Patriots Footnotes

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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He went 7-18 for like 66 yards and 2 sacks for -11 yards after the TD drive when he came in
Well, the TD drive does count. I'm not saying he was great by any means but that was mostly because the Pittsburgh defense was flying all over the field. Brady was awful too, routinely throwing the ball short of the sticks on third down because he just had no time to do anything else. Bledsoe made enough plays to win. Three big third down conversions in the fourth quarter after the Steelers got close and all of them were important and the offensive line had nothing. He was hanging in there.
 

tims4wins

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Well, the TD drive does count. I'm not saying he was great by any means but that was mostly because the Pittsburgh defense was flying all over the field. Brady was awful too, routinely throwing the ball short of the sticks on third down because he just had no time to do anything else. Bledsoe made enough plays to win. Three big third down conversions in the fourth quarter after the Steelers got close and all of them were important and the offensive line had nothing. He was hanging in there.
the TD drive counted, of course, but Bledsoe also took over at the Pittsburgh 40. The Pats did enough things to win in that game, yes, and Bledsoe did contribute here and there. He went 3-5 for 21 yards on that field goal drive, including a 3rd and 3 pickup with a 6 yard completion to Marc Edwards. And then as you mention he picked up a big 3rd and 3 on a 4th quarter drive from their own 16 with 7:30 remaining in the game with a 4 yard pass to Wiggins. And then followed it up with his biggest play of the game, an 18 yard completion to Troy Brown (who else) on 3rd and 11 with 5:58 to play. He also almost had at least one total disaster play, maybe more. He did enough to win and that's all they needed.
 

Harry Hooper

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Not a footnote but crazy story about that hit on Edelman. My little sister has a teammate on her high school basketball team whose dad is a neuroscientist. We live in Arizona, and he's the guy in charge of assessing Cardinals players after big hits to determine if they have a concussion. Since that Super Bowl was in AZ, he was the one who assessed Edelman. My dad was at my little sister's game and asked him about the Edelman hit, because we'd always assumed he must've been concussed and the league just let him play because it's the Super Bowl. He says that Edelman definitely wasn't concussed, but that he was more wired than anyone he'd ever seen in his life. Says he seemed like he'd smoked crack or something because he was basically vibrating and constantly yelling at them to let him go back into the game. That story made me love him even more, if that's possible.

Thanks, I had noted before that Edelman got up the morning after the SB and rode in an open car in bright sunlight as part of the parade at Disneyland in California = not concussed.

 
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TheoShmeo

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Terry Glenn*

Max Kellerman

Jeffrey Kessler

John Harbaugh

Jack Tatum

Matt Millen

* Double FN — Brady’s first TD recipient and the Parcells “she” reference
 
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loshjott

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Bledsoe was good in that game, but he did have one pass where he badly misread the coverage and almost threw a pick 6 that would have been a carbon copy of the one he threw in the regular season game at Pittsburgh in 97 that cost us HFA in the divisional round
That 1997 game still sticks in my craw.
 

Al Zarilla

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I recently watched highlights of that AFCCG. I had forgotten much of it except for the Bledsoe TD pass.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a game quite like it. Certainly not one where the stakes were that high. The Patriots punted or turned it over on downs in 7 of their 8 possessions to start the game but were up 21-3. Ken Walter was absolutely terrible. Kordell Stewart was worse. The defenses were crazy good on both sides. The Troy Brown scoop blocked kick recovery and lateral was one of the best plays I've ever seen in football. Brown did everything in that game. He was amazing.

I think there was a sense going into that game that even though the Steelers had been really good that year and deserved the 1 seed, that the game was sort of a consolation prize for who got to have a fun week of Super Bowl hype before getting beaten by the greatest show on turf. The irony is that the Eagles almost beat the Rams in the late game that day. Also, the week between the CG and the Super Bowl ended up getting dominated by the New England quarterback controversy, while Belichick was plotting one of the most amazing games in history.

I guess if you ask any Patriots fan about 2001 the things that will come to mind immediately are the Super Bowl and the Snow Game. But, holy shit, that AFCCG stands on its own as one of the craziest and most amazing games in the Patriots' Belichick Brady history, if not in NFL history.
Troy’s punt return for the touchdown was so beautiful and yet so simple. Zig one way, then the other way and he was gone.
 

Van Everyman

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the TD drive counted, of course, but Bledsoe also took over at the Pittsburgh 40. The Pats did enough things to win in that game, yes, and Bledsoe did contribute here and there. He went 3-5 for 21 yards on that field goal drive, including a 3rd and 3 pickup with a 6 yard completion to Marc Edwards. And then as you mention he picked up a big 3rd and 3 on a 4th quarter drive from their own 16 with 7:30 remaining in the game with a 4 yard pass to Wiggins. And then followed it up with his biggest play of the game, an 18 yard completion to Troy Brown (who else) on 3rd and 11 with 5:58 to play. He also almost had at least one total disaster play, maybe more. He did enough to win and that's all they needed.
My abiding memory of Bledsoe in that game—and it’s not fair really—is the pass he made BACKWARDS AND OVER HIS SHOULDER when he was almost in the grasp of the defender (this was not the almost pick-6 mentioned upthread).

We forget that the Brady injury and Bledsoe performance in the AFCCG reignited the QB controversy a bit during SB week. To me, that throw and the almost pick-6 were confirmation enough that if Brady was healthy enough to play in the Super Bowl, he absolutely should play in the Super Bowl.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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Looking back at that 2001 AFCCG, you wonder if they would have played the end game any different now. Tebucky Jones’ interception got them to the 34 and it was basically the same situation as the end of this year’s Super Bowl. A first down or a FG gives them the win, essentially. They ran twice to make the Steelers use time outs then Bledsoe threw one away going for a deep play. Vinatieri missed the 50 yarder that would have put it away.

The thing was, Heinz field had only been open for half a year and while I’m sure kickers in warmups knew about the difficulties kicking there I doubt anyone understood just how hard 50+ is there. You definitely can’t take a sack in that situation but now I think you’d see some trapping or screens to try to get the kick a little more manageable if they couldn’t get a first down. I think they were probably thinking, well we are in range so we just need a first down, not more yards. But in that stadium you have to add 5 or 10 yards to your expectations. As it was, he just barely missed it.
 

TheoShmeo

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My abiding memory of Bledsoe in that game—and it’s not fair really—is the pass he made BACKWARDS AND OVER HIS SHOULDER when he was almost in the grasp of the defender (this was not the almost pick-6 mentioned upthread).

We forget that the Brady injury and Bledsoe performance in the AFCCG reignited the QB controversy a bit during SB week. To me, that throw and the almost pick-6 were confirmation enough that if Brady was healthy enough to play in the Super Bowl, he absolutely should play in the Super Bowl.
It reignited a debate but I was (a) firmly of the view that Brady was the better QB and should start and (b) supremely confident that Belichick would make the right decision.

On the heels of Tony Eason starting over Steve Grogan in the Bears Super Bowl, I would have absolutely lost my shit if Bill made the wrong choice there. Again, not that I expected it.

That some Pats fans were still pining for Bledsoe even after the title blew my mind.

Going back to Grogan/Eason, I know that the Pats would have gotten waxed either way and that Eason had managed them to two playoff wins and had some good moments in that post-season. But Grogan had been immense down the stretch and I still believe that the odds of success, as slim as they were, would have been higher with him in the game from the beginning. But I always hated Eason and thought he played ascared.
 

reggiecleveland

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Nbut that he was more wired than anyone he'd ever seen in his life. Says he seemed like he'd smoked crack or something because he was basically vibrating and constantly yelling at them to let him go back into the game. .
This is so similar to a story where a guy I know was a trainer with Basketball Canada at the world championships. Drazen Petrovic was brought in the training room and the description is similar, right down to "vibrating". Another guy that played against him used "vibrating" to describe how wired up Petrovic was while plying.
 

tims4wins

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One thing I never understood about the "concussed!!1111!!1!" talk was that Edelman got up and continued running on the play. Pretty much every concussion I have ever seen in the NFL results in the guy laying motionless on the ground for a good bit of time. Edelman was still going 100% on that play.
 

jmcc5400

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The thing was, Heinz field had only been open for half a year and while I’m sure kickers in warmups knew about the difficulties kicking there I doubt anyone understood just how hard 50+ is there. You definitely can’t take a sack in that situation but now I think you’d see some trapping or screens to try to get the kick a little more manageable if they couldn’t get a first down. I think they were probably thinking, well we are in range so we just need a first down, not more yards. But in that stadium you have to add 5 or 10 yards to your expectations. As it was, he just barely missed it.
This makes me recall fondly that by the time of the AFC CG in 2004 (technically, January 2005), Heinz Field was a known commodity as a kicker's graveyard. Early on, the Pats had something like a 48 yard opportunity and i remember thinking "too far" and Adam came in and just drilled it. I think at the time it was the longest FG in that direction at the stadium.
 

Al Zarilla

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I am 99.9% sure that was my last visit to a Hooters. Those were different days. Oh to be young(er) and dumb(er) again.
Now I never leave the house to watch the games.
I’ve never been to a Hooters. :(

Yeah, I’ve been at home, watching with my wife only since XLVI. Next one I’m willing to branch out though, all the way to including my son and his family. :banana:
 

BuellMiller

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My abiding memory of Bledsoe in that game—and it’s not fair really—is the pass he made BACKWARDS AND OVER HIS SHOULDER when he was almost in the grasp of the defender (this was not the almost pick-6 mentioned upthread).

We forget that the Brady injury and Bledsoe performance in the AFCCG reignited the QB controversy a bit during SB week. To me, that throw and the almost pick-6 were confirmation enough that if Brady was healthy enough to play in the Super Bowl, he absolutely should play in the Super Bowl.
If you want to rememeber the near heart attack feeling, the almost-pick-6 was to Joey Porter.
(14:05 into this clip, if the embedding doesn't work right, 6:41 left in the 4th quarter.)
 

Spelunker

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I am 99.9% sure that was my last visit to a Hooters. Those were different days. Oh to be young(er) and dumb(er) again.
Now I never leave the house to watch the games.
My last one was to Snow Bowl. Coincidentally, I have no memory of that game.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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If you want to rememeber the near heart attack feeling, the almost-pick-6 was to Joey Porter.
(14:05 into this clip, if the embedding doesn't work right, 6:41 left in the 4th quarter.)
Yeah, that was awful. The throw he makes two plays later on 3d and 10 is beautiful. Hard to believe it's the same guy.
 

Van Everyman

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Ha. Where was the over the shoulder backwards pass.
It’s at 1:21:51 and just as terrible as I remember. It’s 2nd down, they’re on the Pittsburgh 32 and as he’s about to get sacked for holding it too long, he throws it right between two Pittsburgh defenders. As good as Bledsoe was on that first drive with those throws to Patten, this play remains one of the worst and most obviously dangerous QB plays I’ve ever seen.
 

tims4wins

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It’s at 1:21:51 and just as terrible as I remember. It’s 2nd down, they’re on the Pittsburgh 32 and as he’s about to get sacked for holding it too long, he throws it right between two Pittsburgh defenders. As good as Bledsoe was on that first drive with those throws to Patten, this play remains one of the worst and most obviously dangerous QB plays I’ve ever seen.
Oh dear lord I just watched it again and my palms started sweating