Drew Bledsoe

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Drew Bledsoe
Drew Bledsoe in Pre-Game Stretches.
Date of birth	February 14, 1972 (age 35)
Place of birth	Ellensburg, Washington
Position(s)	Quarterback
College	Washington State
NFL Draft	1993 / Round 1/ Pick 1
Career Highlights
Pro Bowls	1995, 1997, 1998, 2003
Records	*New England Patriots Career Passing Yards (29,657), *New England Patriots Career Passing TDs (166)
Statistics	NFL.com
Team(s)
1993-2001 2002-2004 2005-2006	New England Patriots Buffalo Bills Dallas Cowboys

Drew Bledsoe (born February 14, 1972) is an American football quarterback who most recently played for the Dallas Cowboys. He was drafted by the New England Patriots in 1993 as the #1 overall pick in the first round of the NFL Draft, out of Washington State University. Drew and his wife Maura (née Healy) have four children: sons Stuart McQueen, John Stack and Henry Healy, and daughter Healy Elizabeth. Bledsoe was the starting quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys until he was replaced by Tony Romo in Week 8 of the 2006 season by former Dallas head coach Bill Parcells.^[1]

Contents 1 New England Patriots: 1993-2001 2 Buffalo Bills: 2002-2004 3 Dallas Cowboys: 2005-2006 4 College 5 Statistics 5.1 Career Stats 5.2 Physical statistics 5.3 Professional statistics 5.3.1 Career (as of November 26, 2006) 5.4 Post-season records and statistics 5.5 Accomplishments 6 References 7 External links

[edit] New England Patriots: 1993-2001

Bledsoe was drafted 1st overall in the 1993 draft by the New England Patriots. He started immediately and by his second year led the league in passing attempts, completions, and touchdowns.^[2] He set the record for most pass attempts (70) and completions (45) in a game on Nov. 13, 1994 against the Minnesota Vikings. During the 1996 season, the Patriots won the AFC championship against the Jacksonville Jaguars 20-6. This lead to an appearance in Super Bowl XXXI, where they lost 35-21 against the Green Bay Packers, with Bledsoe being intercepted four times. During the 1997 season, Bledsoe once again found himself in the playoffs, but lost the second game to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Despite this loss, Bledsoe had arguably his best season, with a career high 87.7 passer rating, and was rewarded with his third Pro Bowl invitation. During the second game of the 2001 season, Bledsoe was hit by New York Jets linebacker, Mo Lewis as he ran upright trying to make it out of bounds. This ultimately led to a change in quarterbacks to Tom Brady and the beginning of the Patriot's Super Bowl run.

[edit] Buffalo Bills: 2002-2004

A change of scenery to Bledsoe's former division rival Buffalo seemed to give him a bit of rejuvenation in 2002. He had one of his best seasons ever, passing for 4,359 yards and making his fourth trip to the Pro Bowl. Bledsoe was 1-5 versus the Patriots during his time in Buffalo. During his final year with the Bills, they fell one game short of making the playoffs, Bledsoe facing the Steeler 3rd and 4th stringers could not move the ball consistently and a switch to J.P. Losman at the beginning of the next season led to Bledsoe's release.

[edit] Dallas Cowboys: 2005-2006

Bledsoe was once again reunited with former coach Bill Parcells in Dallas. During this time he threw for over 3,000 yards for the 9th time in his career, tying Warren Moon for fourth in NFL history. Six games through his second season with the Cowboys, Bledsoe was replaced by Tony Romo. Shortly after the 2006 season, Bledsoe was released by the second team in his career.

[edit] College

Bledsoe started 28 games for Washington State University. He threw for 7,373 yards, 44 touchdowns and 33 interceptions. He decided to skip his senior year to enter the NFL draft. During his junior season he broke multiple school records including: Most yards passing in a single game (476), most pass completions in a season (241), and most passing yards in a season (3,246). He was named Pac-10 offensive player of the year after his junior season.^[3]

[edit] Statistics

[edit] Career Stats

Passing Stats

Year	Team	Att	Comp	Pct	Yds	TD	Int	Qb rating
1993	New England Patriots	429	214	49.9	2494	15	15	65.0
1994	New England Patriots	691	400	57.9	4555	25	27	73.6
1995	New England Patriots	636	323	50.8	3507	13	16	63.7
1996	New England Patriots	623	373	59.9	4086	27	15	83.7
1997	New England Patriots	522	314	60.2	3706	28	15	87.7
1998	New England Patriots	481	263	54.7	2633	20	14	80.9
1999	New England Patriots	539	305	56.6	3985	19	21	75.6
2000	New England Patriots	531	312	58.8	3291	17	13	77.3
2001	New England Patriots	66	40	60.6	400	2	2	75.3
2002	Buffalo Bills	610	375	61.5	4359	24	15	86.0
2003	Buffalo Bils	471	274	58.2	2860	11	12	73.0
2004	Buffalo Bills	450	256	56.9	2932	20	16	76.6
2005	Dallas Cowboys	499	300	60.1	3639	23	17	83.7
2006	Dallas Cowboys	169	90	53.3	1164	7	8	69.2
Totals		6717	3839	57.2	44611	251	206	77.1

[edit] Physical statistics

• Height: 6 feet 5 inches
• Weight: 238 lb

[edit] Professional statistics

[edit] Career (as of November 26, 2006)

• 6,717 passes attempted (3rd all time)
• 3,839 passes completed (57.2 Completion percentage)
• 44,611 passing yards (6.64 yards/attempt)
• 251 passing touchdowns (0.037 TD/attempt)
• 206 passes intercepted (0.031 INT/attempt)
• 258 Total Turn-overs
• 26.76 passing attempts per touchdown
• 32.60 passing attempts per interception
• 123 fumbles (56 lost)
• Ranks 180th (All-Time) in turning yards into points

[edit] Post-season records and statistics

• 3-3 in the post-season as a starter
• 252 passes attempted
• 129 passes completed
• 51.1 Completion Percentage
• 54.9 QB Rating
• 1335 passing yards
• 6 passing touchdowns
• 12 passes intercepted
• 21 passing attempts per interception in the post-season
• 42 passing attempts per TD in the post-season
• 1 Super Bowl Championship (2001, New England Patriots - Did not play)

[edit] Accomplishments

He currently ranks fifth all-time in career attempts and completions, and is seventh all-time in career passing yardage. He is tied with John Hadl and Peyton Manning for 13th all-time in career touchdown passes. Among active quarterbacks, he stands second behind only Brett Favre in career completions, attempts and passing yards. He and Manning are tied for second behind Favre in career touchdowns. In 2000, he became just the fourth quarterback in league history to have seven consecutive 3,000-yard passing seasons. In 2005, he recorded his ninth career 3,000-yard passing season, tying him with Warren Moon for fourth in NFL history. In 2005 he also became just the 10th player in NFL history to reach the 40,000 passing yard plateau, reaching the mark in his 172nd career game, the fifth fastest player to reach that milestone. Bledsoe holds the NFL record for pass attempts in a season with 691 in 1994 and also has the third best mark with 636 in 1995, those marks coming during a three-year span (1994-96) that he led the league in pass attempts. He also holds the league record for pass attempts (70) and completions (45) in a game, setting the mark against Minnesota on Nov. 13, 1994. In that game, he also threw no interceptions, setting a league mark for pass attempts in a game without an interception. His 400 completions in 1994 are the third best total in league history, and he is also tied for fourth in NFL history with six 400-yard passing games. In 1993-94 he had a string of four-straight 300-yard passing games, the sixth longest streak in league history. In his career, Bledsoe has four overtime touchdown passes, the most in NFL history.

A frequent criticism of Bledsoe's accomplishments is that they are based on volume (attempts, completions, yards) rather than efficiency (TD-to-INT ratio, yards per attempt, passer rating) proving only that he has thrown a great number of times, not that he has thrown well. ^[4]

[edit] References

1. ^ Parcells picks Romo to start at QB for Cowboys.ESPN.com October 28, 2006, accessed December 12, 2006.
2. ^ [Pro football reference]
3. ^ [Washington State Scout]
4. ^ http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.com/Article.php?Page=1088

[edit] External links

• Official web site
• Drew Bledsoe at ESPN.com
• Pro-Football-Reference.com - career statistics.
• Humanitarian Bio
• Drew Bledsoe at The Internet Movie Database

Preceded by Steve Emtman	1st Overall Pick in NFL Draft 1993	Succeeded by Dan Wilkinson
Preceded by Hugh Millen	New England Patriots Starting Quarterback 1993-2001	Succeeded by Tom Brady
Preceded by Alex Van Pelt	Buffalo Bills Starting Quarterback 2002-2004	Succeeded by J.P. Losman Kelly Holcomb
Preceded by Vinny Testaverde	Dallas Cowboys Starting Quarterback 2005-2006	Succeeded by Tony Romo

National Football League number one overall Draft picks

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