One of the good guys

Saturday, September 17th at Patriot Place. I will be there. And so will Bergs. Pete. Steve. And many of my tailgating group. (Ya. You guys are going).

DREW: Always putting the team first.

No. There's not an early season Saturday game at Gillette. (If there is a season at all). That's the day the team will induct quarterback Drew Bledsoe into its Hall of Fame. I may have voted for Bill Parcells. The Big Tuna should get in next year. But I was very glad to see Bledsoe win the vote his first time on the ballot. And I plan on being there when he is officially honored as one of the all-time great Patriots. I expect a lot of people to be there. And that's because he's also one of the team's all-time good guys.

Bledsoe is often the forgotten man in the success that started in the mid '90s and continues today. But for nine seasons (till Mo Lewis delivered that chest-crushing hit in the fall of 2001), Bledsoe was the heart and soul of the Pats. The face of the team. He was the No. 1 pick in the 1993 draft out of Washington State University. He was known as a big guy with a rifle arm. There was much debate about whether Parcells should take Bledsoe with the first pick or Notre Dame's Rick Mirer. Good choice.

He took the starting job right out of the gate. A decision Parcells -- a veteran's coach -- made out of necessity. The Pats were lousy and devoid of much talent. Bledsoe had talent. And then some. He had to play. Late in his (and the Tuna's) first season the Pats were a dismal 1-11. The team was showing improvement week-after-week but with four weeks left in the season the results were the same. Losing.

Then, in those last four weeks, something began to change. Bledsoe led the Pats to four straight wins to close out the year. In both the final two games the team broke 30 points, crushing the Colts 38-0 and knocking off the Dolphins in overtime 33-27. For the first time in a long time, the outlook was bright for the Pats.

But the '94 season started out with more mediocrity. The team stood at 3-6 and looked lost. The Parcells magic just wasn't happening. Then came the shootout. The Vikings came into the old Foxboro Stadium and jumped out to a 20-3 lead at the half. Parcells was staring at 3-7. Then Bledsoe put on one of the greatest passing performances in NFL history (no exaggeration) and the Pats rallied for a 26-20 overtime win that sparked a season-ending seven game winning streak and put the Pats in the playoffs.

That would be the first of many great Bledsoe performances. The team went 11-5 and made the Super Bowl in '96 and Bledsoe and the Pats seemed on the verge of something great. But then Parcells bailed and Kraft made one of his few missteps as owner. Hiring Pete Carroll. The Pats -- and Bledsoe's career -- proceeded to go on a steady downward path, bottoming out at 8-8 three years later.

Carroll was the worst possible coach for Bledsoe. He came in and treated Bledsoe as if he was a 10-year veteran. Bledsoe was entering his fifth year when Mr. Pumped and Jacked arrived. The prime of his career. He needed a firm hand (Parcells) to keep pushing him to get better. Instead Bledsoe's skills began deteriorating. Especially his decision making. Bledsoe's final few years were most memorable for him throwing game-killing picks. He still was one of the best in the game, but as a fan you were always worried he was going to make a big mistake at the worst possible time. A good coach could have helped him with that.

Bledsoe signed a monster 10-year, $103 million contract extension in March of 2001. A few months later he was walking off the field spitting up blood and he would never start a game for the Pats again. And yet, it was during this time that he made two of his biggest contributions ever to the team.

First, he helped mentor a young quarterback named Tom Brady even as he watched Brady take away his job for good. It was clear Bledsoe was very unhappy, but he never let it stand in the way of the team. He supported Brady during the improbably run to a Super Bowl title, a title that he had to believe he should be leading the team to. Bledsoe put his ego aside and stood by Brady all the way to New Orleans.

But not before he got one last shot at glory. In the AFC Championship tucked between the Snow Bowl and the Super Bowl, Brady and Bledsoe staged a role-reversal that saw the kid limp off the field and the veteran take over. Bledsoe led the Pats in their victory over the Steelers -- a team that had handed him some of his toughest defeats. He stood on Heinz Field holding the Hunt Trophy high over his head. Although Brady would return as starter the next week in the big game, Bledsoe was the face of the Pats for one last time.

Belichick wisely traded Bledsoe to the Bills the next year to avoid the inevitable QB controversy and he had some good games with Buffalo and later with the Cowboys. But it was the Patriots that he left the biggest impact. Putting a sad-sack franchise on his shoulders and leading it to big win after big win. And, most importantly, doing it with class.

We'll all get a chance to officially thank him come September. I'm practicing my Dreeeeeeewww! shouts already.