Is Bledsoe a Hall of Famer?

[sprew8]

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15431478/

[JackTheRipper]

Eh, I just feel there have been lesser HOF cases.

While I think about it, I remember awhile back someone trying to make a case for Terrell Davis to be in the HOF. I disagree for the sheer fact that he played a couple of years. Although somebody made a Gale Sayers comparison. Whatever.

[Cerrano39]

Believe me, I remember the early years of Bledsoe too. I lived in Boston my whole life. The difference with the two is Bledsoe was never the best QB of his time. There were always the Brett Favre's, John Elway's, or whoever else you want to put in there. Peyton Manning (as much as it pains me to say), is the best quarterback of his time. He is the most dominant at perhaps the hardest position to play.

And if you want to compare them statistically:

Manning:
QB Rating - 94.1
Completion % - 63.9
TD - 265
INT - 136

Bledsoe:
QB Rating - 77.1
Completion % - 57.2
TD - 251
INT - 206

Peyton has also accomplished that in 139 games vs. 194. Peyton is the quickest to 3,000 completions in pretty much every way you break it down (age, attempts, etc). Bledsoe has fumbled it 123 times vs. 45. That has a lot to do with his magical ability to get sacked so often (which aren't all his fault, but he does hang on to the ball too long).

Everyway you look at it, Peyton is already superior to Bledsoe in terms of HoF credential in my eyes. If Peyton retired today, he would get in. In 3 or 4 years, if he gets a career ending injury, they will begin to make a bust for him the next day. Manning and Bledsoe are simply in a different class of player. Bledsoe is a slightly average quarterback who has had some good years, while Manning is a great quarterback.

[Bearsbacker]

ircknewskool said:

I don't think he gets in. The last few years have really hurt Bledsoe. He's played horrible since going to Dallas.

By this arguement, Farve doesn't get in either....his last few years haven't been his kindest. QB's get older, the talent around them becomes faster and harder hitting and so the numbers will always drop. 13 years ago when Bledsoe was drafted, he could sit in the pocket all day because that was a day of the high powered offense. Now, obviously with the likes of Dwight Freeney, Julius Peppers, Shawn Merriman, etc, standing in the pocket is a death sentence.

I'm not a Bledsoe homer by any means, but when a player puts up numbers consistent with those who are already in the hall, then he deserves to be there as well.

Out of the top 10 in career pass attempts, six are hall of famers, three are still active (including Bledsoe) and the tenth member of that club is Dave Kreig.

Out of the top 10 in career pass attempts, six are hall of famers, three are still active, and the last is Dave Kreig again.

Out of the top 10 in career passing yards, seven are hall of famers, and the other three are still active.

Out of the top 13 in career passing TDs, eight are hall of famers, four are still active, and as expected, Dave Kreig is the lone remainder.

Someone mentioned that Bledsoe wasn't the best quarterback of his era, but neither was Jim Kelly or Troy Aikman. Aikman played on the best team of his era, and that got him in. Kelly played on the best losing team of his era, and what did Warren Moon do? Moon tossed up a lot of yards, but he never got to the Super Bowl. He had a ton of talent in Houston but failed to do anything with it. In fact, he couldn't help seal the deal against that "best losing team" in the 1992 playoffs, he only sat back and watched as fellow HOF'er led his team to the greatest comeback ever.

So with that said, you can make the arguement either way. If you base it on his recent performance, the obviously he doesn't get it, but last time I checked, the HOF is based off of a career and your accomplishments during that time.

Here is an interesting statistic: In the five years prior to Bledsoe's arrival in New England, the Pats went a pathetic 23-57 for a win percentage of 0.2875. +
The five years after he was drafted: 42-38 for a win percentage of 0.525

That is a win of 19 games over the same period of time. Not only was he responsible for that, he also took New England back to the Super Bowl four years after he came into the league.

I still think he deserves to get in...I think I've stated my case more than enough.

[bearcat]

The HoF is about a body of work - not what you did over the past 2-3 seasons at the end of your career. If that was the case, a lot of guys wouldn't be in the Hall. I think everybody is just looking at what has happened to him in the past few seasons and basing it off that. The first time with Brady was an unfortunate situation, and then with Romo, he simply wasn't getting it done, but every player hits a decline at some point.

Oh, and I think he gets in - closely.

[LjSnUo]

Bledsoe didn't even start in the super bowl where he got his ring, its no contest in my book. NO WAY.

[McGahee]

By this arguement, Farve doesn't get in either....his last few years haven't been his kindest. QB's get older, the talent around them becomes faster and harder hitting and so the numbers will always drop. 13 years ago when Bledsoe was drafted, he could sit in the pocket all day because that was a day of the high powered offense. Now, obviously with the likes of Dwight Freeney, Julius Peppers, Shawn Merriman, etc, standing in the pocket is a death sentence.

Except Bledsoe bombed after that one year in Buffalo and sucked ever since, while Favre really only had the one bad year last season and is having a fairly good campaign this year.

And none of those players you mentioned were in the league in 1999 when he was sacked 55 times, so unless the game changed just a few years into his coming into the league... but either way, he continues to stand there over and over agin. If he doesn't want to adjust, then he should realize why he's not succeeding.

I'm not a Bledsoe homer by any means, but when a player puts up numbers consistent with those who are already in the hall, then he deserves to be there as well.

The year he had a career high in yards, he also had 10 more interceptions than any other season he had. His TD/INT ratio is pretty bad, and it's not as if they've been destroyed from the past couple years. 1.2 TD: 1 INT with a +28 TD/INT differential while in New England... By comparison, Favre's first nine years starting, 1.7 TD: 1 INT with a +100 TD/INT ratio.

His numbers are also are all over the place. While Favre consistently put up 3800+ yards for a eight year stretch, Bledsoe would go up and down, never getting a single string of even two of those in a row. Bledose in his entire career has only had seven seasons which he had more TDs than INTs out 14 seasons (12.5 if you count half of this year and not the injured season) Favre has had thirteen in 15 seasons.

I don't really care that he has most of these rankings, seeing how a long-tenured QB that was good should be up there, or else he wouldn't be starting.

Someone mentioned that Bledsoe wasn't the best quarterback of his era, but neither was Jim Kelly or Troy Aikman. Aikman played on the best team of his era, and that got him in. Kelly played on the best losing team of his era, and what did Warren Moon do? Moon tossed up a lot of yards, but he never got to the Super Bowl. He had a ton of talent in Houston but failed to do anything with it. In fact, he couldn't help seal the deal against that "best losing team" in the 1992 playoffs, he only sat back and watched as fellow HOF'er led his team to the greatest comeback ever.

Jim Kelly has been in as many Super Bowls as times Bledsoe has been the starting quarterback for a playoff team. Obviously it's a tad more challenging to get to the big game four times than to just get there once (and lose), lose in the the first round twice, and make it to the 2nd round and lose another time. Not to mention the fact that Kelly had a much better TD/INT ratio and nearly as many yards in Bledsoe's first 11 seasons and a much higher completion percentage.

You can make the case that Aikman benefitted from a great surrounding team, but the numbers don't lie either. Not to mention the rings. To fail to let in somebody with two SB rings on a highly powered offense that the Cowboys had with numbers like this would be disgraceful.

Warren Moon, again, had much better TD/INT #s, had two more seasons with more passing yards than Bledsoe had in his personal best (not to mention Moon actually had more TDs than INTs in his best yards passing year). And as mentioned, he was a pioneer for the black QB...

Here is an interesting statistic: In the five years prior to Bledsoe's arrival in New England, the Pats went a pathetic 23-57 for a win percentage of 0.2875. +
The five years after he was drafted: 42-38 for a win percentage of 0.525

That is a win of 19 games over the same period of time. Not only was he responsible for that, he also took New England back to the Super Bowl four years after he came into the league.

I still think he deserves to get in...I think I've stated my case more than enough.

If he didn't start winning games, why would he still be playing? There are plenty of non-HOF QBs that have improved their team in a similar way...

[Bearsbacker]

So, after hearing your points, I went a drafted up a pretty little graph to prove myself wrong and I succeeded in doing so. I think you'll find it interesting.

I used current HOF QB's who played during the Super Bowl era. The only one missing is George Blanda, because he didn't make it for his arm, but rather his leg.



What I did was take the important numbers.

TD Pct = Pass Att/TD's
INT Pct = Pass Att/INT's
Comp Pct = Pass Att/Pass Comp
Pass Rat = You know that formula

The bottom two lines tell a lot about the quarterback. The further they are apart the better. For instance, Steve Young has the best spread, while Joe Namath wasn't that great of a quarterback.

So...interesting to see in graph form....and as a result I've changed my opinion..........................DREW BLEDSOE SUCKS BIZZALLZ!

[Gary]

He holds the single game record for passing yards, if anyone forgot that.

Besdies that, I think he should get in, no real reason except for the fact that I personally think he deserves it.

[Cerrano39]

He holds the record for most attempts and completions with 70 and 45 respectively. I'm pretty sure Norm Van Brocklin holds the record with 554 if you'd like a little reference you can go here.

www.nfl.com/history/randf/records/indiv/passing

Also, I don't think people are saying he is a bad quarterback, he is just not up to hall of fame material.

[Bearsbacker]

Gary...we're brothers and all as fellow Bears fan, but you came into an arguement where alot of study has been done and you dropped a dud...

No one forgot that he owned that record, because it was never his. Norm Van Brocklin owns that record at 554 yards in a single game, followed by Warren Moon at 527, and Boomer Esiason at 524.

He did however attempt the most passes in one seasonHe's also responsible for the most attempts and completions in one game....

And please.....give a better reason other than you personally think he deserves it.....why do you think that? I know I spent a good bit of time doing research only to find out I was wrong...

[sprew8]

Just the fact that it is not unanimous that he should get in shows that maybe he doesnt deserve to be in it.

[Cerrano39]

I know Madden 06 says Bledsoe has the record for some reason, not sure about 07 because I don't have it, but don't get your info from there too.

And just because it isn't unanimous doesn't mean anything. Sure, there are clear-cut examples of people who should get in i.e. a Dan Marino and people who shouldn't i.e. Travis Henry (no clue why he came to mind). Not everyone in the HOF is clear-cut, as well as the people that are out. Art Monk comes to mind as many feel he should be in. I'm sure when the issue roles around with Drew, there will be some arguments; but just because everyone is not of the same mind doesn't mean squat.

[sprew8]

I'm just saying,

if lots of people are debating => more doubts that he should get in => maybe he should not get in.

It's as simple as that, the more you have people doubting that you should not be in the HOF, the less chances you have to get in.

[Cerrano39]

Well, if you said the fact that most people were saying no, then it would've made sense.

But, last time I checked, none of us vote so it doesn't really matter.

[Gary]

I apologize, I just got off a 14 hour work shift so I wasn't in the correct mind frame, forgive me.

Completely disregard my last post, thank you.

[Bearsbacker]

Duly noted my friend!

I was just bustin your chops man!