Over the course of the week leading up to Super Bowl LII between the Patriots and Eagles, providencejournal.com will each day highlight the defining moments of the Patriots franchise over the last 25 years. Coming Friday: Patriots win first Super Bowl.
Story published: November 20, 2001
Headline: Left out in the cold — Pats reportedly staying with Brady rest of the season
FOXBORO — Bledsoe or Brady? [...]
Over the course of the week leading up to Super Bowl LII between the Patriots and Eagles, providencejournal.com will each day highlight the defining moments of the Patriots franchise over the last 25 years. Coming Friday: Patriots win first Super Bowl.
Story published: November 20, 2001
Headline: Left out in the cold — Pats reportedly staying with Brady rest of the season
FOXBORO — Bledsoe or Brady? Brady or Bledsoe?
Yesterday morning, when meeting the media, coach Bill Belichick gave a partial answer to the question that dominates Patriots Nation when he said Tom Brady will remain the starter for Sunday's game against the New Orleans Saints.
Later in the day, though, Belichick apparently had a more definitive response. According to two sources, the coach told both Brady and Drew Bledsoe, the team's starter since 1993 who has been sidelined by injury since the second week of the season, that Brady will be the No. 1 quarterback for the rest of the year.
Brady has quarterbacked the Patriots to five wins in their last eight games. He has an 86.9 quarterback rating in eight games, the fourth-best in the AFC, and has completed 64 percent of his passes.
Belichick's option was to either stick with the new young gun or go back to his veteran, who hasn't played in weeks.
The coach may actually have provided a glimpse into his thinking when addressing the media yesterday morning, saying, "This is not the time to get into any personnel changes," when asked who would start Sunday against the Saints.
Brady faced a fierce Rams defense Sunday night but still managed to complete 19 of 27 passes for 185 yards and a touchdown. During one drive in the second half, he completed five consecutive passes, the last one a 10-yard TD strike to David Patten, capping a 65-yard drive.
While Brady also threw two interceptions, Belichick noted yesterday that one of them was not entirely Brady's fault. His first pick, a short pass intended for Kevin Faulk, hit Faulk in the hands. The ball bounced away and into the hands of Rams cornerback Dexter McCleon.
Brady's second interception, Belichick said, was just a bad throw.
The news of his demotion apparently came as a shock to Bledsoe, who clearly hoped to regain his job. When he was allowed to return to active duty by the team's medical staff last week, he said: "I'm going to do everything I can to get back on the field."
But he also expressed confidence in, and support for, Brady by saying: "At the same time, I'm going to help Tom as much as I can.
"It's fairly simple. If I give us the best chance to win, then I'll be back on the field. If Bill (Belichick) feels that Tom gives us the best chance to win, then he'll be on the field."
Yesterday, Belichick apparently decided that Brady gives the Pats the best chance to win at the moment.
Jim Donaldson contributed to this story.