NGT: Healthy Chad Pennington playing for the Patriots

Some fans still hanging onto that one

.

from that era. Apparently he and BB were somewhat close years ago. Benigno was talking to BB about the state of the Jets at that time and said something to the effect of "well at least we have our franchise QB". And BB responded, "you do?".

Was a real good QB. I imagine some of the big time WCO coaches would have loved having him.

because Drew Bledsoe was the franchise QB in 2000 and firmly entrenched in that role even though his contract was up in 2001. He signed a 9 year extension in 2001 for a then NFL record.

So, using a 6th round comp pick on Brady made perfect sense.

Using a 1st round pick on Pennington would have indicated they were intent on replacing Bledsoe, which anyone in NE would tell you they were not, in any way, looking to replace Bledsoe.

it was fate that led Bledsoe to be injured and Brady to get his shot and even after the 2001 season there was a raging debate up here whether Bledsoe should get his job back.

the rest, as they say, is history.

I think the NE coaches wanted to start TB the summer of '01 before Bledsoe, but Drew had just gotten a monster deal & was considered a Kraft son so...

I think the "what if" questions could be fairly covered by that stretch.

In comment 15476227 SFGFNCGiantsFan said:

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I think the NE coaches wanted to start TB the summer of '01 before Bledsoe, but Drew had just gotten a monster deal & was considered a Kraft son so...

Which coach?

Never happened (AFAIK).

Belichick was the GM and coach.

Pioli was the next closest thing to a GM they had and neither he nor Kraft in 2001 were extending Bledsoe without Belichick's approval.

There was some early Michael Bishop (1999 draft pick) talk during the 2000 season because he was more mobile than Bledsoe (a statue was more mobile than Bledsoe) but that was fan talk not coach talk.

I think most of the coaches were higher on TB12 than Bledsoe that summer. I remember reading that somewhere.

Just Googled it. There was an article on The Athletic that BB thought TB12 beat out Bledsoe that summer for starting QB. I can't link it.

Talking about it. He said they saw the talent the first training camp. He had outstanding QB smarts. I think the improvement Brady made over the years was remarkable in the physical attributes. . If he had the arm talent someone would have picked him much earlier.

Letting DB opened things up cap wise. They had a lot of veterans in the early years. Part of what Brady great was I think was Bill really improved as a coach and team builder. Most won’t agree but I think Bill would make a lot of QB’s look real good. Look what he’s doing with Jones.

The Pats went 11-5 with Cassel as QB.

Pennington had a rag arm.

So he would have spent a lot of time in New England in the trainer's room and/or hospital rather than doing it with the Jets

“I am listening to Carton”

In comment 15476280 SFGFNCGiantsFan said:

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The Pats went 11-5 with Cassel as QB.

He went 7-9 last year with the corpse of Cam Newton and half his defense opting out due to covid

In comment 15476264 SFGFNCGiantsFan said:

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Just Googled it. There was an article on The Athletic that BB thought TB12 beat out Bledsoe that summer for starting QB. I can't link it.

This one?
The Athletic - ( New Window )

In comment 15476691 BrettNYG10 said:

Quote:

In comment 15476264 SFGFNCGiantsFan said: Quote: Just Googled it. There was an article on The Athletic that BB thought TB12 beat out Bledsoe that summer for starting QB. I can't link it. This one? The Athletic - ( New Window )

thanks for sharing that, I read it yesterday, seems like a loot of revisionist history, the Vinatieri quote (and the Bruschi quote) are more how I remember it, from having lived through it.

When people look back and write things the narrative changes IMO.

Haha. That is a dude I totally forgot about.

In comment 15476701 SFGFNCGiantsFan said:

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Haha. That is a dude I totally forgot about.

Him and Rohan Davey, were definite fan favorites up here, kind of like Jonas Seawright for the Giants

Wasn't Dan Klecko a fan favorite too? I have cousins in NH who loved him.

In comment 15476715 SFGFNCGiantsFan said:

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Wasn't Dan Klecko a fan favorite too? I have cousins in NH who loved him.

Yes, Joe's son, from Temple, they had him play everywhere, LB, full back, I think even TE.

definite fan favorite.