Happy Anniversary

BLEDSOE TO BRADY: Tag. You're it.

TALES FROM THE TAILGATE
Patriots 44, Colts 13 (9/30/'01): It was 10 years ago today that Tom Brady made his first official start as the Patriots quarterback. Ten wonderful years.

Me, Mark, and Shep had no idea that we were seeing the first win by one of the two or three greatest quarterbacks to play the game. Actually, since it was the first in the Brady vs. Manning saga, we had no idea we were seeing TWO of the best two or three quarterbacks to play the game.

It was a crisp 55 degree September afternoon. The kind of tailgating day you just can't get enough of. We crowded onto our aluminum bench in Section 309 ten rows from the back of Foxboro Stadium. It was the last year of the old stadium and the first year of a dynasty.

I remember how charged up the crowd was about Brady. The young QB didn't throw any touchdown passes in the Pats romp but he made several clutch plays to keep drives going. Plays that Bledsoe hadn't been making for a few years. I remember Shep yelling "Tom Brady! Yes! Tom Bra-dy!" all day long. All year long. Brady completed just 13 passes for 168 yards. The Brady of 2011 sometimes completes 13 passes on one drive. Things were different. The Pats rushed for nearly 200 yards on a whopping 39 carries. And the D (Otis Smith and Ty Law) took back two Manning picks for six. Brady didn't throw any interceptions. It was a formula for success the team would ride for years to come.

The Patriots rolled out to a 23-0 lead before Manning finally put Indy on the board. The Pats responded with the next 14. There was one big play after another. It had been a few years since the old stadium had been that loud. It would be like that a lot the rest of that incredible season.

Brady was asked what he remembered about the day. He said not much. Then smiled and said "It was a good game. We beat the Chargers."

Seems like I remember that day a little clearer than he does.

The first rule of football

WEEK 3
I take the blame for this loss. The first rule of football-watching is if your team is winning big you don't leave where you are watching the game. I broke that rule.

My 10-year old 37'' not flat-screen, not HD, not plasma TV died. Finally. I watched a lot of great football (and "The Wire") on that TV. I didn't have time to get a replacement (check in next week on that) so I was watching the Pats trounce the Bills on my 15'' (you read that right) screen that we sometimes bring to the tailgate. I had to go over my parents' house to fix a few things -- and they have a 37'' screen -- so I got in my car late in the first half. While I was driving over the Bills put up 10 points. And then things just got worse.

I scanned back through the Pats scores of the past decade to see if I could find a game where the team blew a 21-0 lead with Brady as the QB. The only one I could find was that little AFC title game at Indy in '06. That one was a lot tougher to take.

WES: King Rat

The Pats started this game playing like a machine. Considering they were without Koppen, Vollmer, Hernandez, Dowling, Haynesworth, Wright, and (most importantly) Pat Chung, it was impressive. Brady and the offense took the opening kickoff and drove 80 yards in nine plays in the face of a fired-up Bills crowd. Brady and Welker capped the drive, connecting on a 14-yard TD pass. It was the start of a record day for Welker. He finished with 16 catches for 217 yards. It was more than enough to give my fantasy football team (Rozzie Rats) its first victory. But not quite enough to prevent the Pats from their first loss.

The Pats D then picked off Bills QB Ryan Fitzpatrick (deflection to Arrington), giving Brady the ball at the Buffalo 35. Six plays later Brady hit Gronk for the first of his two TD catches and the Pats were up 14-0 and the fire in the Bills fans was snuffed out. Just like that. Arrington picked off Fitzpatrick on the next drive as well, nicely cutting in front of the receiver on a fourth-down play. Brady hit Gronk for another touchdown midway through the second quarter and the 2-0 Pats were dominating the 2-0 Bills 21-0. The Pats looked unstoppable. All seemed right with the world.

And then things started to go wrong. And often. While I was in my car, the Bills put together a big seven-play touchdown drive to stop the Pats momentum, cutting the score to 21-7. Brady then threw the first of his four interceptions. And like all the others, it was just a tough break more than a bad play by #12. Brady threw the ball into the flat for Woodhead at the Buffalo 10-yard line but he couldn't grab it and instead tipped it into the air as he fell and the defensive back made a great play to dive and get the ball. Turnover #1.

The Bills drove from their own 10 to the Pats' 24 in the last minute and  kicked a field goal. What could have been a 28-7 halftime lead was instead 21-10 with the Bills getting the ball to start the third quarter. It was a Patriot-like drive. But the Bills couldn't do anything with the ball to start the second half and had to punt. Brady got the ball at the Pats 43 with a chance to put some crucial points on the board. One play later the Bills had their second interception and the comeback was on. Like that AFC title game a few years back it was a fun game to watch. Back and forth. Like that game, it ended with the Pats coming up short.

It's a big win for Buffalo. They beat the Pats for the first time in forever. Move to 3-0 and sole possession of the AFC East lead thanks to the Jets also losing. I was actually happy for Bills fans. They have had a bad team for a long time. But 3-0 in September doesn't mean that much. There's a lot of football left. I seem to remember the Jets beating the Pats early last season. The Pats still won the division easily.

I'll avoid the Sports Blabosphere for most of this week.They'll be all over Ochocinco. And the defense. Deservedly so. Both looked shaky. I got a brief taste of it last night and heard Felger utter this line: "This game proves that if Tom Brady is not having a great game then this team is in trouble." The game proved nothing of the kind.

It proved the first rule of football playing. If you turn the ball over four times -- especially on the road -- then you are probably going to lose. Take away those fluky turnovers and the Pats win easily.

I don't think the Pats will make that many mistakes in a game again. I know I won't make the mistake of getting in my car with the Pats up 21-0.

Those are the first rules of football.

Makin' plays

2009: Not a pretty sight.

"I just can't get this team to play the way we need to play. I just can't do it. It's so frustrating."

That's Bill Belichick talking to Tom Brady in 2009 as the two stood on the sidelines together in the final stages of the Saints crushing the Pats on a Monday night. It's my favorite scene from "A Football Life.'' Belichick is often portrayed as an egomaniac who takes all the credit when the team wins and dumps all the blame when the team loses. Which is about as far from the truth as you can get. He knows that a coach is only as good as the players on the roster. In 2009, the players just weren't good enough. And the coaching wasn't good enough to help them improve. The 2009 Patriots just couldn't make the plays when they needed to.

That's what winning and losing comes down to in the NFL. Which team can make the plays at the key moments in the game. It's always been that way. That's what makes football so fun to watch. It's like watching a violent chess match. And there are moves in each game that change the momentum. The teams that win are the ones that have more players who can step up and make those plays.

The 2009 Patriots did not have nearly enough of them. The 2001, '03, and '04 Pats had more than I can quickly count. The 2011 Patriots -- like last year's team -- has what seems like a large number of playmakers. In a stat from last year that is often lost among the offensive numbers, the Pats D lead the league in picks and were second in total turnovers. That's making plays.

The playmaking starts with Brady, of course. He has a lot of help on offense. A lot. Welker. Branch. Woody. Bennie. The two-headed tight end monster. On defense the Pats have had Big Vince and Mayo leading the way for a few years. But in '09 there wasn't much else. Now, with players like Chung, Wright, Bodden, Haynesworth (when he actually plays), Ellis, Spikes, and Ninko, Vince and Mayo have lots of help. The defense is still giving up too many yards, but they are making the plays when they have to. That's a combination of a good game plan and having guys that can get the job done when put in the right spot.

The 2-0 Pats go into Buffalo in what is an unexpectedly big divisional battle. It's big because the 2-0 Bills have been making plays for the first time in a long time.

It's all about making plays.

Fan obsession

You might think from the title of this post that it's about fans who are obsessed with watching sports above everything else in life.

It's not.

It's about the growing obsession with fans -- by athletes and especially the Sports Blabosphere.

I was watching a little post-disaster coverage of last night's Sox loss when Mike Felger and the Globe's Bob Ryan (he looks much taller in person than on TV) began a rant and a rave about how awful fans are today and how the teams are mostly to blame for all the extra entertainment they've added to the experience.

Felger was all bent out of shape that Sox fans sang the "Sweet Caroline" song with great joy during the seventh inning stretch of a game the Sox were blowing, A big game. Against the lousy Orioles. How dare they have fun between innings? What kind of fans are they? Surely, not true ones like Felger and Ryan. They know the right way to root for your team.

Felger put it succinctly: They shouldn't be singing "Sweet Caroline," they should be booing because this Sox team is so bad.

Ryan even went so far as to call the singing of the Neil Diamond song a "national embarrassment." I've been to several Sox games since the "So good" tradition started. I don't love it. But a lot of people do. It's harmless fun. And I've thrown out a few "woh woh wohs" and enjoyed it. It's BETWEEN innings. Of a baseball game, not the United Nations Security Council. Baseball can be slow. You know? And Neil is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Felger and Ryan (and beat writer Peter Abraham, who actually tweeted about the singing after the game) would prefer that you sit and stew (or worse) that Daniel Bard has blown another lead or that Darnell McDonald has dropped another ball. That would be much better. Then the team would really feel bad about the fact that they are losing. Because according to them the players don't care. Maybe a good dose of booing will make them play better or try harder. Funny, looking at the Sox leaving the field at the end of another tough loss ... well, they looked like they cared. I don't think a few bars of "Sweet Caroline" would have brightened their mood.

The debate about fans and the dreaded "fan noise" has been a good space filler in the Sports Blabosphere for a while. Gillette fans have been the subject of scorn for a few years now. It's all much ado about nothing. Brady handled it right when he joked about getting lubed up and rooting for the home team. He also said "We need to give them something to cheer about." The crowd was great Sunday against the Chargers. Anyone who was there for the halftime ovation for Drew Bledsoe had to have a few chills. Would that have been wrong if the Pats were losing badly? Should I just sit there and curse and have a miserable time? Isn't there enough of that in life today?

When did it become preferable that sports fans be the kind that boo the players and kick their dogs when the team they root for loses? I've know some fans like that and it's not pretty. They're not welcome at any tailgates I'm drinking at. I think the word I'm looking for is perspective. The Sox are playing lousy. But it's just sports. It really is supposed to be fun. I have to go to work today win or lose.

My daughter and a few of her college friends sat in the bleachers last night. It was the first time at Fenway for some of them. That in itself is a great experience. Something most in the sports media have either forgotten or just never understood. I'll bet good money Amy and her friends enjoyed the "Sweet Caroline" sing-along. They were in the bleachers. It's as much about the party as the game. It has been since I was a kid going there in the '70s. The technology is just better.

The Blabosphere says the Sox and other teams have ruined the experience with all the bells and whistles and videos. I say to each his own. I prefer my sports experience to be about the game. But when I'm spending a couple of hundred dollars, I have no problem with some extra comfort and entertainment. It's not like Wally runs across the field during the game and plays center instead of Ellsbury or Gino goes up for a dunk on Rondo in the fourth quarter. I can watch the cheerleaders and talk about the big fourth down play coming up at the same time. Really. I can.

Ryan and Felger actually agreed that most fans leaving a Sox or Celtics game (yes, Ryan brought up the Garden Jumbotron -- again) don't even know the final score. Talk about arrogant. Because fans had a little fun singing a song, or doing the wave (another thing I don't love so much), or catching a T-shirt shot out of a cannon by scantily-clad women (something tells me Felger kind of likes that), they can't POSSIBLY be real fans. Or know anything about the game. I can't help but wonder when was the last time either of them bought a ticket like a fan, drove through traffic, found a parking spot, walked with the crowd to their seats, bought some pricey snacks and souvenirs, and really rooted for a team. Only to see their hard-earned money spent on a dissapointing loss.

(A note to Ryan and Felger ... my daughter knew the final score of the game. Just like she knew the final score of the game she went to a few weeks ago ... Rangers 11, Sox 4. Singing was the only enjoyable part of that game but she stayed till the final out.)

That's one of the reasons I enjoy tailgating. Even if the game turns out to be a bomb, it's still a fun day and me and my friends have a lot of laughs.

Oh, I guess that makes me a lousy sports fan.

'It's always a great time'

WEEK 2
Patriots 35, Chargers 21: Nothing makes the anticipation level for the first tailgate of the season higher than being stuck in traffic for two hours. I failed to adjust for the fact that I no longer live eight miles from Gillette. Sorry Paul.

By the time we arrived at the Enchanted Forest lot just south of the stadium we were -- to quote a former lawyer/bar owner I knew -- ready to Watusi. Paul -- a longtime newspaper guy who has been to several big games over the years -- hadn't been to a tailgate the last few seasons so I was feeling guilty about the lost time. We made up for it. And then some.

65 degrees. Beautiful late summer day. Steak. Spare ribs. Chicken. Potato salad. Crab rangoon and fries fresh out of the deep fryer. Cold beer. Martinis. Good friends. And one heck of an entertaining football game. As we stood in the dark eating our post-game hamburgers, celebrating another victory and watching a blonde Pats fan throwing the football around (nice arm), Paul said out loud what I think every tailgate: "It's always a great time."

The pre-game tailgate -- albeit shortened -- was indeed great. The group next to us had a deep fryer and we did a little food share. They got some ribs. We got some crab rangoon and fries. An excellent swap. We arrived at our seats in Section 109 for the first time since the playoff loss to the Jets accompanied by our good friends Sam Adams and Don Julio. The view was the same. The drinks were the same. The game was very different.

Brady and the offense got the ball and drove from their own 8-yard line in 12 plays. A 6-yard run by BenJarvis. A 17-yard pass to Welker. A 16-yarder to Hernandez. A 3-yard run, a 5-yard catch, and a 6-yard run from BenJarvis. A 5-yard run by Woody. A 15-yard diving catch by the Ocho. (Followed by a supportive ovation). All capped off with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Hernandez with two guys on him. The crowd was buzzing with anticipation on each play. And rewarded each time.

The Chargers, being the playoff team they likely are, responded with an impressive touchdown drive of their own and we knew a great, hard-fought game was ahead of us. We just didn't know how great. Me, Paul, Mark, Bergs and everyone around us spent the rest of the afternoon yelling, cheering, high-fiving, hugging ... and mostly smiling. Especially in the last 10 minutes of the half.

First the Pats D made a huge goal line stand, stuffing Mike Tolbert on a 4th down from the 1. Tolbert, a monster of a back, ran wide and was nailed by Mayo. He ran wide. Nice call, Norv. Then Brady led the Pats on a 99-yard drive that had Gillette as loud and rowdy as it's been in years. Seems like most fans took Brady's advice and were well hydrated. Brady ended the drive with a TD pass to Gronk 1 and the Pats were up 17-7.

Rivers and the Chargers drove into Pats territory again and were threatening to cut the lead to three when Big Vince made what could well be the play of the year. Rivers threw a pass out to his right at the 35-yard line with about 20 seconds left in the half. Wilfork anticipated the pass, leaped in the air and tipped the ball, reached out and caught it, and then steamed down the field into San Diego territory. He looked like one of those Disney cartoons where the pink hippo is doing ballet.

Two quick passes later and Gostkowski nailed a field goal as time expired in the half. Pats 20, Chargers 7. It was another example of why the Pats have had so much success under Belichick. After the Wilfork play I watched Brady, Belichick, and offensive coach Bill O'Brien huddled together to figure out how to get a last second three points. On the other sideline I could see Norv Turner walking around rubbing his forehead with a confused look on his face.

The second half was almost as entertaining. The Chargers, the team with the second best offense last season, moved the ball all over the field. But the Pats D kept coming up with big plays when needed. They came away with four turnovers and lots of big hits. It was a formula that worked very well last year. As did the formula of Brady having so many options on offense that the opposing defense is often helpless to figure out what is coming next.

What is coming next is a suddenly big game against the 2-0 Bills in Buffalo. The Patriots haven't lost to the Bills since government-mandated retirement plans actually had money in them. The Bills think this will be the year. It will be a good test for both teams.

One home game down. At least seven more to go. The next home game is the rematch with Mt. Ryan and the Jets in three weeks. We are considering investing in a deep fryer.

Back-up plan

DREW: Finally feeling the love.

The Hall of Fame induction ceremony yesterday at Gillette was even more enjoyable than I thought it would be. Me, Bergs and my nephews Pete and Steve joined a few thousand others to watch former Pats greats Jon Morris and Drew Bledsoe put on the red jackets.

Morris played before Pete and Steve were born. It was fun to watch them listening to stories about players who made $12k a year and played football at Fenway. The old lineman gave a great speech. It was easy to see that Morris -- who later did radio for the Pats -- is a genuinely good guy. As is the other former Patriot now in the Hall.

Bledsoe was certainly the man most fans came to see and he did not disappoint. He arrived with a bit of a movie star look -- crisp white shirt, black jacket, shades. He looked sharp. He took off the shades for the speech. He said his mother made him.

It was nice to see Bledsoe smiling and fondly looking back at his years as the face of the franchise. As he said, being a guy from Walla Walla, Washington he had no idea what it would be like to play in New England. "You take your sports really seriously out here," he said laughing. "I'm from Washington. We hike and ride our bikes." It was not easy for Bledsoe being the Pats QB. He was clearly in a strange land and under a lot of pressure. He almost always handled both with class.

There were lots of great moments in his speech. I took some video but never captured any of the really funny or touching moments. My timing with video is the worst. You could say I'm the Brandon Meriweather of video taping. There was one line that I really wish I had caught on tape.

Bledsoe thanked many of his former teammates. He started with his offensive line as quarterbacks always do. They kept him alive. Barely. Then he mentioned his receivers, tight ends, and running backs. Then thanked his back-up quarterbacks. The guys who have the thankless job of always being one step away from fulfilling their dream. Starting QB in the NFL. He thanked current Sports Blab personality Scott Zolak for keeping him sane while coach Parcells was screaming at him day in and day out. "Thanks for always having my back, Zo."

Then he thanked "that other back-up. Number 12." Bledsoe added: "He was a good back-up except he didn't quite understand that whole back-up part." It was the best laugh of the day.

Bledsoe then spoke to the fans: "Seriously. I hope everyone here appreciates just how lucky they are to be watching him. He is doing things on the field that are just amazing."

Bledsoe is right. And as always, he's a class act.

Drew!

TALES FROM THE TAILGATE
Pats 26, Dolphins 23 (11/23/'98): Everyone, me included, has been raving about Tom Brady's 517 yards passing in the opener against Miami last Monday. Was it the greatest game ever by a Pats quarterback? Statistically, yes. But there have been so many great games by Pats QBs. Of course many of them by #12 in the last decade. But before there was Brady there was Jim Plunkett. And one of my all-time favorites, Steve Grogan. Even pretty-boy Tony Eason had some great games. (No. Not Scott Zolak).

But the Pats quarterback who may have the longest list of great games? Drew Bledsoe.

He was the embodiment of the "franchise quarterback." Big. Strong. Gun for an arm. Great college quarterback. I'll be heading to Gillette with some of my tailgating group this afternoon for Bledsoe's induction into the Pats Hall of Fame. A great start to a great weekend of football. I can't wait to hear all the fans shouting "Dreeeeewwwwww!" He sure deserves the honor. I hope they have a video highlight package of his best moments as a Patriot. There were some great ones.

The great shootout game against Warren Moon and the Vikes. The Fog Bowl against the Steelers. And of course when he replaced an injured Brady in the AFC title game against the Steelers.  So many great games for #11. But my favorite Bledsoe moment is also one of my favorite Tales from the Tailgate.

The Pats #1 draft pick in 1993 is one of the players most instrumental in turning the franchise around. Like Tom Brady. Ty Law. Tedy Bruschi. Bledsoe deserves as much credit as anyone. He didn't win a Super Bowl as a starter but he jump-started a franchise with some of the most amazing passing performances of the past two decades. He was that good. And he was that tough. I was a Brady guy early on. Mostly because you could tell he had that undefinable quality that all great players have. His abilities have improved each year, but from the beginning you could see he was hard to rattle and had the knack for making the big play. Just like the quarterback who came before him. Bledsoe hard to rattle? Tough? As tough as they come. It may be hard to remember now after the way his Pats career ended, but on back-to-back weekends in November '98 he led the team to two miraculous victories. In the second of those games (against the Bills) he did it while playing with a broken finger on his passing hand.

The first of those games was a Monday nighter against Miami at Foxboro Stadium. Pete Carroll was in his second (and thankfully next-to-last) season as head coach. The Pats started off 4-1 but limped into the game against the Dolphins at 5-5. We could see the foundation that Bill Parcells had built slowly being eroded like a beach cliff under a Cape home. But for two nights Bledsoe almost single-handedly put the team back on solid ground.

We tailgated on a crisp winter night, eating, drinking, and mocking Carroll's "pumped and jacked" mentality to coaching. All rah-rah. Perfect for college. But it very rarely works in the NFL. You either have a dour tactician (Landry, Noll, Belichick) or an in-your-face motivator (Lombardi, Parcells, Cowher) at the helm of the best teams. Cheerleaders as coaches don't usually work out. And when a cheerleader replaces a motivator it usually spells disaster because the players are so glad the guy yelling at them is gone that they ease up and lose their edge. That was the '98 Patriots.

Besides our coach, the other topic of conversation that night was the announcement earlier that month that Robert Kraft had a tentative deal to move the team to Hartford. Hartford! In Connecticut! There was even talk they would change their team colors to match that of the NHL's Hartford Whalers. Green and white. Uh, those are Jets colors. Our team was sliding back into irrelevance and our franchise was moving to Connecticut. We were not in a very good mood as Brendan grilled up some tuna steaks in honor of the Dolphins. (You can't legally buy dolphin.)

Miami was 7-3 and led by Dan Marino nearing the end of his career and coached by Jimmy Johnson who spent most of the game pleading with the refs for penalties. It was a back-and-forth affair. Bledsoe connected with tight end Ben Coates for a touchdown early in the game. In my book, the Bledsoe-to-Coates connection is still the all-time best passing tandem in the team's history. Coates would pull in nine passes for nearly 80 yards. But it was Bledsoe that was the story of this game. Hell, he was the story of that whole year. In the midst of a season where the team was disintegrating, Bledsoe held things together by throwing for more than 3,600 yards, 20 TDs, and an 80.0 passer rating. Of course he threw many killer picks, but that was Drew. I've wondered how Tom Brady would do playing on a team like the '98 Pats. Someday I might find out. If he plays like Bledsoe did that year then that's a hell of an effort.

Miami took a 23-19 lead with just over three minutes to go in the game. Bledsoe led the Pats from deep in their own end to almost midfield at the two minute warning. On a second-down play Bledsoe dropped back to throw and on his follow through hit his passing hand on a defender's helmet. The Pats took a timeout and he came over to the sideline holding his hand and started to make some practice tosses to test it out. At the same time backup QB Scott Zolak (yes, that one) started warming up. "Zolak's coming in," Mark said. "We're moving to Hartford and Zolak's coming in. The Parcells magic is officially gone."

But Zolak did not come in. Bledsoe, even though he would later be diagnosed with a broken finger, came back onto the field. And then took another timeout. He burned two timeouts without ever taking a snap with 1:42 to go in the game. He came over to the sideline and took some more practice tosses. He returned to the field, with only one more timeout to waste, and on 2nd-and-10 airmailed a pass over Terry Glenn's head. He shook his hand some more and started to walk off the field as if he was coming out of the game. But again he stayed in and threw a pass to Coates for a short gain. Fourth-and-six and the Pats have to go for it. Carroll started signalling vehemently for a timeout. The players clearly saw him but ignored him and lined up to run a play. (Yes, Carroll was toast as the coach right then and there.) Bledsoe hit Shawn Jefferson on a curl for a first down with 34 seconds to play. On the next play, in the face of a corner blitz, Bledsoe let one rip into the left corner of the end zone that landed right in Jefferson's hands for a touchdown with 30 seconds left for the amazing victory. The crowd went nuts. Moving to Hartford? Not tonight!

Bledsoe, broken finger and all, led the Pats on an amazing 26-play, 84-yard game winning drive. He finished with 423 yards passing. And as the game ended he ran around the field, responding to the roar of the crowd, pumping his fists and soaking in the moment. The next week, also at home, he played the entire game against the Bills with his broken finger taped to his other fingers, and again led the team to a last-second come from behind win, this time hitting Coates for a touchdown with no time left on the clock. He had many, many great moments as the Pats QB. But those two games in '98 were the two most amazing back-to-back victories that old Foxboro Stadium ever saw.

Bledsoe's career, and the team's fortunes, began to slide from that point as the Pats finished 9-7 that year and then 8-8 the next. Among all the sins of Carroll's years here, the biggest one is his ruining of Bledsoe. Parcells was tough on Bledsoe and that's what he needed. It motivated him. Carroll coddled him and his skills eroded. He was never Baryshnikov, but his footwork just got worse and worse until he become the most stationary target in the game. And then he took a hit by Mo Lewis that changed his -- and once again the team's -- fortunes. He left the field and Brady came on ... and hasn't left since.

That's the other thing that Drew Bledsoe had. Class. When he was getting the crap kicked out of him playing for a mediocre team he took his lumps, kept his mouth shut, and kept coming out every Sunday battling his hardest. When he lost his job to a young QB who would soon prove to be among the best, Bledsoe kept his mouth shut, helped Brady get better, and by not stirring up a controversy played a key role in the first Super Bowl run.

I have a bulletin board in the basement with lots of ticket stubs, pins, stickers, etc. from all the Pats games. In the middle is the cover of the 1994 Globe's NFL preview with a photo of Bledsoe under the headline "A new era is dawning." A lot of things have come and gone from that bulletin board, but the faded picture of No. 11 still hangs right where I put it almost 20 years ago.