Speaking of Bledsoe, NFL Throwback, which is one of the very best channels on YouTube, posted this excellent shoot-out from 1994 between Bledsoe and Marino:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrQb2xmtbBk
Things that stand out:
- The Patriot's secondary is like, unconsciously bad. Zombie, post-surgery Marino just destroys them.
- Bledsoe hangs in there with Marino for most of the game, if he could have only just cut down on those pesky interceptions (he threw 27 of them in 1994).
- Before basically every team adopted the west coast offense, these guys were just slinging the ball all over the place. It's awesome to watch.
- The field is atrocious, the dirt infield is thick, caked mud and appears to have made running the ball impossible.
- The officials are also terrible. There is a lot of complaining about the rules today, but these guys here are clowns.
- Willie McGinnest starts a fight in the third quarter.
- Ben Coates is a total beast and has a game that mirrors the best of Gronk that we would see 20 years later. Bruce Armstrong is also awesome, in a less obvious way.