hall of famer, but no way does he go in on his first ballot. That is plain silly.

[Albany,n.y.]

Bledsoe will never get elected to the Hall of Fame. The voters have seen him play on the field & will have tapes of him throughout his playing years. He may have some decent stats, but over the last 7 years he's been a liability instead of an asset to the team he was on. He was the guy you are always looking to find someone better to replace him with.

 

Phil Simms is a better candidate for the HOF than Bledsoe and he's never come close to getting elected. Vinny Testaverde has better stats than Bledsoe because he's played for almost 20 years & nobody is thinking of him as a HOF QB.

 

The only way Bledsoe is getting in is if he finds another career path in the NFL after his retirement and excels in it for the next decade or more. I give the HOF voters more credit than just looking at a stat book on a QB who rarely, if ever, carried his team to heights that another QB couldn't have done with the same team. Just look at the guy's win % instead of yards passed for & he's a lock to be in the HOF only when he buys an admission ticket at the door. I have nothing against Drew,like some of his haters do, he's just not HOF material, it's that simple.

[Pyrite Gal]

Bledsoe's stats indicate that he's a sure hall of famer, but no way does he go in on his first ballot. That is plain silly.

 

Yep, but one has to agree that the NFL is quite often plain silly in what it does. If in fact, there is an extended drought of QBs elected to the HOF, my guess is that the same marketing inclination which produced efforts like the QB Club and the intense marketing of the QB position which has caused many fans to give the position both undeserved credit and undeserved blame for the fate of a particular team will result in him getting far greater consideration than he likely deserves if he is not competing directly with Favre on the ballot.

 

For example, I was pleased as all get out when Jimbo go in his first ballot, but was quite surprised to see him get this honor. He and his wife got more than their fair share of real tragedy with the great battle they waged with and for Hunter Kelly so i was pleased to see him get this small nugget of honor compared to the real world tragedy.

 

If in fact there is an extended QB HOF drought (and those who watch the retirement shuffle more closely than I do can certainly tell us who is up and when) my guess is that he not only gets in but the Committee does the silly thing and puts him in on the first ballot.

[In space no one can hear]

I have not taken a look at the roster of available QBs for HOF induction, (as really HOF membership is an issue of entertainment trivia rather than football play) but off hand my sense would be that with the induction of Jimbo and Elway that we are in what will be a lengthy period given the 5 years after retirement for hOF eligibility rule on no QBs making the HOF.

 

Thus, if Bledsoe were to retire this year after he was correctly sat by Parcells for the better playing and prospect Romo, Bledsoe were to retire he will enter the HOF popularity contest voting before the Committee a year earlier than Favre and thus get a shot at entry without a competition among voters with Favre he would almost certainly lose.

 

My guess is that if Favre stays and Bledsoe retires he likely get into the HOF on his first ballot, due to the glossy stats he has accumulated, and due to a drought in QB selections over the previous years.

 

In general, the primary driver of arguments against Bledsoe would be the ignominious end of his career he has had with his Dallas failure, but even this is likely to be outweighed in the committee vote by Favre also have his team produce like crap during the end of his career and 5 years of time simply causing the memory of this pratfall to recede compared to the memory of the historic Fame achieved by Bledsoe as he threw deep year after year and one of his teams getting an SB win with him playing the majority of a must-win game in relief of an injured Brady and even throwing the winning TD.

 

If Bledsoe retires and Favre does not, my guess is that one implication of this will be in 5 years that Bledsoe gets into the HOF on the first ballot. Particularly if he undergoes some trauma such as the heart-wrenching fight that Jim Kelly and his family waged raising bucks and conciousness about Hunter's Hope which I think took off a lot the harder edges of Kelly's career for HOF voters, then Bledsoe likely is in like Flynn if he does not have to compete against Favre for the voters hearts and minds.

 

 

If Bledsoe retires and Favre does not, my guess is that one implication of this will be in 5 years that Bledsoe gets into the HOF on the first ballot. Particularly if he undergoes some trauma such as the heart-wrenching fight that Jim Kelly and his family waged raising bucks and conciousness about Hunter's Hope which I think took off a lot the harder edges of Kelly's career for HOF voters,

 

 

Did you actually type...."Bledsoe will get in particularly if he undergoes some trauma"???

 

Geeesh.......

[obie_wan]

You may be right-

 

but Drew will probably QB for the Raiders next year as Al Davis tries to reclaim another long ball has-been.

[KD in CA]

You may be right-

 

but Drew will probably QB for the Raiders next year as Al Davis tries to reclaim another long ball has-been.

 

 

That'll be fun to watch. I'm sure he and Moss will get along famously. After all, look how good Drew was for Owens.

[Pyrite Gal]

He may have some decent stats, but over the last 7 years he's been a liability instead of an asset to the team he was on.

 

One of the things which might help Bledsoe's case the most is folks taking the history and simply ignoring or discounting real world events.

 

The past 7 years include little factoids like:

 

1. In 2001 he was held on the bench after a hit collapsed his lungs and Tom Brady took the QB role for NE and led them to an SB with the team gathering around this youngster in one of the best shows of individuals subordinating themselves to the team's goals and getting an SB win out of it.

 

Bledsoe gets and quite frankly deserves credit for embodying this approach as he came off the bench in a must win game and played the majority of a must-win game for the Pats as QB and amidst some fairly pedestrian overall stats in this relief role he did throw the TD for the margin of victory. Bledsoe did a very un-modern NFL player like things and simply STFU and did not complain when Belicheck decided to bench him and go back to Brady for the SB win.

 

This is a real world event that occurred within the 7 years you cite. Do you really suggest that playing an essential role in an SB run makes one a liability instead of an asset?

 

2. NE correctly went with the young productive QB and cut Bledsoe in favor of a better player (sort of what you maintain). However, it is only sorta because you make the false conclusion that simply because he is jettisoned because his original team has a better QB that he is not an upgrade at QB for his new team.

 

While NE clearly made the right move sticking with the younger and better Brady, Bledsoe's new team, the Bills, also seriously upgraded at QB over the 2001 season QBs and also the other viable options in 2002 by getting Bledsoe.

 

The Bills had the end of the failed RJ era and good back-up AVP as their inadequate starters at QB in 2001. The team clearly needed to upgrade at QB in 2002 and the FA options available that year were Chris Chandler and Rodney Peete.

 

Bledsoe was actually a proven upgrade for the Bills as he QB'ed this team to an 8-8 record from the dismal 3-13 the year before. It is certainly true that NE knew exactly how to beat him and did so twice, but the record with Bledsoe at the helm was simply the second largest improvement in Ws by an NFL team in its history.

 

Add to this that the O was extraordinarily productive after a 2001 which was so bad the OC got canned with time left on his contract, and Bledsoe was such an important part of this production that he got the deserved honor of making the Pro Bowl and the idea of categorizing this as a year of failure simply does not fit the real world events

 

If one wants to look at the entire game and issues of FAME rather than mere stats, the Welcome Drew shindig which saw 10,000 plus fans turn out to the Ralph in mid winter to welcome him and sell a bunch of season tickets for a squad which was 3-13 the year before, these are the reasons why he may do well in the popularity contest which is the basis for entry into the HOFAME.

 

Do you really want to claim that Bledsoe was a liability to a team which finished 3-13.

 

3. His go round in Dallas was ultimately a failure (though the rule is with life is that nobody gets out of here alive so simply judging it by the end product where few get out of the game on a winning note such as Elway and many first ballot HOF players like Kelly spend their final moments on a football field getting carted off with a concussion) but again the facts tell a fuller different story than one of pure liability.

 

Bledsoe was thrown on the ashheap by TD, and though he did not produce a result in Dallas which was the march to achievement which he produced with the Bills after being discarded correctly by NE he did play QB over an initially greatly improved performance by Dallas with him as QB. In the 2005 season, Bledsoe was simply an upgrade over the 2004 play of Testaverde, Drew Henson or even the young Tony Romo and a general upgrade over the 'Boys QB situation which saw them depend on but then have to suddenly cut Quincy Carter in 1003.

 

I agree that Bledsoe is certainly worse than the archetype of a great QB in a fantasy football world. However, it is actually that grounding reality which you represent as access to the tapes, which the HOF committee is likely to be grounded in.

 

I merely argue that if the reality is one for the HOF committee that happens after a lengthy drought of QB honorees with folks like Vinny being the best they can do, if Bledsoe were to come to the table sporting his glossy stats built up by years of accumulation, a highlight reel of tapes featuring him using his rocket arm to hit long passes to folks like Terry Glenn and Eric Moulds as he played an essential role in the Pats winning an SB, and him being an upgrade over AVP in Buffalo and a Quincy Carter in Dallas, I think he will win the popularity contest and get elected to the HOF.

 

If Micheal Irvin can overcome his transgressions and make it then lots of folks can.

[JAMIEBUF12]

i don't think bledsoe will get into the hall of fame.the only way he goes is if he is tom brady's presenter.even in bledsoes "great years"his stats were basically lots of yards.his touchdown to interception ratio is horrible.he was never a great leader in my book.i seem to remember when parcells was on his way out(leaving the patsies for the jets)that bledsoe was pissing and moaning that parcells was too tough on him and the team.in new england,buffalo and now dallas the quarterback following him has done a better job than bledsoe.hell he may even be bill belechecks presenter instaed of marsha brady lol lol........go bills in"07

[bluenews]

I have not taken a look at the roster of available QBs for HOF induction, (as really HOF membership is an issue of entertainment trivia rather than football play) but off hand my sense would be that with the induction of Jimbo and Elway that we are in what will be a lengthy period given the 5 years after retirement for hOF eligibility rule on no QBs making the HOF.

 

Thus, if Bledsoe were to retire this year after he was correctly sat by Parcells for the better playing and prospect Romo, Bledsoe were to retire he will enter the HOF popularity contest voting before the Committee a year earlier than Favre and thus get a shot at entry without a competition among voters with Favre he would almost certainly lose.

 

My guess is that if Favre stays and Bledsoe retires he likely get into the HOF on his first ballot, due to the glossy stats he has accumulated, and due to a drought in QB selections over the previous years.

 

In general, the primary driver of arguments against Bledsoe would be the ignominious end of his career he has had with his Dallas failure, but even this is likely to be outweighed in the committee vote by Favre also have his team produce like crap during the end of his career and 5 years of time simply causing the memory of this pratfall to recede compared to the memory of the historic Fame achieved by Bledsoe as he threw deep year after year and one of his teams getting an SB win with him playing the majority of a must-win game in relief of an injured Brady and even throwing the winning TD.

 

If Bledsoe retires and Favre does not, my guess is that one implication of this will be in 5 years that Bledsoe gets into the HOF on the first ballot. Particularly if he undergoes some trauma such as the heart-wrenching fight that Jim Kelly and his family waged raising bucks and conciousness about Hunter's Hope which I think took off a lot the harder edges of Kelly's career for HOF voters, then Bledsoe likely is in like Flynn if he does not have to compete against Favre for the voters hearts and minds.

 

and I thought some of my posts were silly

[1billsfan]

I have not taken a look at the roster of available QBs for HOF induction, (as really HOF membership is an issue of entertainment trivia rather than football play) but off hand my sense would be that with the induction of Jimbo and Elway that we are in what will be a lengthy period given the 5 years after retirement for hOF eligibility rule on no QBs making the HOF.

 

Thus, if Bledsoe were to retire this year after he was correctly sat by Parcells for the better playing and prospect Romo, Bledsoe were to retire he will enter the HOF popularity contest voting before the Committee a year earlier than Favre and thus get a shot at entry without a competition among voters with Favre he would almost certainly lose.

 

My guess is that if Favre stays and Bledsoe retires he likely get into the HOF on his first ballot, due to the glossy stats he has accumulated, and due to a drought in QB selections over the previous years.

 

In general, the primary driver of arguments against Bledsoe would be the ignominious end of his career he has had with his Dallas failure, but even this is likely to be outweighed in the committee vote by Favre also have his team produce like crap during the end of his career and 5 years of time simply causing the memory of this pratfall to recede compared to the memory of the historic Fame achieved by Bledsoe as he threw deep year after year and one of his teams getting an SB win with him playing the majority of a must-win game in relief of an injured Brady and even throwing the winning TD.

 

If Bledsoe retires and Favre does not, my guess is that one implication of this will be in 5 years that Bledsoe gets into the HOF on the first ballot. Particularly if he undergoes some trauma such as the heart-wrenching fight that Jim Kelly and his family waged raising bucks and conciousness about Hunter's Hope which I think took off a lot the harder edges of Kelly's career for HOF voters, then Bledsoe likely is in like Flynn if he does not have to compete against Favre for the voters hearts and minds.

 

Bledsoe has absolutely no shot at making the HOF. Phil Simms would be the more likely candidate to make it after a long QB-less drought. Bledsoe is in the Boomer Esiason category, no need to even worry about him making it. Bledsoe was a QB that was hot as a pistol during his first six seasons, but then tailed way way off eventually becoming a liability a starting QB. He warants being seen as a very good QB in his heyday, but he'll never be seen as HOF material by any self respecting writer that actually votes on who gets in and who doesn't.

[ajzepp]

I'm on record as saying if Bledsoe was replaced by Romo this year - the THIRD time he'd lose his job to an unproven young player - there would be no chance in hell he'd ever make the HOF.

 

Bledsoe is nothing more than a journeyman QB at this point...

[Albany,n.y.]

Pyrite:

I think you give Bledsoe much too much credit for thec Pats 1st SB win. Publically he played the good soldier, privately he was very bitter and went to Kraft demanding a trade rather than sit behind Brady. He's only been a team player when he is playing. Kordell Stewart contributed more to the Patriots winning the game when Bledsoe replaced Brady than Bledsoe did. Just because he slightly outplayed Stewart when put in the game, doesn't mean Bledsoe was an essential player that season. Chances are if Damon Huard had been put into the game instead of Bledsoe, the results would have been the same.

Sure Bledsoe was an upgrade in both Buffalo & Dallas, but as I said in the followup sentence to the one you quoted, he was the guy you are always looking to find someone better to replace him with. Bledsoe made the Pro Bowl in his 1st Bills season based on his 1st half of the season play. He faded badly in the 2nd half. He was lousy in Bills season 2 and adequate in his final Bills season-Hardly HOF like credentials. In Dallas, it took only 1.5 years for him to get benched.

I don't think it matters if some guy pulls out tapes of some of his better performances in the HOF voting room or if there is a gap in time when the last QB was inducted. The poster above who compared Drew to Boomer Esiason was dead on.

The fact is that in 11 years as his team's primary starter, Drew's teams only made the playoffs 4 times and the two years he was benched his team made the playoffs after the guy who replaced him upgraded the position will not be foregotten among the HOF voters. In fact the only time his team made the playoffs in the last 8 years was with him on the bench.

[Pyrite Gal]

Pyrite:

I think you give Bledsoe much too much credit for thec Pats 1st SB win. Publically he played the good soldier, privately he was very bitter and went to Kraft demanding a trade rather than sit behind Brady. He's only been a team player when he is playing. Kordell Stewart contributed more to the Patriots winning the game when Bledsoe replaced Brady than Bledsoe did. Just because he slightly outplayed Stewart when put in the game, doesn't mean Bledsoe was an essential player that season. Chances are if Damon Huard had been put into the game instead of Bledsoe, the results would have been the same.

Sure Bledsoe was an upgrade in both Buffalo & Dallas, but as I said in the followup sentence to the one you quoted, he was the guy you are always looking to find someone better to replace him with. Bledsoe made the Pro Bowl in his 1st Bills season based on his 1st half of the season play. He faded badly in the 2nd half. He was lousy in Bills season 2 and adequate in his final Bills season-Hardly HOF like credentials. In Dallas, it took only 1.5 years for him to get benched.

I don't think it matters if some guy pulls out tapes of some of his better performances in the HOF voting room or if there is a gap in time when the last QB was inducted. The poster above who compared Drew to Boomer Esiason was dead on.

The fact is that in 11 years as his team's primary starter, Drew's teams only made the playoffs 4 times and the two years he was benched his team made the playoffs after the guy who replaced him upgraded the position will not be foregotten among the HOF voters. In fact the only time his team made the playoffs in the last 8 years was with him on the bench.

 

I think the key this is not how much credit you give Bledsoe or not (the facts of events are simply the facts) but how much credit you give the NFL HOF Committee about the judgments they make.

 

From what I know about the HOF committee based on the scribblings of folks like Felser who served on it and also judging from the results of their decisions, many observers seem to be far too mechanistic in their judgments as though its all about stats (its a Hall of Fame, not Hall of Stats) they might likely be quite influenced by am extended drought of QB recipients and the Bledsoe story of glossy cumulative stats and him rising from being tossed aside to be a better QB than team's previous models despite his teams often falling short with him in the end.

 

Being part of one SB winner and deserving the ring he got (which I think folks view as the case despite you wanting to give Kordell an NE SB ring for some reason).

[BuffOrange]

and I thought some of my posts were silly