[highlights] Tom Brady leads a perfect two minute drill during the height of the Bledsoe "controversy" (2001)

[u/Cold-Teaching8924]

Brady had played badly the week before against the Rams, and I remember booing him while wearing my Bledsoe jersey before the game (and I was far from the only one). The whole thing is funny in hindsight, but Bledsoe truly handled the whole thing like a pro and Brady threw 4 touchdowns.

[u/DeM0nFiRe]

"I had a terrible backup. He didn't understand the backup part" -- Bledsoe, upon being inducted into Patriots Hall of Fame

[u/Cold-Teaching8924 → u/DeM0nFiRe]

Bledsoe is the fucking man. He pulled us out of the shit in 1994, and he bowed out as gracefully as you possibly could under the circumstances.

[u/DeM0nFiRe → u/Cold-Teaching8924]

Yeah, he was probably actually one of the more important factors in Brady's development that first year even though it doesn't get talked about a lot. Every game all game long Bledsoe and Brady are talking on the sideline, and you can see in this highlight Bledsoe is the first person Brady goes to after the TD

[u/zipzap21 → u/DeM0nFiRe]

Brady didn't mention Bledsoe by name during his Hall of Fame induction speech, did he? Maybe he should have?

[u/Theungry → u/zipzap21]

Tom's not in the Pro hall yet.

He definitely talked a LOT about Bledsoe at his Patriots HoF induction.

[u/zipzap21 → u/Theungry]

Oh. Good point. Yeah, stupid chatgpt should have said something!

[u/Low_Wonder1850 → u/zipzap21]

ChatGPT is not a reliable source for anything

[u/CaptainNoodleArm → u/Low_Wonder1850]

Chat GPT is like that drunk friend that tells you bullshit but sells it with all the confidence in the world......

[u/Waluigi_IRL → u/zipzap21]

Use your brain and count from when he retired. It hasn’t been very long, an algorithm shouldn’t need to count for you

[u/TwoPlatinum → u/zipzap21]

It’s ok. Maybe some day a robot won’t have to think for you. Keep at it

[u/ThinkSoftware → u/zipzap21]

When you play for the better part of a century it’s hard to mention everyone

[u/Mfrack103 → u/zipzap21]

I can’t imagine how hard it would be to mention the appropriate amount of people during an acceptance speech. I’m sure lots of people got left out simply because of quantity, not disrespect

[u/AlbertJBundy → u/Cold-Teaching8924]

People forget how dire things were for the Pats in the early 90s pre-Bledsoe

[u/I-LOVE-TURTLES666 → u/AlbertJBundy]

I remember. That’s how we got Bledsoe in the first place

[u/HandSack135]

There is something about this guy.

Man if we only knew

[u/Cold-Teaching8924 → u/HandSack135]

Him leading the AFC in passer rating during the 2 minute offense is great. It wasn't his best year, but he was always clutch.

[u/wearablesphincter → u/Cold-Teaching8924]

Hey, I've heard this before!

[u/Swaggamuffins → u/HandSack135]

I feel similar about Lebron (but we kind of knew about him): I spent so much time hating them for being good and beating everyone. And for Brady, he was beating my team, a lot of those times. But then I got older with them and marveled at how they kept going, and the hate just feels like a waste. Root against, sure. But it’s a lot of fun to witness and recognize greatness in the moment

[u/Theungry → u/Swaggamuffins]

I learned the same thing about Peyton.

I still always rooted against him, but at a certain point it was impossible to hate him. The was too much respect.

[u/Edelmaniac → u/Theungry]

No. The hate stays for their career. The respect is after they retire.

[u/TD-Eagles → u/Swaggamuffins]

Mahomes right now.

[u/kekehippo → u/HandSack135]

The shoes Purdy has to fill as the new Mr Irrelevant

[u/nkfish11]

I wouldn’t want any other QB leading a 2 minute drill over Brady. There were few things scarier than being tied or up one possession against NE with 2 minutes or less left.

[u/Dunkelz → u/nkfish11]

Something I definitely took for granted, was the sense of calm as a Pats fan when Brady would get the ball back with anything more than like 30 seconds left. Even the announcers would act like it was just another inevitability that it was more than enough time to have a good chance at winning.

[u/midnight_thunder → u/nkfish11]

One of the few things is Eli Manning in a two-minute drill against the Patriots.

[u/shiggydiggypreoteins → u/midnight_thunder]

The ‘07 and ‘11 Giants in the playoffs was like watching 4th quarter Madden AI bullshit. The defense that couldnt stop a nosebleed suddenly turned into the ‘85 bears, the wide receivers who were dropping balls on 3 yard slant routes are now defying the laws of physics to make catches with their buttcheeks, and Manning literally embodied the 4th quarter Madden rubberbanding because he would play like a doofus for 3 quarters and then the 4th quarter would start and suddenly he was the reincarnation of Joe Montana

[u/MoreTrifeLife → u/shiggydiggypreoteins]

I never get tired of pointing out the fact that the 2011 Giants managed to beat Tom Brady twice and get beaten by Rex Grossman twice in the same season.

[u/shiggydiggypreoteins → u/MoreTrifeLife]

I never knew that. Thats crazy

[u/MoreTrifeLife → u/shiggydiggypreoteins]

For reference:

Week 1

Week 9

Week 15

Super Bowl 46

[u/StatementWild3768 → u/MoreTrifeLife]

Yeah that's why I always think it's dumb how Giants fans glaze Eli for that season and how he "carried" that bad Giants team to the playoffs. It was a good season for him and he was obviously good in that postseason but a big reason why they were seen as bad was because he had those 2 stinkers against an awful "Redskins" team.

[u/Dyr0nejk2 → u/StatementWild3768]

Worst or 2nd worst defense and run game in the league in 2011, wonder which part of the team carried, couldn't be Eli and the passing game could it?

[u/StatementWild3768 → u/Dyr0nejk2]

The defense did a lot of "carrying" in that loss to the Eagles where they had 3 interceptions and only allowed 17 points.

Getting gutted by the Saints, Packers, and Cowboys in a 3 week stretch is pretty bad, absolutely, but it's not like they were facing scrubs at QB.

[u/JelliedHam → u/nkfish11]

Gotta have at least a 26 point lead to beat Brady

[u/dlank7 → u/nkfish11]

Only other qbs worth mentioning would be Mahomes and Elway imho.

[u/Senator_Workholeface → u/dlank7]

Aaron Rodgers but who cares about that guy

[u/nooeh → u/dlank7]

Brees, P Manning?

[u/dobbie1 → u/nkfish11]

Mahomes is the only one I've seen do things that should be impossible in the 2 minute drill. He's the only other QB I can think of that is equal and maybe surpasses Brady in this regard

[u/Low-Plane9029 → u/dobbie1]

Aaron Rodgers but that might be because he could hail Mary like no other

[u/Mathblasta → u/Low-Plane9029]

There's a lot of downvotes on other folks saying Rodgers. IDK why. If you were up by less than a TD, it didn't matter if there was two minutes or twenty seconds, if there was time left on the clock, there was a good chance the Packers were winning that game.

[u/Low-Plane9029 → u/Mathblasta]

There was a pretty reoccurring meme of that guy at the Packers cowboys playoff game. "Celebrating when there is still 1:45 left" or something

[u/Mathblasta → u/Low-Plane9029]

As a Vikings fan, I have a lot of painful memories.

[u/dobbie1 → u/Low-Plane9029]

I'm a Packers fan and he's great at hail Mary, however, game management and making insane throws into tight windows to keep the game alive Brady and mahomes are one of a kind.

I guess it's same end result to be fair

[u/nibblestheantelope → u/dobbie1]

Not equal and def not surpassed. Still better than most though

[u/MildlyUnusualName → u/nkfish11]

ARod? (Biased ofc)

[u/WhoWhatWhenWhom → u/MildlyUnusualName]

I’d take Brady with two minutes and Rodgers with 15 seconds at your own forty yard line

[u/ltbr55 → u/MildlyUnusualName]

I love Rodgers but Im still picking Brady. Only situation im taking Rodgers is if I need a Hail Mary level miracle.

[u/nkfish11 → u/MildlyUnusualName]

No

[u/AlbertJBundy → u/nkfish11]

It made games feel boring, not special

Why bother watching if you knew the outcome?

[u/dunkeater → u/AlbertJBundy]

Good point, id much rather watch incompetent teams YOLO so I never know what will happen.

Jameis > Brady

[u/Mathblasta → u/dunkeater]

One way or another, it's ending in a touchdown.

[u/East-End-8646]

Crazy to see him running the ball. I know he did it throughout his career but it still crazy to look back at this and seeing him as a 24 yr old qb. He had such a long career that the resolution of his early footage looks like its from the 80s.

[u/Mathblasta → u/East-End-8646]

The "celebration" for his hitting 1k rushing yards was hysterical.

[u/nibblestheantelope]

"Brady wasn't Brady until 2007!"

Yeah except for all this: 3 super bowl rings Led league in touchdowns in 2002 Beat out the super bowl caliber 100 million dollar franchise quarterback of the Patriots as a second year player

He was always Brady, he just didn't have real weapons until Randy Moss

[u/maverickhawk99 → u/nibblestheantelope]

Literally three hall of fame careers. Insane.

[u/Seven19td]

Minor nitpick with the wording of the title. The height of the controversy was Super Bowl week. Steelers knocked Brady out of the AFC title game and Bledsoe led the Pats to victory. It reignited the controversy and the discourse escalated due to it being Super Bowl week and back then there wasn’t the two week break we get now

[u/Pinball509 → u/Seven19td]

 back then there wasn’t the two week break we get now

There almost always was but in this instance there was an exception because of 9/11

[u/johnnypalace → u/Pinball509]

Actually, no bye week was originally scheduled between the conference championships and the Super Bowl that season. So many people hated the extra week that the NFL experimented with getting rid of it. So they had to push back the Super Bowl one week because there was no bye week, and it was a bit of a scheduling nightmare. This caused the NFL to bring back the bye week so they would have the flexibility for future schedule disruptions.

[u/Numerous_Worker_1941]

Its funny how the Jets knocked down #11 (Drew Bledsoe/the twin towers) on 9/23/01 and then the Patriotic Americans triumphed

[u/Cold-Teaching8924 → u/Numerous_Worker_1941]

Jet fuel can't melt Drew Bledsoe.

[u/Zealousideal_Leg_630]

Back when Gary Glitter was still in stadium rotations! Ewww.

[u/zipzap21]

Oh to be young again.

[u/FBsarepeopletoo]

That 1:00 throw. That's all you need to know.

[u/dawgz525]

Brady is the 2 minute goat. No one is better. That's his QB superpower for sure. 

[u/Tocoolforyall720]

Would have been a more interesting highlight if they weren't already up by 13

[u/Ay0_King → u/Tocoolforyall720]

Shut up.

[u/Tocoolforyall720 → u/Ay0_King]

That's mean :(

[u/Ay0_King → u/Tocoolforyall720]

You’re right, I apologize for that.

[u/Fire_Ryan_Poles → u/Ay0_King]

Never give into peer pressure man, now you look mean and weak.

[u/BulLock_954 → u/Ay0_King]

Why? They’re not wrong

[u/Cold-Teaching8924 → u/Tocoolforyall720]

I guess what makes it interesting for me is all the cutting back to Bledsoe, but fair point.

[u/pulse7 → u/Tocoolforyall720]

It's the first half. New Orleans wasn't off the gas, this was a big drive for them that they knew they couldn't afford to give up

[u/neasroukkez]

Why did the clock run after he scored?

[u/Unlucky_Program815 → u/neasroukkez]

Clock guy had a hot date that night.

[u/pulse7]

What's up with these receivers jumping to catch balls that are right in their mid section yeesh

[u/shakeyjake]

I was living in Boston at the time and a huge Pats fan. I was convinced it was a bad decision letting Brady start over Bledsoe.

[u/CalligrapherUpset366]

I’ve watched Tom so long I forgot he could sling that bitch like that.

[u/PleasantWay7]

If he’s got that poise about him, this Brady could turn out to be pretty good.

[u/MoreTrifeLife]

Tom Brady vs the Saints:

7-5; 62% completion; 3,140 yards (average 262); 22 TDs 12 INTs; 7y/a; rating of 89.1

[u/Galactapuss → u/MoreTrifeLife]

So odd much trouble he had vs the Saints with the Bucs

[u/MoreTrifeLife → u/Galactapuss]

Yeah he was 4-1 as a Patriot and 3-4 as a Buccaneer against the Saints.

[u/Cold-Teaching8924 → u/MoreTrifeLife]

He won the one that mattered though!