Sports Then and Now

Most football fans know how Tom Brady became the starting quarterback of the New England Patriots, but when do they and the Patriots know that he would become a successful NFL quarterback?

Perhaps that moment occurred in the Patriots week 5 game against the San Diego Chargers where Brady lead the Patriots back from a ten-point deficit in the fourth quarter to come away with an overtime victory.

Brady was forced into the role of starting quarterback when longtime starter Drew Bledsoe was injured in the Patriots’ second game of the season, a 10-3 loss to the New York Jets.

Brady’s first start was a successful one as he led the Patriots to a 44-13 rout of the Indianapolis Colts in week 3, but was unsuccessful the following week as the Patriots were defeated by the Miami Dolphins 30-10 as Brady threw for only 86 yards.

With zero touchdown passes in his two starts, some observers felt that Brady was a liability and that the Patriots would go nowhere in the second season under head coach Bill Belichick.

The Patriots opponent in Week 5 was the San Diego Chargers, one of the early surprises in the 2001 season.

In 2000, the Chargers finished with a 1-15 record, the worst in the league.

After the season, Chargers owner Dean Spanos hired former Bills general manager John Butler to the same position, who brought several players from the Bills roster to San Diego, including quarterback Doug Flutie.

The Chargers held the first pick in the NFL Draft, but they traded it away to the Atlanta Falcons for the #5 pick in the first round and the first pick in the second round, which the Chargers used to pick running back LaDainian Tomlinson and quarterback Drew Brees.

The new-look Chargers won their first three games before losing to the Cleveland Browns 20-16 the week before they traveled to Foxboro to face the Patriots.

Both teams scored field goals in the first quarter as the Patriots drove 60 yards in 13 plays on their opening drive, leading to a 26-yard field goal by Adam Vinatieri, while the Chargers got a 21-yard field goal by Wade Richey on the final play of the quarter. Read the rest of this entry →

Going into the 1994 NFL season, many pro football experts and Miami Dolphins fans were skeptical that legendary quarterback Dan Marino could return to his old brilliant self.

In the fifth game of the 1993 season, Marino tore his Achilles tendon on a play in which he was not even touched.

Marino missed the rest of the season as the Dolphins finished with a 9-7  record and failed to make the playoffs.

Even though the tendon was healed by the time training camp began for the 1994 season, it did not appear that Marino was ready.

Not only did Marino have to wear a special shoe for the foot in which he tore his Achilles tendon, his right calf was atrophied, further limiting his already lack of mobility.

To make things worse, Marino completed only four of 12 passes for 37 yards and threw two interceptions during his playing team in the Dolphins’ four preseason games.

While the future looked bleak for Marino, the sky was the limit for the Patriots’ quarterback, 22-year old Drew Bledsoe.

Bledsoe had been selected as the #1 overall pick of the 1993 NFL Draft by the Patriots and started 12 games in the 1993 season as he threw for 2494 yards and 15 touchdowns to comply a 5-7 record in the games he started. Read the rest of this entry →

Before even taking an NFL snap, Sam Bradford has signed a contract that guarantees him $50 million.

If you weren’t previously convinced that something needs to be done regarding the exorbitant guaranteed money that is being handed out to NFL rookies then hopefully the $50 million in guaranteed money the St. Louis Rams agreed to pay Sam Bradford might persuade you.

In case you might have forgotten, this is the same Sam Bradford who lost in the BCS Championship Game with Oklahoma in January 2009 and then nine months later suffered a serious shoulder injury that eventually needed surgery.

This is also the same Sam Bradford who has yet to throw a pass in an NFL game.

Yet, he now has signed a contract that dwarfs the current deals of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, a pair of all-time greats who are getting nowhere in their attempts to sign new long-term contracts. Read the rest of this entry →

Tom Brady and the Patriots are in for a dogfight in the AFC East.

It looks like the Patriots will be in a dog fight this year in the AFC East, the division that New England has dominated over the last decade. The Pats have captured the AFC Crown seven of the last ten seasons, but a changing of the guard is looming on the horizon.

The Patriots are looking more like the least than the beast of the AFC East.

The New York Jets are getting better every day it seems. The team that went to the AFC Championship last year on the shoulders of rookie quarterback, Mark Sanchez is loading up their arsenal.

On the offensive side of the ball they acquired disgruntled Cleveland Browns wide out, Braylon Edwards last season. A talent for sure, but has consistency issues and a chronic case of the drops. However, he showed sparks of what he is capable of when he is focused. In 12 games with New York, Edwards caught 35 catches for 541 yards with 4 td’s.

This off season the Jets have been very busy signing former San Diego and fantasy football stud, LaDainian Tomlinson. Tomlinson replaces the productive Thomas Jones who was unsigned before landing with the KC Chiefs. A puzzling signing considering Jones was more productive than LT. Jones had 1400 yards and 14 touchdowns in comparison to Tomlinson’s 730 yards and 12 touchdowns.

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Who is the best all around qb?

This is the debate that may never be answered.

The arguments of all arguments.

Who is the best quarterback in the NFL today?

Is it Tom Brady? Peyton Manning?

Some can even make an argument for “Big Ben” Roethlisberger. However, I think Roethlisberger needs about four more years to add to his body of work before he can be held in the same breath as Brady and Manning.

So how do we make the determination of who is the best all around quarterback? What variables will be used to measure both quarterbacks?

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Wes Welker suffered a season-ending knee injury against the Texans.

With wide out Wes Welker being carted off the field with what appears to be a serious injury to his left knee, fans of the New England Patriots have already begun asking the question why.

Why did coach Bill Belichick decide to play his starters in a near meaningless game? Why did we have to lose the heart and soul of our offense? Why have our play-off hopes been dashed for the second year in a row.

With the Patriots driving down the field in the first quarter of their game with the Houston Texans, Welker, who entered the game with a league leading 122 receptions, caught a ball from quarterback Tom Brady in the left slot and ran for a first down before getting his foot caught in the Texans turf and immediately grabbing for his left knee.

Welker was being covered by safety Bernard Pollard, though the injury was sustained before Welker was hit.

With Brady, receiver Randy Moss and the Patriots trainer looking on, Welker was helped from the field and was seen with a towel over his head in a display of obvious pain and disappointment. He was carted off the field to the Patriots looker room with approximately six minutes to play in the first quarter.

Many fans believe that any hopes of the Patriots competing in the upcoming AFC playoffs rest squarely on the shoulders of the diminutive receiver who has caught 345 passes over three years with the Patriots and is a key component to their effective passing offense.

The Patriots missed the playoffs last season after Brady was injured in the first period of their first game against the Kansas City Chiefs when he was hit below the knee by Pollard, who played for the Chiefs at the time. Despite an 11-5 record the Patriots missed the playoffs.

Entering today’s game with a 10-5 record, the Patriots have clinched the AFC East and a home game for the first round of the playoffs and are playing today’s game simply to determine whether they would be a number three or four seed.