:rofl2: Well like it or not we are going to be hearing about it for years to come. Especially if they run the table this year.
Right on the money on your first point. Brady was only in his 2nd season and had moved up from 4th on the depth chart to 2nd going into that season. It was only the 2nd game of the season (because of 9/11). There was talk that if the Pats went to 0-2 or 0-3 BB was going to make a change, but it's all conjecture. Would be interesting to see if he would have let the ship sink before replacing Bledsoe. As far as knowing what they had in Brady... my guess is they didn't until he got there.
Bledsoe was pretty much entrenched as their guy at that time. He had been to the Super Bowl, they made the playoffs with him a bunch of times, and he was still in his prime. Although they were coming off a 5-11 year and started badly, it's hard to say how long they'd have stuck with him. They only won the AFC East by one game that year over us, so even if Bledsoe had stayed in another week or two and they got deeper in a hole, they aren't aligned to win their first Super Bowl. They wouldn't have had the bye and been at home in round two in the snow vs the Raiders. Maybe the whole thing plays out differently, you never know.
