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Born to play Like Springsteen, Bledsoe can still bring down the housePosted: Monday September 23, 2002 9:27 AM
DENVER -- Sunday night, at the Pepsi Center here, I saw 53-year-old Bruce Springsteen, stubble-faced and sweating like an NFL quarterback on a hot day, play one of the better shows I've ever seen him play. I've seen him 10 or so times. So much about him is the energetic same as it was the first time I saw him 26 years ago in Athens, Ohio. He used to let the crowd sing the chorus is old standbys like Born to Run, and this time around, his new CD The Rising still cellophane-fresh in 20,000 mostly old farts' minds, he stuck the microphone out to the masses, and we all screamed a new chorus. "Waitin' on a sunny day. Gonna chase the clouds away. Waitin' on a sunny day." He brought the damn house down with a three-month-old song. That's how good this guy still is. Sunday afternoon, at INVESCO Field, I saw 30-year-old Drew Bledsoe, stubble-faced and sweating like a rock star in a hot building, play one of the better games I've seen him play: 27 of 41, 283 yards, two touchdowns, no picks. In the waning seconds he led a 70-yard touchdown drive that silenced the crowd, and you could just feel the fans praying. Don't let this man get his hands on the ball again. Please! We can't stop him, even with our great new defense. Denver recovered the onside kick, and the game was over. But as he'd done in the previous two weeks with his new team, Bledsoe very nearly brought the damn house down. That's how good this guy still is.
"Not bad for a washed-up guy, huh?" Buffalo coach Gregg Williams told me after the game. He could have been speaking of either man. I will take the Springsteen-Bledsoe analogy no further, thankfully. But it's amazing how good Bledsoe looks, isn't it? The April trade that brought him from backup in New England to franchise guy in Buffalo has rejuvenated the man and the team. We forgot what a beautiful deep ball he throws. The best in the game. He completed three of them on Sunday. "He's got a receiving corps that can give him some separation," Mike Shanahan said, which is different than the more plodding group Bledsoe had in New England when Terry Glenn was not playing. It was so fun to watch Bledsoe on Sunday, into the game, exhorting his guys from the sideline. Williams, crestfallen after another tough loss, lit up when the subject turned to Bledsoe. "His energy's been amazing," Williams said. "He's excited about every practice, every meeting. Did you know that, every week, he watches film with every position group on the offense? He'll come in an hour early on Thursdays and Fridays, and he'll go through it separately with the receivers and the running backs. Post-practice, he'll look at tape with the Hogs. What a leader. He's told me, 'Now I know what Bill Parcells wanted me to do. I was just too young to do it.'" Bledsoe might be the latter-day Roger Clemens, the guy who pitched so-so for four years, got out of Boston and rejuvenated his career. Like Clemens, Bledsoe was a middle-of-the-pack player for a New England franchise. Like Clemens, Bledsoe took getting rejected by the only team he had ever played for as a cold, hard slap in the face. Like Clemens, Bledsoe became insanely motivated to prove he wasn't washed up when he got dumped. Surely, even if the Patriots had picked Bledsoe over Tom Brady at the end of last year, Bledsoe wouldn't have had this much success early with New England. In Buffalo, he is the commanding presence of this team, this locker room. He wouldn't have been that, ever again, in New England, under Bill Belichick. So it's better he left. And now Beldsoe sees that. "Part of what's happened," he said, "is I had it yanked away from me. After never being challenged for my position, you kind of take it for granted. And coming to Buffalo has been entirely positive. The area fits me better, because I'm a small-town guy." And the Clemens comparison? "Hopefully," he said, "there will some kind of success like that for me." Dan Marino said on TV Sunday that the way Bledsoe's throwing he could have a 6,000-yard season. Whatever. If he keeps slinging it the way he has the first three weeks, Buffalo's going to be a playoff team, and that'll be satisfying enough for him.
History is being made here this week. Never in the annals of MMQB has a team had the offensive and defensive players of the week in the same edition. But if you watched Pats-Chieftains yesterday, you'd know why I picked them thusly: OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK With apologies to Priest Holmes, who played about as good a game as any running back could ever have, the award goes to New England WR Troy Brown, who set a franchise record with 16 catches for 176 yards in the 41-38 win against Kansas City, including seven catches for 67 yards on the third-quarter drive that tied the game. With performances like this, the Smurfy and tough Brown is earning a reputation as one of the overachieving players of his time, and one of the best receivers in football. (May I also add this P.S.: Brady easily could have won this award. Two of his touchdown throws against K.C. he never saw; he was flat on his back thanks to a brutal pass-rush.) DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK New England FS Tebucky Jones, for forcing a fumble, recovering a fumble, returning a fumble recovery for a score, recording four solo tackles and being credited with half a sack. Lawyer Milloy might not be the only Pats safety to get Pro Bowl votes this year. SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK Buffalo cornerback Jason Bostic, a second-year flyer from Georgia Tech, who made the kind of play special-teamers dream of early in the fourth quarter of the Bills' loss at Denver. With the Bills down 21-10 and trying to pin the Broncos deep in their territory on a punt, Bostic flew downfield, leaped four feet into the air into the end zone to bat the airborne punt back into the field of play, and the Bills downed it at the 2-yard line. COACH OF THE WEEK Denver head coach Mike Shanahan. With 3:35 left in the fourth quarter against Buffalo, Denver clinging to a 21-16 lead, and the Broncos faced with a fourth-and-5 at the Bills' 37, Shanahan didn't punt to pin the Bills deep in their own territory. He didn't attempt a 54-yard Jason Elam field goal, which would have iced the game. He went for it. Brian Griese threw a short cross to Rod Smith, who stretched for the first down, and, two plays later, instead of trying to run out the clock, Shanahan had Griese throw a 26-yard touchdown pass to Smith for the clincher. Truth be told, Shanahan didn't trust his long snapper to make a clean snap. But that was a couple of gutsy calls. QUOTE OF THE WEEK "Fool me once, shame on ... shame on you. Fool me ... you don't get fooled again."
MMQB interpretation/comment: Is there some reason why I can't be a little versatile? QUOTE OF THE WEEK II "I'm at the highest level of excitivity."
MMQB interpretation/comment: As I figure it, the closest thing in the pseudo-English language to Rijo's excitivity happened about 35 years ago. The Beach Boys sang Good Vibrations, about a girl giving a guy all kinds of signals that she was interested in him, and someone -- Brian Wilson, I guess -- warbled that "she's giving me excitations."
There is a baby-changing station in the press box men's room at Invesco Field.
I think I wrote about this a couple of years ago, but you know what drives me crazy? When you get into the shower in your hotel room, as I did yesterday and this morning at the Westin Tabor Center in downtown Denver, and you have the shower water on for a couple of minutes, and you look down, and you see water around your ankles because the housekeeper did not flip the drain up after she cleaned the tub. It is maddening. Because by the time you flip the drain up and the water takes its sweet time going down the drain again, your shower's over. Finish the job, housekeepers of America! Flip up the drain. Stop holding our feet hostage to free-flowing water.
1. I think Brett Favre did something incredible Sunday, and it went totally unnoticed. When he started at Detroit, it meant he'd started every Green Bay game for 10 years in a row. 2. I think these are my quick-hit football thoughts of the weekend: a. Power of the NFL Dept.: Last week, for the Sunday night Raiders-Steelers game, 65 percent of all the televisions that were turned on in the Pittsburgh area were watching the game. That is absolutely mind-boggling. For a point of comparison, the Red Sox-Orioles game that same day, on local TV in the Boston market, was watched by 1.8 percent of the TVs that were on. Now, a meaningless baseball game obviously is not going to have the same pull as a big football game, but the Red Sox in Boston still stir passions, pro and con. That Pittsburgh number amazes me. b. How depressing must it be to be a Bengals fan this morning? Every morning? c. I can't know everything that went through Butch Davis' head as he made his quarterback decision this week. But I'm stunned he picked Tim Couch over Kelly Holcomb, who played better back-to-back games to open the season than Couch has ever played as a Brown. Shows how much I know. Couch 31, Mcnairgeorges 28. d. Game of the year so far: Pats 41, Chiefs 38. e. Eric Moulds is a great, great football player. f. Daunte Culpepper made a mistake throwing into double-coverage for Randy Moss in the first half against the Panthers. Randy Moss made a bigger mistake giving up on the ball so it could be picked off. Everyone's watching, Randy. g. Man, can Belichick coach or what? h. FOX might want to think about firing the camera crew or whoever kept screwing up the cameras at the Saints-Bears. i. Foes 74, Jets 10 over the last eight days. j. And what hurts most is that five days after Herm Edwards read his team the riot act, they laid a 30-3 egg in Miami. k. Martyball is not letting any offense breathe. 3. I think I was wowed last Monday night when Boomer Esiason lit into Steve Spurrier when he went for it on fourth-and-10 at about midfield nearing halftime of the Eagles-Redskins game, Washington down 20-7. Washington failed to convert, and Philly went on to kick a field goal to make it 23-7 at halftime. "It's one thing to be arrogant or aggressive," said Esiason. "It's another thing to be downright stupid." 4. I think you just watch from here on in, and you'll see a different Mike Vick. Different, as in not as physical. "I'm going to slide more," he tells me. "Last week, after the Chicago game, I woke up the next morning and my neck hurt so bad I couldn't get my head off the pillow. There's no way I can take the kind of punishment they dished out and stay healthy for the year." 5. I think these are my personal thoughts of the week: a. Very nice job by Oprah interviewing Bono on her show Friday. He wanted to get his point across to 10 million Americans -- write or call your elected officials to urge them to reduce or eliminate third-world debt so the world's poverty-stricken can rebuild their lives -- and she asked the right questions. b. Beautiful building you have in the Pepsi Center, Denver. Amenityville. c. Coffeenerdness: More and more Starby's are going with the automatic espresso dispensers, to avoid humans screwing up the espresso shots. Have you noticed? I applaud it. Long live the uniform espresso shot! d. You can just see Tony Soprano's power eroding, can't you? e. Montclair (N.J.) High Field Hockey Note of the Week: Well, it was a good week for coach Mary Pat Mercuro's Mounties. Last Monday, we took out Wayne Hills with a pair of second-half goals, 2-0. And in the span of 20 hours Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, we beat two more league rivals, Old Tapppan and Northern Highlands by 1-0 scores. (The Old Tappan win would have been 2-zip, if an 18-foot, first-half shot by junior link Mary Beth King would have been aimed three inches to the left; instead, she clanked a line shot off the right post, eliciting a collective "Ooooooohhh!" from the partisan Mounties crowd, her father included.) Pretty amazing stuff. We're 4-0 -- no, THEY are 4-0, and I watch -- the best start by a Mounties team in I don't know how many years, and we've outscored the opposition 15-0. Saturday's game was a joy to behold, even at the cost of getting up at 7 a.m. to fetch the bagels for Mary Beth's pre-game meal. (Menu: One plain bagel, dark. Meaning well-done. A second plain bagel, with fresh chicken salad spread on it. When I questioned the downing of a mayonnaisy substance on the 40-minute bus trip to northern Bergen County, Mary Beth pooh-poohed me by saying, "I'm just going to snack on it." Well, OK. I guess I need to go to 16-year-old school to discover the difference between "snacking" and "eating." I believe mastication and swallowing and digesting are done with both.) At the alma mater of Bill Parcells' daughter, Jill, Northern Highlands, the girls put on a tremendous show. Back and forth, back and forth. We had three or four chances in the first 40 minutes, and they had three golden ones in the second half that were either kicked away by Mountie goalie Allie Klein or flicked away by our super sweeper, Eva Hamden. We probably had it in their half 65 percent of the game, but the Northern Highlands kids played a dogged, skilled game and really tested us. With about nine minutes left, there was a scramble in front of their goal. Our forwards kept whacking and whacking, and finally junior inner Annie Donnelly alertly poked it over the line. The crowd went wild. Our half of it, anyway. It's so interesting to see a slew of buttoned-up 40-something parents jump up and down like ... well, like high school field hockey players. And we defensed 'em into submission to win it. Don't want to get too excited yet, but we might have a chance to be pretty good. Monday's non-conference game at similarly 4-0 Hillsborough (alma mater of Ricky Proehl) will be a big test. f. I can't believe how many people and coaches and players (also people) stop me and ask: "How's the field hockey team doing?" Or, much worse, "I like the field hockey stuff in your column much more than the football stuff." Or, "I can't believe Mary Beth doesn't mind you writing about her life like that. My daughter would kill me." g. Montclair (N.J.) High Field Hockey Player of the Week: Eva Hamden, junior sweeper. In field hockey, the goal-scorers get most of the attention, because when a field hockey game is reported to the newspapers, the summary might be a paragraph, or limited to just who scored the goals. The sweeper is the last line of defense. Twice against Old Tappan and three times against Northern Highlands, Hamden not only blunted a great scoring chance for the opposition, but then took the ball and dribbled it upfield to the other half. What skill! The Mounties wouldn't be where they are right now without young Ms. Hamden, who -- long brown hair tied back, sweat still glistening on her forehead on the 77-degree afternoon -- consented to an exclusive interview with MMQB after Friday's win. She answered all the hard questions like a pro. MMQB: How do you feel you guys played today? Hamden: "We played very well, I thought." MMQB: I see you're eating a cupcake. What kind? Hamden: "Uh, vanilla, I guess. With blue icing. It's good." MMQB: Do you hear it when the fans say, "Oooohh!" when you're bringing the ball upfield, dodging everyone? Hamden: "Yeah. It's cool. It's pretty funny." MMQB: You're the last line of defense for us. There's a lot of pressure on you. If you don't stop the ball, there's a good chance the other team will score. How do you like that pressure? Hamden: "It's stressful, but I like it. I have to talk a lot and get people in the right position. The coach says I have to see the whole field. It's good. I've always liked relying on myself." MMQB: Does the team have any plans for tonight? Hamden: "Yes. We have a pasta party at Carly's house. We've got a big game tomorrow." MMQB: What will you do there, besides eat? Hamden: "We're going to bond." Then she went to hang out with the big guys -- I believe they were MHS football players -- who came to watch the game (or the girls, in their plain skirts) and cheer on the Mounties. Mary Beth was in the house by 9:35 p.m. for her 10 o'clock curfew. 6. I think nobody milks history and tradition in his old teams better than Pat Bowlen. To be a Broncos alum in Denver is like being a Kennedy in Hyannis. 7. I think I can't figure out for the life of me how Mike Holmgren is going to be the Seattle coach come February. 8. I think I plead guilty to overly praising the Edge NFL Matchup show, but it's so tremendous I can't help it. You learn things on this show you can't see anywhere else because Ron Jaworski and Merril Hoge break down coaches' tape. On Sunday, Jaws got into Bledsoe's head -- with Bledsoe via satellite -- and they went over the coaches' tape of his winning touchdown pass to Peerless Price in overtime at Minnesota; the key was working on a corner who bit hard on an inside move of Price's all game, and Bledsoe and Price showed how they played the corner like a drum. Hoge had a great point about Charlie Garner's hustle from across the field to catch Joey Porter on an interception in the Oakland-Pittsburgh game. And Jaworski introduced the world to Carolina defensive tackle Kris Jenkins, a no-name second-rounder from the '01 draft who is creating big havoc in the middle of the Panthers line. If you love the game, this is must-see TV on Sunday mornings. 9. I think these are my baseball thoughts of the week: a. Stay tuned, because in this column, next week, I'll have my twisted explanation for why I think Zito/Pedro/Lowe (pick one) deserves the A.L. Cy, and why any of the three could win and the other two wouldn't have a beef. b. Tim Kurkjian is one of my all-time favorites, but I am still shaking my head at what he said to Dan Patrick on the radio the other day about the monstrous strikeout season of Milwaukee shortstop Jose Hernandez, who is threatening to set the single-season strikeout record: "This is not his fault." His theory, a bit fuzzy, is that the kid was raised a free-swinger, so what do you expect? Well, I don't expect my shortstop to average 1.3 strikeouts a game, that's for darn sure. c. Re: the Gamboa assault -- Fry them. Stick one in jail for 10 years, stick the other in juvy for five, and let them practice their drunken and cowardly jump-him-from-behind skills with some guys who just might have a better chance to kick their rear ends than a 54-year-old first base coach looking the other way. d. Wherefore art thou, Ichiro? e. I am starting a petition drive right here, right now, to deliver to all National League pitchers: "PITCH TO BRIAN GILES. HE IS ON MY ROTISSERIE TEAM, AND I COULD USE THREE JACKS OUT OF HIM DOWN THE STRETCH OF THIS SEASON, AND YOU NEVER PITCH TO HIM BECAUSE YOU HAVE NO FEAR (I GUESS RIGHTFULLY SO) OF THAT STIFF HITTING BEHIND HIM, ARAMIS RAMIREZ. And ... And ... Well, I understand. But how about three or four little groove jobs this week, guys?" 10. I think I have no earthly idea who's going to win this game tonight, which leads me to ...
I'm picking Tampa, which goes against my desperate-team-usually-wins theory. But I think their defense is going to try to mug the Rams' skill guys (surprise!), and right now, I'm not sure the Rams' skill guys have the answer for this. At the same time, I have no faith in the Tampa offense to win this game. Just coin flip, baby. Bucs, 22, Rams 20. Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King covers the NFL beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Peter can also be seen each week on HBO's Inside the NFL. Monday Morning Quarterback appears in this space -- no kidding -- on Monday mornings.
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