Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

This is an angle I haven't heard too much of. Bledsoe will forever be best known as the guy who got Pipped by Tom Brady, but he was a #1 overall pick whose career stats compare favorably to contemporaries like Jim Kelly, Troy Aikman, and Rich Gannon, minus the SB appearances. Wonder what others think.

JameisLoseston wrote:This is an angle I haven't heard too much of. Bledsoe will forever be best known as the guy who got Pipped by Tom Brady, but he was a #1 overall pick whose career stats compare favorably to contemporaries like Jim Kelly, Troy Aikman, and Rich Gannon, minus the SB appearances. Wonder what others think.

His career stats aren't any good from an efficiency standpoint. He is nowhere near Kelly, Aikman, Gannon. I guess Bledsoe's counting stats are comparable because he played a long time and threw the ball a lot, but any other statistical measurement has Bledsoe falling well short of those three QBs. He is the Matt Stafford of his generation. Bledsoe once had a season where he led the league in passing attempts and had the worst passing rating among starting QBs...so in some sense it was the worst season by a QB in NFL history. And he did it with a pretty good Patriots team with Parcells as HC.

I always thought of Bledsoe to be the same as Kerry Collins and Vinny Testaverde...if everything was running smoothly, then those guys could be productive with their strong throws. But if any little thing went wrong, the whole machine went haywire. Jim Kelly played 11 years, and in 10 of them he was above league average efficiency (with some really big seasons during the K-Gun heyday). Bledsoe played 14 years and had only 5 seasons where he was above league average efficiency, and he didn't have any big years. Bledsoe was good enough to have staying power in the NFL, and he was a tough guy, but he was essentially an average starting NFL QB. That's not the worst thing to be called, but there are dozens of other QBs who would be more deserving of the HOVG than Bledsoe, IMO.

Bledsoe could never produce enough to match his ability. He always needed strong coaching or a strong running game to maximize his considerable passing talents but as his career went along, his inability to get rid of the ball quicker allowed his body to take more punishment than it should have. He reminded me of Troy Aikman in his stubborness to wait till the last second to get rid of the ball and by then the rush was all over him or he would make a bad throw. I still believe thats why Belichick went with Brady, due to a much quicker release and processing of a defense.

I actually thought Bledsoe could make more of a difference in Buffalo and Dallas but despite a still great arm, couldnt lead teammates or win enough to evade getting replaced. A good passing career but not enough for the HOVG.

I don't know. You have QBs like Phil Simms, Joe Theismann, Bert Jones, Tommy Thompson, Babe Parilli, et al who aren't in the HOVG. I don't think Bledsoe is as good as those guys, so it's a hard call.

I think he's underrated. I'm not saying he'd be in the HOF if not for Brady but I think he'd have come much closer and is certainly HOVG. Like McNabb he really just needed a little more longevity to make it on career totals and he just didn't get it.

Besides Ken Anderson and Isbell is there a better QB's outside of the HOF(who've been rejected by the process not your recently retired types)? Conerly? I'd have him slightly above Esiason(who was even worse in the playoffs) and I keep hearing his name brought up. I also would have Lamonica higher but that's an AFL thing that doesn't really count. Krieg if he didn't have Largent? QB is one of those positions where I think most QB's who deserve the HOF have gotten in Anderson and Isbell are really the only snubs IMO but Bledsoes among the best non HOF QB's.

He averaged 230 yards a game which for that era is only behind Favre, Warner, Moon and Marino ahead of Kelly whose known as a gunslinger. People bring up the picks but he threw less picks a game than Favre, Moon and Bradshaw(in earlier eras where they drew the ball less pick numbers are deflated opposite of passing).

His numbers did lean more to yards than touchdowns but he retired 13th with 251 with only 2 non HOF QB's ahead of him. He retired 7th with well over 40k yards. While he had Glenn his teams were defense and run based with Curtis Martin. Like Brady his best weapons were often tight ends and pass catching RB's while most of his peers had better receivers. I think this deflated Brady's numbers and I think the same is true of Bledsoe. He was not in a situation conducive to impressive numbers especially touchdowns. I think he'd certainly be bottom of the HOF QB's but he's one of the best QB's outside the HOF and certainly HOVG.

The biggest knock on him is his playoff stats were bad throwing twice as many picks as TDs. While his stats were not great a third of his 12 picks came in the super bowl and another 3 were the 96 playoffs in blowout wins. The bigger issue was lack of production compared to the regular season as in 4 of his 7 playoff games he had less than 200 yards. His teams success had more to do with Martin and the defense(3 of his 4 playoff wins saw the other team held to single digits) but he won more playoff games than he lost. Another thing people forget is while he didn't start the 01 AFC title game Bledsoe actually won 2 AFC championship games and many coaches would have started him in Super Bowl 36. Him winning with the Pats would be held in much higher regard if not for what happened next.

^The accolades are not there for Bledsoe. He was never an all-pro player. His best is 2nd team All-AFC.

sluggermatt15 wrote:^The accolades are not there for Bledsoe. He was never an all-pro player. His best is 2nd team All-AFC.

I second that 100% Matt DB doesnt have the accolades or credentials

Its interesting comparing the careers of Drew Bledsoe and Carson Palmer. Counting postseason, both were very similar, winning pct wise and both of them had to deal with talented, but distracting, diva receivers. Both never met their potential with their original teams but while Palmer never won his only Conference Championship game, Bledsoe won two of them. I wouldnt put either in the HOVG but I would put in Joe Flacco, who at one time was closer to a HOF resume but hasnt done much since 2014, with no accolades. He has hardly played in the last two seasons as a backup, after getting injured in Denver. Will Flacco continue to play, hoping to help a franchise win a SB ? Great career, but not HOF ...

Brian wolf wrote:Its interesting comparing the careers of Drew Bledsoe and Carson Palmer. Counting postseason, both were very similar, winning pct wise and both of them had to deal with talented, but distracting, diva receivers. Both never met their potential with their original teams but while Palmer never won his only Conference Championship game, Bledsoe won two of them. I wouldnt put either in the HOVG but I would put in Joe Flacco, who at one time was closer to a HOF resume but hasnt done much since 2014, with no accolades. He has hardly played in the last two seasons as a backup, after getting injured in Denver. Will Flacco continue to play, hoping to help a franchise win a SB ? Great career, but not HOF ...

No accolades is just it. He won a SB and SB MVP, but that is really it. Is he really as good as some of the other QBs in the HOVG?

With Flacco, its a close call for sure but his winning pct is better than alot of QBs, past and present. What hurts him are the two postseason losses to NE and Brady in 2011 and 2014. Had Lee Evans caught Flacco's pass in the endzone, the team could have possibly went to two consecutive SB games. In 2014/15 the Ravens allowed an excellent Brady comeback, which spoiled Flacco's last chance at going to the SB. Only Flacco and the Manning brothers have beaten Brady twice or more in the postseason but he wasnt able to get to another SB, though having a great run with the Ravens. Getting injured in Denver definitely ended his chances of trying to lead another team to the postseason.

Records of current HOVG QB Hopefuls (Postseason as well)

Rivers ... 139 - 113 (HOF ?)
E Manning ... 125 - 121 (HOF ?)
Ryan ... 124 - 108 (active)
Flacco ... 108 - 83 (active)
McNabb ... 107 - 69 - 1 (HOF ?)
Simms ... 101 - 68 (senior)
A Smith ... 101 - 72 - 1
Krieg ... 101 - 83 (senior)
Bledsoe ... 101 - 98
McNair ... 96 - 67 (HOF ?)
Anderson ... 93 - 85 (HOVG)
Palmer ... 93 - 90
Stafford ... 90 - 98 - 1
Hasselbeck ... 90 - 81
Cunningham ... 86 - 58 - 1
Newton ... 78 - 72 - 1 (active)

I put HOF question marks due to current- future eligibility and some are HOF worthy to me.

Current and active QBs, Brady, Brees, Roethlisberger, Rodgers and Wilson, I believe will be elected into the HOF ...