It's time for another edition of Patch in the Past. Matt Smith year bringing you this one all the way from Bend, Oregon. And that can only mean one thing. The og of Number eleven's patriotsaffin quarterback Drew Bledsoe, good to see you.
Thanks you for making some time for us. Yeah, thanks for making the trip out here. And uh, and I'm proud of you because you know, most people like back east call it Orgon. They call it Oregon, Oregon. So but you've actually, you know, you pronounced it correctly.
Oregon Oregon. Yeah, Oregon. It's like what you get shot with or correct organ.
So I think many Patriot fans know what you're up to these days, Drew, but most every but not everybody does.
Sure tell us what you're up to these days? Yeah, we you know.
On the business front, we started this winery the year after I retired from ball. My last year was six and we started Double Back Winery in two thousand and seven. And on the business front, it's been a really cool ride. The funny thing is just realized recently, I've now been in the wine business for the same amount of time I was in the NFL, and boy, it's uh it's become a lot of things that we hoped and a
lot of things we never could have foreseen. But it's a it's a really cool thing to be a part of now.
So now you're gonna make me waste this what I thought. This was a good question, by the way, and I just thought of this on the plane. You're gonna make me waste this early. So I was going to ask you, are you a former pro football player who just got into the wine business, right, or are you in the wine business and I used to play football.
It's the latter. I'm in the wine business and I used to play football.
That's unbelievable to hear you say that, but it makes sense.
Well, you know, it's now those things you know, I mean, life is life. They doesn't exist in a vacuum, you know. And the football thing has certainly helped us in the wine business in a lot of different ways that I know that We'll get into you in a little bit, but but.
No, this is what we're doing now. So this is what I do. You know, and I don't. I don't.
I don't hide from the football thing. I'd love the football thing, and it's a really really cool part of my life.
But now now we're now we're in the wine business.
Why wine?
Uh. There are a.
Few obvious reasons for that, the most obvious being that we really like wine. Got into that while we were playing. But then when I discovered that my little hometown was growing some of the best wine grapes in the world, like, oh, okay, you know, now I've got. Now I've got you know, a couple of things working for me, you know, going back home and to a small town and being having the hometown boy advantage of being able to get the right property, get the right wine makers, you know, and
and and use that competitive advantage. And then to have the story you know of being a small town kid and coming home that really allowed us to go, you know, a level up from what we would have done have we not had that tie. And then the other part, Matt, that that that is you know, that's that's important. It's like, shoot, you know, when I retired, I was thirty five years old. You know, there's a lot of life left to live. And you know, we talked earlier a little bit about golf.
I like to play golf, but I'm not good enough for golf to go play every day. I don't like it enough to go play every day and sitting around
and you know, doing nothing. You know, there's no truer statement than idle hands being the devil's workshop, right, I can get myself in trouble, and I really, truly, from on a personal, you know, ego level, wanted to prove that I could be successful again it's something different, and then start over and be a rookie again and build something from the ground up.
So we were talking earlier before we started here about all the different wine companies out here, in wineries out here. I think people would be surprised to know this is a really competitive business and there's a former team sport athlete who's tried to get the ultimate pinnacle of where you're going. Does this scratch your rich from a competitive standpoint?
You know, people have asked me, You're like, hey, you know you left football, how do you scratch that competitive itch?
Well?
I love football, and I got into the most competitive industry in the world by the number of products every year, there are roughly fifty thousand unique bottles of wine made worldwide every year, and you got to try and stand out in that crowd. So if you're not competing every day at every aspect of your business, you're going to get passed.
Now. The one nice thing is that you know, in.
You know, pro football or professional team sports, in order for me to win, the other guys to lose and want them to lose really bad.
Especially if it's the Jets, I want them to lose really really bad.
But in our industry, if my neighbor has success, that's actually good for my business. And so there's a there's a pretty open sharing of information, you know, where we want our neighbor to be excellent. We just want to be more excellent.
That's fascinating. But on somebody like a guy who you played with, the Damon Hewart, do you want to bury humor to bust his balls that.
Your wine's better than his wine?
You know, when you know the person, does it make it a little bit more fun?
I guess it makes it more fun.
And it's you know, it's it's it's a rivalry, but it's a friendly rivalry.
But we but we share information, you know.
But at the end of the day, you're like, Okay, well we're still going to try to be better, but we're also going to try to help him out as much as we possibly can.
Interesting, All right, let's switch here to football.
Was it important to you to be the number one overall pick? We talked about competitiveness. I don't know how well you admire knew each other going in and or was it was that important to you, like I want to be drafted before you.
Well, I mean, look, if you get picked first at Recess, that's pretty cool, right, you know. I mean, let's be honest, and being the number one overall pick that, you know, that's something that you can wear as a badge of honor forever and ever. You know, you were the you know, there's other awards and so on, but ultimately, you know, you were the best player that year. And so that's a really cool thing. Rick and I actually ended up being really great friends. They tried to play us off
as as rivals when we were coming in. And the funny thing is we went for the first time we met was in New York City. We flew out to do an ESPN deal with Joe Heisman, and which at that point meant that we mostly sat around and listened to Joe uh talk and Joe, I hope you hear this someday. But Rick and I ended up having a ton in common and we've been great friends really since the first time we ever met was you know, just saw him a couple of weeks ago. And he's in
the wine business also. He's making some killer wine down in NAPA under his Mirror label. But yeah, man, being the number one overall pick, he can't take that back. You know, it comes with a whole box of tricks, you know, that go along with it, not the not the least of which being that the team that picks number one is usually a pretty shitty football team, because that's how they got to pick number one. But yeah, no, I was that's a cool thing.
What if anything, did you know about New England other than there aforementioned lack of football expertise.
I did not know very much at all.
As a matter of fact, one of the one of the only players out side of Andre Tippett that I knew of coming in was Irving Friar, and he was gone by the time I got there, you know, Bill sent him down to to the Dolphins.
I did not know very much.
You just said that that just sparked something that that game down in Miami, you and Coats, Danny and Irving Fryar. I mean, I know that there's Patriot fans who couldn't have cared less about football back of the time you lost the game, which ultimately that's what matters. But they're Patriot fans today to talk about that reverentially that you know, gunslinging game. I assume other than the you look, time is kills, all wounds. You wanted to win the game.
But do you look back at that game and go, that was fun?
Man?
Well you also have to realize, you know, for me, that's Dann Marino, right, and you know that he was part of.
That was it the eighty three draft class?
Yes, and so I was eleven when he got drafted, and so him and l Way and Jim Kelly and all those guys, you know, they were my heroes right about the time that I started to watch football, and so all of a sudden for me, you know, I'm out there going toe to toe with Dan Marino, and you know it's sort of one of those whoever had the ball last was going to win the game.
And for me, that was I mean, that was awesome, you know.
And then I think the next week we had a showdown that was very, very similar with which Kell.
Yeah right, and for me it was really really cool.
But it was also sort of one of those deals where like, Okay, yeah, no, I belong here. You know, I can go toe to toe with these with my heroes, and you know, after the game, I can go get their autograph. But but but during the game, man, I want to try and take these guys down. It was a really cool time.
So I'm just going to back up a little because that was actually in your second year, But did you feel any pressure as the overall number one pick? Like I got to be the franchise, I got to be the man. There's a lot of responsibility here on my shoulders.
Oh for sure, you know, for sure, And you know and then you go, you know, as a small town kid from Walla, Walla that went to school a couple hours away in the wheat fields of Pullman, Washington, and then all of a sudden thrust into the Boston sports scene, which I very quickly learned was a different kind of deal. You know, it's more of sports are more of a religion than a pastime, you know, in in that in that sports scene, Yeah, certainly I felt the way to that weight of that and.
You know, and it was you know, it was a it was a big thing.
And I had high expectations for myself, and I know that the organization in the region had high expectations for me. And yeah, it was a bit of a whirlwind. Thankfully, we won the last four games my rookie year, so we had we ended on a high note. But but yeah, that was a big thing.
What was your first meeting with parcels?
Like, first meeting with Parcels was at the Combine And I actually turned twenty one at the Scouting Combine. My twenty first birthday, I spent at at Hooters with Alex van Pelt in Indianapolis.
You didn't have the money yet for Sam, No.
No, we couldn't know. It was way wait but no. First meeting was in a hotel room. And I've described it before. It's like it's like you're meeting you know, the you know, the you know, the head of the mafia, right, you know, I mean the big New Jersey you know, dealing. It was just one on one meeting in the hotel room and we sat and visited for a while. I don't remember the I don't remember the conversation. I just remember being very intimidated.
And did that help break the ice a little bit? You know, you get drafted and everything like that, do you get a little memory flashback and go, Okay, I'm going there and I'm going with him, So at least I know kind of what I'm up against, although you don't really know what you're up against.
You know, I I he didn't. He did not let anybody know until the pick was announced whether he's gonna go with me or with Rick, you know, so, I mean I thought I was gonna go number on to New England, but I didn't know until the pick was announced whether I was going to go there or to Seattle. And you know, back then, I wanted to go to Seattle because it was home. Right in retrospect, you know, I got really lucky.
Did you think you should have started right out of the shoot?
Of course?
You know, of course, you know, I mean, you you when you come in as the number one pick, you know you want to be on the field. You know. I didn't want to sit and watch somebody else play. You know, I'm certain that there could have been some benefits from sitting and watching for a little bit, and I actually did get to sit and watch for a couple of games when I got hurt midway through that season, and it was beneficial to watch somebody else play and let it slow, you know, kind of let it slow
down a little bit. So then when I came back after I after the after my my knee injury, when I came back, you know, the game had slowed down a bit just because I got to sit and watch for.
The competitor of you. Yes, I want to play, I need to play them the number one pick, but do you see the vantages like maybe if there's somebody there, but then you're probably say yourself, I'm better than this guy. Why is he starting instead of me? Right?
Well, you know, I mean, I mean it's a it's you know, it's it's a meritocracy, right, you know, you go in there. If you're the best guy, then you go play. And and you know, I did feel like I was the best guy.
But at the same time, you.
Know, you certainly have seen other instances where guys have been able to sit and watch for a minute, and you know, and you know have more immediate success when they do take the field because of that time. But you know, I wanted to learn, you know, by being thrown into the fire.
You mentioned the finale in ninety three touchdown, passed attempts and to win it snow in the stadium. Did you get a sense then, drew that you know, maybe we might be onto something here when we're building something here, which is why they drafted you after all in the first place.
You know, I did, and that those those early teams, we were really young, right, and there was a very collegial kind of atmosphere around the team. We all hung out together, you know, there were very few you know, Bruce Armstrong, you know, was the you know, they had the seniority, and obviously tipp It was there my rookie year, and I've got a funny Tippot story for you when
he scared the crap out of me. But but for the for the most part of they were really young teams, and I think we, you know, we had a sense that we could change things and and you know, and we did. You know, we did change things, and so they were really cool things to be a part of. Tell me about tipp It so rookie year and Andre was always very kind, but he also was Andre Tippett, you know, one of the baddest dudes to ever walk
the planet. Right, you know, NFL linebacker now Pro Football Hall of Famer, but he was also what seven degree black belt. We were walking in to after practice the one day, and this is back when fans really had access, and so there were kids kind of hanging around the the facility, and so we're walking up and I'm walking walking and next to Tippet, and this little kid comes up to ask me for an autograph, and Tip looks down at the kids kid and goes, beat a kid,
get out of here. No autographs, right to this little eleven year old, right, and uh, and I just like it. I froze, and I just okay, Well, get mister Tip an autograph. So I guess I'll just go downstairs. Well Tip came down a few minutes later, and he'd gone back to the kid and grabbed what he wanted to sign and brought it down to have me sign. It turns out he wasn't messing with the kid. He was
messing with me right like he was. He was trying to get him my head, and he did scared the crap out of me, but it was just it was it was funny. And but Tip was always man. He was always great to me.
Uh, we're gonna move forward here to ninety four and the Minnesota game. What happened at halftime of the Minnesota game?
Was it?
What was what? That's where something happened, clearly because of the way you guys came out and changed and adapted for the second half.
Well, I changed my shoes before the last drive, and I'm not superstitious, but but the I did wear those shoes for the next six games. But really, what it happened at the end of that end of the first half, we went two minute offense, went down and scored right before halftime, and Zolac still claims that it was him, and I can't.
Which I was gonna say. I was going to bring him up because he believes he convinced somebody to let you sling in.
And I think he at least did say something to Parcels. But he's like, hey, why don't you just go too minute?
Let the kid go? And so we did.
We came out and we went two minute offense the entire second half, and you know, people do forget sometimes, you know, because we threw it seventy times and came back and won it, but our defense also stepped up shut him out in a second half and caused some bumbles and so but that was, you know, that was kind of when I think, you know, he he finally just like, all right, we're gonna take the reins off and liver or die by letting this kid throw it around.
Do you look back at that game fond we?
Oh? I do, of course I do.
Of course that game was and I remember, you know, after I through that that the touchdown passed to win the game, to to you know, God rest his soul. I remember distinctly thinking, all right, I'm gonna soak this in, right, because you know, had some big games in college and it was all kind of a blur afterwards, and so that one I very very vividly remember. After that, after Kevin caught that touchdown pass, I'd stopped and I just kind of looked around and I soaked it up and
took it all in. And then we won the next six and made it into the playoffs.
So I do try to listen, and you mentioned Turner, and I can only think of three. You could probably give me a lot more, but g strew Kevin Turner, Terry Glenn David Patten. I mean, I know, we all nobody's guaranteed tomorrow, but at a sport where everybody's immortalized and everything like that, and you think everybody's just gonna live forever. That has to hit home in a way that you know, just like me and you all the sweat equity that you had with these guys.
You know, yeah, I mean you develop a can ship in a brotherhood. You know.
I always push back when people compare it to military, because you know, when you're playing football, you're probably gonna you might get injured, but you're probably gonna walk away. It's not like going to war. But you do develop a brotherhood, you know, with with these guys when you
when you play with him. And I remember Kevin called me after he got the diagnosis, the als diagnosis, and man, I was one of the saddest phone calls I've ever had in my life because he was he was talking about he goes, yeah, my son, I can't play catch with him anymore. And uh, you know, to have have him struck down, you know, when he was heading into you know, some really prime years of his life, you know.
And then Terry Glenn, you know, had finally after so much turmoil in his life, he was finally in a really good place in his life, and he was happy, and he and I actually had a really really good relationship.
He didn't trust very many people, but I think he trusted me, and he was and when he was when he was taken, you know, and then and then David Patton, you know, tragically, you know, goes away, and so yeah, so that's it's really really hard, you know, when you see guys go that that have so much to.
Still give to the world.
On a better note, when we were out here a month ago and you and RKK were driving to the winery, you said you're You said, oh, I've been out here since your wedding and you said to him just like that, you went, oh, by the way, and thank you for the wedding present. Because of Terry Glenn, God rest his soul. When you saw that the team drafted Glenn, was that, like, h what did that mean to you?
Well, so in ninety six through for a bunch of yards, and then in ninety seven something like sixty percent of that production was no longer on the team, and so you know, I'm not here still trying to do the same things, but we don't have the same.
Level of weapons. Uh.
And then when when we saw I saw that we were going to go get this this dude, I was like, Okay, you know, now I got another guy that can really go get it. And I think I don't know if that record still stands, but I know at one point, even though he even though he had missed a couple of games early in the season, he had the all the time rookie record for past receptions.
Was there a point in time in ninety six do you remember a game? Do you remember a series? Do you remember anything where you said we're legit, We're legit.
Man.
That's a good question. That's a good question. You know, I felt like we had something good going, you know, all the way through.
Do you remember beating San Diego? And San Diego is that a Sunday night game and the Chargers were good? Yeah, Like that's a game the Patriots will lose every single time on the road. Is you throttled them? Glenn had a huge game in that game.
Yeah, we gave them a good beating that day.
Like, I don't know if that was the game, but that's the one that sticks out of me. Form like that one was.
That one was a big one. I remember late in the season, you know, we had to come back and beat the Giants down in the meadowlands, you know, to to keep our keep our hopes alive because we ended up having to buy. But but you know, with two games to go in the season, I we weren't guaranteed playoffs, right, you know, so yeah, there were there were a number of games that season. But yeah, given the uh, you know, given the Chargers a beat down out there, that one
was pretty fun. And that was one of those games where the guys took such great care of me. You know, I think I came out of that game without any grass stands, you know, which those are fun games absolutely.
What do you remember about the AFC Championship game in Jacksonville and how electric the stadium was? Not only when the game started, of course, I say electric the lights go out in the middle of the game, but afterwards where my words here?
It was like.
I think Patriock fans knew that they were onto something when they drafted you. You know what, there's now hope, We've got a legitimate coach, We've got an owner now who's committed to the team and at that point in time all that culminated and going to the Super Bowl, did you feel like the region you talked about Boston sports and you didn't know what you're getting yourself into. At that point in time, you do go, now, I know what we're getting into here.
You know.
It's when you're in the middle of it, you just focused on playing ball, right, And so I do know that that was it was pretty amazing. You know, first of all, the week before against the Steelers with the fog, you know, where the Steelers were, I think I think we were underdogs. And in those games, even though we were at home, it seemed like we were at least we felt like we were underdogs. But then when yeah, when we when Otis returned that that fumble for a
touchdown and that ice the game. We're like, man, We're going to the freaking Super Bowl. And I think that it was it was cool for us because we were you know when when when we got there, you know, we were the fourth team by a long ways in New England, and uh, and all of a sudden we were relevant in the New England sports scene, you know, and yeah, no, I felt like, okay, yeah, we arrived, We're onto something.
It didn't end the way you wanted it to end, but you just said something. We were fourth, you were dog four at that point in time. Do you take pride Drew in saying, hey, I was a part a resurrecting it and igniting a flame in New England and in the Boston region where the Patriots are now they're one and you can't even see.
Them a two.
Yeah, you know, I think I think I was just with Willie McGinnis down at the super Bowl. And I've shared this story before, but remember the the one super Bowl, or I guess so too. After the one season, you know, we're there and Tommy's plan and but Willy came over to me in pregame and he goes, hey, never forget
we started this ship right. And you know when you're when you're when you're a part of whether you're talking about cultural change in society or cultural change in a business, or cultural change in a in a sports organization.
Cultural change is hard.
And we took great pride in the fact that we took, you know, a franchise that was a perennial you know, doormat to a team that was a contender and a team that people cared about and knew about. And so yeah, we take a lot of pride in the fact that that those teams changed it.
These are my words.
Did parcels antics for lack of a better word, did that ruins may be too strong, but that did that affect you and others? Not from a game preparations team. But I'm not saying that, but when you look back that, Yeah, we watched the Super Bowl and guys like McGinnis, malloy tye talk about seeing the green confetti come down and they could never get that out of my mind. But you know, did that cause a stain or leave a stain for you?
Like?
You know what, that wasn't what I wanted from a super Bowl. Like, if we're gonna lose, let's lose. But all this other mischig gosset was.
Going on just was unnecessary, you know. It was.
Well, first of all, I've never watched that game. I've never seen I've never seen film never, I've never watched that Super Bowl.
It's too painful, you know, It's.
Would you have any interest in ever doing that?
I don't, I don't think so, you know, it's just it's it's too painful when you're when you're when you're that close to the ultimate goal and it doesn't work out. That's it's you know, it'd be like, you know, you hear about climbers that go climb Everest and they get within you know, you know, a few hundred feet of the summit, you don't get to get there and you have to turn around. So but I do know that
it was it was frustrating. You know, during that week we've been on this unexpected run to the super Bowl. Nobody had predicted that we would that we would be there, and that wasn't the story. The story was whether or not Bill was going to the Jets. That part was frustrating to us.
So then were you happy or did you think, you know, what, change is going to be good here? We could use a change of pace here and it happened to be Pete, So let's go. I think the change is going to be good and we'll be okay. Did you embrace that? I guess is maybe the better way to say it.
I did.
I did, and I think we did as a team. I think we had a lot of hope that we were going to build something that was very sustainable going forward. You know, Unfortunately, we had some drafts that didn't work out, and we had some untimely injuries, and it just it didn't go where it should have gone. And I think, you know, Pete took the brunt of that in most cases, in most ways, you know, unjustifiably. But we just, you know, it was it just didn't work out the way that
we wanted it to. But we had a lot of hope that things were going to go.
Is that the reason why it didn't for all those reasons drew that, you know, because everybody talks about what the shape the roster was in and all your leadership and everything like that young quarterback Prime's career. Was it those myriads of things, the injuries, poor drafting, isn't like, yeah it's your fault, Pete, or yeah it's your fault whoever. All those things contributed to it.
All those things contributed to it, you know. And you know, winning at the NFL level is so hard, and you know, most of the games come down to one or two play is at the end. Most of the games are
really close. And when you have you know, some of your you know, your playmakers that aren't available you know sometimes that one play, you know, whether it's you know, Meggett making a guy miss and getting a big first down, or you know, or you know, Terry or Sean, you know that if they're at one hundred percent, maybe we're maybe we're still rocking and rolling. But it was it was all of those things that contributed and that you know, we didn't make the run that we expected to run to make.
You're in a much better place now, and you don't seem like a person who has regret. But you talk to a lot of professional athletes, coaches and everything like that, and they'll tell you it's the failure that keeps them up, not the success. So with looking back in that, you look back at those three years and go, man, we that was a golden opportunity.
It was a golden opportunity. And I remember saying you have to go back and find it. But I remember saying when when Bill left and then when Curtis left and went to the Jets, and we had a whole bunch of draft picks, like these drafts are going to determine whether or not we continue to climb or or whether we you know, becoming also ran and a lot
of those draft picks didn't work out. Poor Robert Edwards, you know, he was he was his way to be in a special player before he got hurt at the Pro Bowl, and you know, and so that you know that that was really ultimately, I think what prevented us from keeping going was was how we did in the draft those those ensuing years.
I know, Robert talks about what he made the decision, which couldn't have been easy for him to get rid of Pete, and he wanted Bill. He talked to lawyer, he talked to Tye because of those guys' relationship with.
Him back in ninety six.
Did you did you get a chance to weigh in and did you think so you're here with this again? My words, that's authoritarian guy in ourselves maybe a little bit more player friendly guy in Pete. Now you're going to go back to this other kind of style. Were you on board with that?
I was, you know, and you know, and I love Pete then loved Pete to this day. But it hadn't worked out and looked like things were going to change. And I remember, you know, Robert asking me, you know, and I didn't. I obviously was on the other side
of the ball. So I wasn't around Belichick in ninety six, but I knew I didn't want to compete against him anymore, you know, so if nothing else, we were getting him out of the division and then bringing him over to UH to our side, you know, seemed like it seemed like a good move.
How did you feel?
So?
Was it you helped me on the date? Here?
It's a summer two thousand? When did you sign your next deal? Was it the sum at Bryant at the summer?
It was? Uh?
No, it was I actually went out there in the in the in the middle of the winter. I remember because I went on landed and we'd had a big snowstorm. So it's the middle of the winter, and I flew out there to to sign that deal, you know, prior to the to the one.
Season, right, right? Yes, yeah, it was prior to the one season? Right?
And how did that make you feel? And I think at the time, high paid quarterback, high pay player in the game. Those are modeling, yeah, isn't it?
Yeah? No, it was. It was.
What it meant to me was that great, I'm gonna be able to finish my career in one place, you know, That's what it meant to me. And that's and that's what I anticipated, and I think that's what everybody anticipated at that point, was that now, now, now I'm here for the duration.
Was there a feeling of invincibility? I don't know if that's the right word, but did you feel like, well, I'm immune to anything here, you know, like they've got a lot invested in me, and so I'm good, I'm good.
I think so, you know, I mean I think they did. That would be unavoidable, right, You're like, Okay, you know, I've been here for eight years and I'm the guy, and we just signed a ten year deal and you know, now we're set, let's go, and uh, this is gonna be a good run, you know, for the foreseeable future. So yeah, I certainly felt that way.
And because of that, do you see the Damon's, the Michael Bishops, the Tom Brady's, is anything other than just a backup?
No?
And those guys were they were they were, they were backups.
I was the guy, right right, And I don't mean that like that sounds like I'm being derogatory.
No, no, not at all.
No, this isn't necessarily competition. These guys have a role to play.
It's a very important role. But I'm the quarterback for sure.
Yeah, there was and and you know, and and I think all of those guys and Tommy included, would say that I was an open book.
You know. I shared everything with him. You know.
I remember hearing, you know, Brett at one point, Brett Favre saying at one point when Aaron Rodgers is there, like, no, I'm not here to coach this guy. I'm not here to I'm not here to groom my replacement. And so I don't know that he helped Aaron a lot, you know, but I shared information openly and freely because there was I did not feel any any threat from from those guys.
This one might be a question better for Tom instead of you, But I know you and Tom have a really good relationship. And if you put yourself in his shoes for a second, which is really hard to do, sure, but if you were to put yourself in his shoes, do you think that he would say, you know what, the guy who got us on a winning streak should start, and necessarily the incumbent shouldn't start. Do you think he would look at it the way that you looked at it that way.
If you know, we've never actually had that direct conversation.
We never have.
I know that I know that Tom had you know, at that time, I think you'd have to call it an irrational belief in his ability question to h to take it on. Now in retrospect, obviously it wasn't irrational, but you know, but I think that you know, he viewed it as this is his opportunity, and he's going to try not to sit back down, you know, which is the way that you should approach it.
I've talked to other quarterbacks over time that have.
Obviously nobody's had Tom's level of success, but other guys where you're like, Okay, yeah, I'm here to be the backup, and so I'm going to go play for a little bit and then I'm obviously going to go sit back down.
I don't think he ever really viewed it that way.
I think he viewed it like, Okay, well I'm I'm going to go I'm gonna go take this job and run.
With it again. Time's a great healer and everything.
At the point in time when this is going on, I can't imagine what you were going through. But with the benefit of time, and as you already mentioned what he's done, does that take any of the sting out of it at all? I mean, the guy's freaking's still playing and he's forty five years old.
Well, first of all, he needs to find a hobby and that's quick, and he's got to find something else he.
Wants to do.
Maybe he can be an investor. Yeah, there you go, right, right, right, or at least start. I was kind of hoping that when he quote unquote retired, that maybe he is going to start drinking wine again. But I guess now he's gonna go back and play, so I don't have to
wait a while before he starts buying wine. Maybe just he'll buy some wine, but no, you know, I think, you know, the if you're going to be replaced by a guy and not get your job back and then he goes on to become one of the greatest of all time, you know, that makes it feel a little more palatable.
You know. I still think it was the wrong decision, but anybody.
As well, you should because you're a player, right.
Of course, man, Yeah, you always want to be the guy.
Right, And I think I think people have seen little clips here or there You've come back on several occasions, you know, honorary captain for AFT Championship Games, been there for Super Bowls, and people see the not many people, but you get a chance to react with Tom. There's a bond there that's never going to be broken. I mean, I think people that might not know anything, go, you know, Drew's never going to talk to him again. And why
would he do that. He took his job. That's not the case with you guys, right.
No, man, we had we had a great relationship through the whole thing, and I continued to help him, you know, after that decision was made, I continued to help him out and and I you know, even before he took the field, he was a guy that had a lot of respect for because of the way that he approached things, the way that he worked, and all of those things that are legendary now. So he and I never we never had a problem.
You know.
It's it's it's it's hard to be warm and fuzzy when he's got your job and you don't. But we were able to put that aside and I was able to help him through the you know, through the whole thing.
There's a very famous clip that I think it was Fox that carried that captured it because they.
Had the game.
But it's after the game, the Super Bowl thirty six against the Rams, and he's pounding your chest like we did it, we did it, and he was basically saying like we got this one for you, and you look kind of amused, like this is this young kid?
Is? You know?
Was that bittersweet for you? Drew it?
It was.
It was the very definition of bittersweet. You know, this is my team, right, you know, and this is the goal you want to win a championship. But I wasn't the guy on the field, so it was the very definition of bittersweet. I was so ecstatic for the team, but personally hurt. Man, It hurt to not be the guy when we were doing that. But there's there's one one kind of interesting anecdote about about our relationship that
I don't ever think of ever put out there. We bumped into each other skin in Montana, and by the way, Tom's still not a very good skied apparently now he skis really fast, but kind of.
Out of control.
But we were there and said hi to him up on the hill and then I was skiing with the kids and we took off, and end of the day, I had a phone call and so I up there and I was on this phone call while the mountain closed, while I was while I was up there, and all of a sudden, there's nobody on the hill. So I just go ripping down and I get to the bottom and I see Tom kind of getting his skis off, and he was with a female. So I just assumed that
was Gizelle. So I came ripping down. I came in to spray him, right, I was gonna just cover him in snow. Well, of course I miss. And I just covered Gazelle with snow. And I've never met her at this point, right, And so Tom looks at me, you know, like, oh, it's go time, right, you know, I don't care.
I'm gonna beat the shit out of you. And so I said, hey, hey, it's Drew.
And so I just I walk over and I give Gazelle a hug, and she gives me a big hug back, right, And so then we're walking in and she goes, she goes, she goes. Understand that I don't normally give people hugs when I meet him for the first time.
She goes.
But you don't understand how you talked about in our house, which was a really cool moment because you know, there was obviously there's a ton of mutual respect there and uh, you know, it was a cool thing.
You mentioned the it's the ultimate and bitter suite. What did it take for you to get over that? Was it to go and have success someplace else? Was the you know, the thirty one to nothing in O three? I mean those things are fleeting because you're onto the next game or anything like that. How do you process that through?
Yeah, I mean you know what is it? Living well?
Is the best revenge? You know, like and yeah, I wanted to go on and uh, you know, prove that I could have success elsewhere.
You know, we only had the one, the.
One great success against against the Pats, but that one was a lot of fun. That was right after they had traded Lawyer to UH or let Lawyer come over to UH to Buffalo, and uh, yeah, that's that's That's what I wanted then, was to go, uh, you know, prove that I could do it again.
Obviously, the region loves Tom for obvious reasons. As you said, one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time? How can they not love him?
Yeah?
Do you realize how much the region loves you? Did it take maybe that Hall of Fame induction weekend with everything that had gone on and everything like that we talked earlier about, you know, you're part of the Holy Trinity. Man, it's you, it's parcels, it's craft, that's what built this. Do you realize that there's legions of Patriot fans that love.
You for that? You know? I do.
It's really fun for me now when I go back because the the people that were fans then are older now, and I feel like they have this really strong feeling that we're buddies. And I feel that way too, you know. So I'll walk down the street and instead of you know, hey, we got to get a sell fie or sign a soutograph, like hey, Drew, how you doing?
Man?
Good?
Good?
How's the wine business good? You know, and it's you know, high five and keep moving. But the Hall of Fame induction was really really cool, and it was it was honestly, it was really great closure for my family, you know, because I think I'd kind of processed it and was it was was through it and but for my family, you know, when something happens to somebody that you love, it's more painful than when it happens to you. And
we've all experienced that in our lives. And for my family to feel like I wasn't treated, you know, properly, to be out there and to stand there and to hear that ovation from that stadium that day, it was a great closure for mom and dad, for my brother, for my wife, you know, it was a great closure for them as well.
I know Tippett scared the kid off who was asking you for an autograph, but you're a twenty something year old kid from a completely different part of the area. You know, there's rabid Northeast Corridor Boston fans who can be really obnoxious and as a twenty four, twenty six year old, maybe maybe Drew Bledsoe's got to be stand office about it. Yeah, the circle of life, You mature, different things happen in your life and you realize now how much they do love you, and you love them back.
Now now it's it's easier for you to understand what that passion was like. Is that fair?
That's yeah, that's very fair. That's very fair. And it.
You know, look at you know, the New England fans can be a fickle bunch, you know, and we all we all know that. But ultimately, I think, you know a few things. Number one, I think I always tried to conduct myself in the right way. Now I would I did have to, you know, kind of bring that circle in pretty tight while I was playing. You know, we didn't, we thankfully as before social media and before
eybody had a video camera in their pocket. But you know, now, you know, going back, I don't really feel like I have to be that way, and I can. I can be out there with people and I think there there's you know, mutual respect and admiration with the th and with me and with my family.
And I try not to be on social media. But here's just a little and I never try to read the comments. But that picture that we took a month ago with you and Robert at your winery at double Back, and that was pushed out and I looked at some of the comments, Drew, and I don't know if you look at if you're a comment person, I'm telling you it was one hundred of the fans. I was saying,
love Drew, good for Drew. Great to see Drew and just wonder that that gets to you somehow, not when I when I say gets you that you can get that message.
Yeah, that gets back to you, for sure. I don't.
I you know, I've been pretty good with the on the social media front of I try to eliminate the negativity to the to the extent that I can. But yeah, it's almost entirely positive. And uh, it's uh yeah, and it's good. It's it's it's good, you know, and it's uh. It was an important informative time and.
Uh in my life. And it was a hell of a ride.
And now to to have that mutual appreciation that goes both ways, it's a very very cool thing.
Who's the best teammate that you ever played with?
Oh? Man, who's the best team I've ever played with? And I played with so many great ones. That's a really hard question. Let's see. Well in Buffalo, Larry Centers was one of the guys that jumps out the man. The guy was a character. He's really smart and would do everything. You know, he he should be there's certain you know, there's a lot of guys that should be in the Hall of Fame. Larry Center is the all time leading receiver for a running back in the history of the league.
And he's not in he should be in.
But he was also a great blocker, great you know in in New England. I mean, for me early on, Coates was the guy that saved me personally because he'd you know, just on the on the field, Teddy Bruski, lawyer tie and then obviously I'd go right down the wad. I'm with all the guys that blocked for me, that were that were superheroes. I'm still still close with with Bruce Armstrong. We keep in touch on a pretty regular basis. It's amazing with Bruce, though, who was such a certified badass.
And I get random text messages from Bruce like Hey, just want to reach out to tell you I love your brother, right, Like, wait, who's got Bruce's phone?
Right?
You know who's messing with me? But man, so many great guys, and it was, you know, through through the whole thing. Man, there's so many great teammates. If I charge started to try and list all the great ones, I probably wouldn't do it because I would end up leaving somebody out and be like, oh, shoot, that's right. And we talked about Chief. Earlier we talked about David Patton. What a great teammate that guy was, you know, up and down.
So yeah, who's the toughest opponent you played against?
Is there one or two people?
And you can think of that your game playing that week, and you go, this is going to be a grind man, really hard.
You know.
Warren Sapp was a guy that was that was a pain in our ass. And I had to play against him again when he was with the Raiders. When I was with the Bills. Oh no, man, no, with the Bills, and I think with the Cowboys, Bruce Smith obviously, but we had Bruce Armstrong over there, so that was a battle that everybody focused on every week. But but thankfully we had Army you know, blocking him, so it was not as big a deal as it would have been
for other people. I do remember my rookie year, there was one play that they had with Bruce Smith on tape that they took out of all the cutups because they didn't want guys to see it because Bruce just Bruce Smith just ruined the He lined up over the center and just ruined him and it was Yeah.
So those are two pretty good examples.
Yeah, remember Deon Sanders for all the noise and all of that stuff, that guy, that guy was, he was He was that good. Also, you know, thankfully didn't have to play against him that much.
Right, Okay, so let's go back.
Why was it important for you to have Robert come out here and see what you've built?
You know, it was important for him to come, and I've been trying to get him to come out for years and years because a lot of what we do and a lot of what we talk about as a business ties back to what he's done in building the Patriots and to what they are and what they've become. And probably the most important piece of that is that, you know, I asked him at one point, you know what separates you from everybody else? He goes, There's there's
not one thing, it's everything. We compete at everything, and that's a mantra in our business, like we there's there's no detail too small to not try to be the best at. And so yeah, I talk about it. I talk about him a lot with our team, and it was important for me to have him come see that a lot of what we've done is in some ways attribute to him and what he's built.
For you to do that, and you know, I'm sure you speaking to your team about him in almost like mythical ways, and does this guy even exist, you know and everything? What did they get out of seeing him and seeing the two of you and who I've been telling you guys is that this is my guy. What did they take out of that when they saw him actually in the flesh?
Yeah, you know, I think that I think that they realized that, you know, yeah, this guy's a real person and also a really good person, right, you know. And I think that, you know, people can tend to see these guys that have achieved achieved these unimaginable levels of financial success, and they're like, oh, this this guy must be just an asshole, capitalist pig, you know. And to see that he has true heart and soul about him, I think that was really meaningful for our team. And
it's also kind of fun. Honestly, so much of our team is so young that to have him show up and and you know, talk about me the way that he did, like some of these people realize, oh, okay, yeah, you know our boss you know, actually you know, did some shit back in the day.
It's I think I don't know. I'm not a great math person.
It's nearly thirty years after you were drafted and you can pick up the phone. I know he wasn't there right at that time, but pretty soon after. And you can still have a relationship with your boss. I mean it was your boss, wasn't your coach?
Was your boss.
He afforded you with that contract, you know, lifestyle that you probably never could dream about. Sure, and the fact that today that you can pick up the phone and call him, what does that say about the relationship.
The two of you have, d Well, it transcends, you know, a working relationship, you know, boss owner, you know player. It's a true friendship and a and a you know, he's been a great mentor, even when he's not trying to be a lot of times I think he says things and I tell him all the times I hate you know, when you talk, I actually listen, so be careful.
What you say.
But uh, yeah, it's a it's a it's a unique relationship that that went that that that changed over time into a true friendship and you know, great mutual respect and uh, you know, I think you know, it's it's just a it's a neat thing for me to have that real, true friendship with a guy like that.
Is it important to you? As you talked about a little bit earlier, you know, you're not going.
To do everything that you learned, You're not going to take everything that somebody says, but it's important to you to take those key tenants that you learned maybe from him, and implement that into the way you build and you operate and run.
Your business on a daily basis. Absolutely, it's absolutely important to me that. And there's a.
I don't want to say pressure, but there's an accountability that I feel if I'm going to call him a friend and mentor, there are certain ways that we have to do things from an ethical standpoint that that have a little bit more weight.
You know.
One of the things I talked about with our team that's that's true with him is that he's had, you know, people that have worked for him. I think Al said he's worked for him for forty one years, and you know, Stacey's been there since ninety three. I don't know, did you start oh four yeah, four? See you got there
with no good You're just a kid. But and I talk about that with our team, is like we're One of the things that we are really trying to do is to build a business that people don't want to leave, and and we tried to because of that. We try to treat our people in a way that they know they're valued, so that they don't always have their eyes on the greener pastures on the other side of the fence and that and that's another thing that that that's important to me. You know, I don't I don't want to.
I don't want to be a stepping stone business. I want to be a business that people want to work for forever.
He's a pretty open book.
He's on the society pages. He's with music people, actors, actresses, rappers. Yeah what and Patriot fans I think have at least a pretty good glimpse of who he is. What would they be surprised to know that you know about him that maybe the general public doesn't know Drew Well?
First of all, I don't know if people get a sense for how funny he is.
I mean, he's a funny dude, and you know, and and can be pretty off color, you know, in a in a really funny way sometimes. And I'm certain that they don't get to see that side of him.
But you know, he's very very genuine. You know, he's very genuine.
And very loving and uh, you know, it's I know that I'm certain that he gets a lot of grief for having you know, the young girlfriend for the second time now fiance, I think. But that's a that's a genuine love between the two of them. And you know, from the outside of think people probably look at it like, well, no, his his wife passed away, so now he's just gonna go, you know, chase the young girls around. That's and that's not the way I went That's not the way I
went down. He and he and Myra. We got to witness and sit in the kitchen with them and see the relationship that they had and that was a genuine love affair for what fifty four years something like that. He's a very genuine and loving person.
Life for Drew Blesze is pretty good.
Family in your hometown, creating jobs, a business. You said, you're a wine person now who used to play football. You had a happy point in the time of your life.
I'm got a I'm at a good place and and and then you know, and I recognize and I think I try to say frequently. You know, I've lived in an extremely blessed life and that has very very little to do with financial success. You know, I grew up in a loving home with two parents, got a brother that's still my best buddy, you know, married my college sweetheart, have four happy, healthy kids, you know, and and and
I've never had a real job after high school. I mean, you know, I worked construction, and you know when I was in high school, and you know, I had to go work in the wheat fields and so on. But but you know, since since high school, I really never had a real job. I got to play football, and then I got to start and own a winery. I mean, it's a it's a blessed, blessed existence, and I recognize that. And you know, I hope that I'm playing a very
good hand. Well, is what I'm trying to do. You know, people get all kinds of I've got a great friend in Montana whose license plate says seven two one w N, which seven to two is the worst hand you can ever get in in poker, and he's taken the worst hand and one with it right. And for me, you know, I mean I was dealt aces and I'm trying to play him really well and then trying to make a good impact on the world and do some difference.
Tremendous perspective.
Thank you very much for your time. His name is Dreu Ledsoe, the OG number eleven. Drew. Great to catch up with you and thank you for all your time.
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