Speaker 1: It's time for another edition of Patch in the Past.
Speaker 1: Matt Smith year bringing you this one all the way
Speaker 1: from Bend, Oregon. And that can only mean one thing.
Speaker 1: The og of Number eleven's patriotsaffin quarterback Drew Bledsoe, good
Speaker 1: to see you.
Speaker 2: Thanks you for making some time for us. Yeah, thanks
Speaker 2: for making the trip out here. And uh, and I'm
Speaker 2: proud of you because you know, most people like back
Speaker 2: east call it Orgon. They call it Oregon, Oregon. So
Speaker 2: but you've actually, you know, you pronounced it correctly.
Speaker 3: Oregon Oregon. Yeah, Oregon. It's like what you get shot
Speaker 3: with or correct organ.
Speaker 1: So I think many Patriot fans know what you're up
Speaker 1: to these days, Drew, but most every but not everybody does.
Speaker 3: Sure tell us what you're up to these days? Yeah,
Speaker 3: we you know.
Speaker 2: On the business front, we started this winery the year
Speaker 2: after I retired from ball. My last year was six
Speaker 2: and we started Double Back Winery in two thousand and seven.
Speaker 2: And on the business front, it's been a really cool ride.
Speaker 2: The funny thing is just realized recently, I've now been
Speaker 2: in the wine business for the same amount of time
Speaker 2: I was in the NFL, and boy, it's uh it's
Speaker 2: become a lot of things that we hoped and a
Speaker 2: lot of things we never could have foreseen. But it's
Speaker 2: a it's a really cool thing to be a part
Speaker 2: of now.
Speaker 1: So now you're gonna make me waste this what I thought.
Speaker 1: This was a good question, by the way, and I
Speaker 1: just thought of this on the plane. You're gonna make
Speaker 1: me waste this early. So I was going to ask you,
Speaker 1: are you a former pro football player who just got
Speaker 1: into the wine business, right, or are you in the
Speaker 1: wine business and I used to play football.
Speaker 2: It's the latter. I'm in the wine business and I
Speaker 2: used to play football.
Speaker 1: That's unbelievable to hear you say that, but it makes sense.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, it's now those things you know, I mean,
Speaker 2: life is life. They doesn't exist in a vacuum, you know.
Speaker 2: And the football thing has certainly helped us in the
Speaker 2: wine business in a lot of different ways that I
Speaker 2: know that We'll get into you in a little bit,
Speaker 2: but but.
Speaker 3: No, this is what we're doing now. So this is
Speaker 3: what I do. You know, and I don't. I don't.
Speaker 2: I don't hide from the football thing. I'd love the
Speaker 2: football thing, and it's a really really cool part of
Speaker 2: my life.
Speaker 3: But now now we're now we're in the wine business.
Speaker 1: Why wine?
Speaker 3: Uh. There are a.
Speaker 2: Few obvious reasons for that, the most obvious being that
Speaker 2: we really like wine. Got into that while we were playing.
Speaker 2: But then when I discovered that my little hometown was
Speaker 2: growing some of the best wine grapes in the world, like, oh, okay,
Speaker 2: you know, now I've got. Now I've got you know,
Speaker 2: a couple of things working for me, you know, going
Speaker 2: back home and to a small town and being having
Speaker 2: the hometown boy advantage of being able to get the
Speaker 2: right property, get the right wine makers, you know, and
Speaker 2: and and use that competitive advantage. And then to have
Speaker 2: the story you know of being a small town kid
Speaker 2: and coming home that really allowed us to go, you know,
Speaker 2: a level up from what we would have done have
Speaker 2: we not had that tie. And then the other part, Matt,
Speaker 2: that that that is you know, that's that's important. It's like, shoot,
Speaker 2: you know, when I retired, I was thirty five years old.
Speaker 2: You know, there's a lot of life left to live.
Speaker 2: And you know, we talked earlier a little bit about golf.
Speaker 2: I like to play golf, but I'm not good enough
Speaker 2: for golf to go play every day. I don't like
Speaker 2: it enough to go play every day and sitting around
Speaker 2: and you know, doing nothing. You know, there's no truer
Speaker 2: statement than idle hands being the devil's workshop, right, I
Speaker 2: can get myself in trouble, and I really, truly, from
Speaker 2: on a personal, you know, ego level, wanted to prove
Speaker 2: that I could be successful again it's something different, and
Speaker 2: then start over and be a rookie again and build
Speaker 2: something from the ground up.
Speaker 1: So we were talking earlier before we started here about
Speaker 1: all the different wine companies out here, in wineries out here.
Speaker 1: I think people would be surprised to know this is
Speaker 1: a really competitive business and there's a former team sport
Speaker 1: athlete who's tried to get the ultimate pinnacle of where
Speaker 1: you're going. Does this scratch your rich from a competitive standpoint?
Speaker 2: You know, people have asked me, You're like, hey, you
Speaker 2: know you left football, how do you scratch that competitive itch?
Speaker 3: Well?
Speaker 2: I love football, and I got into the most competitive
Speaker 2: industry in the world by the number of products every year,
Speaker 2: there are roughly fifty thousand unique bottles of wine made
Speaker 2: worldwide every year, and you got to try and stand
Speaker 2: out in that crowd. So if you're not competing every
Speaker 2: day at every aspect of your business, you're going to
Speaker 2: get passed.
Speaker 3: Now. The one nice thing is that you know, in.
Speaker 2: You know, pro football or professional team sports, in order
Speaker 2: for me to win, the other guys to lose and
Speaker 2: want them to lose really bad.
Speaker 3: Especially if it's the Jets, I want them to lose
Speaker 3: really really bad.
Speaker 2: But in our industry, if my neighbor has success, that's
Speaker 2: actually good for my business. And so there's a there's
Speaker 2: a pretty open sharing of information, you know, where we
Speaker 2: want our neighbor to be excellent. We just want to
Speaker 2: be more excellent.
Speaker 1: That's fascinating. But on somebody like a guy who you
Speaker 1: played with, the Damon Hewart, do you want to bury
Speaker 1: humor to bust his balls that.
Speaker 3: Your wine's better than his wine?
Speaker 1: You know, when you know the person, does it make
Speaker 1: it a little bit more fun?
Speaker 3: I guess it makes it more fun.
Speaker 2: And it's you know, it's it's it's a rivalry, but
Speaker 2: it's a friendly rivalry.
Speaker 3: But we but we share information, you know.
Speaker 2: But at the end of the day, you're like, Okay,
Speaker 2: well we're still going to try to be better, but
Speaker 2: we're also going to try to help him out as
Speaker 2: much as we possibly can.
Speaker 3: Interesting, All right, let's switch here to football.
Speaker 1: Was it important to you to be the number one
Speaker 1: overall pick? We talked about competitiveness. I don't know how
Speaker 1: well you admire knew each other going in and or
Speaker 1: was it was that important to you, like I want
Speaker 1: to be drafted before you.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, look, if you get picked first at Recess,
Speaker 2: that's pretty cool, right, you know. I mean, let's be honest,
Speaker 2: and being the number one overall pick that, you know,
Speaker 2: that's something that you can wear as a badge of
Speaker 2: honor forever and ever. You know, you were the you know,
Speaker 2: there's other awards and so on, but ultimately, you know,
Speaker 2: you were the best player that year. And so that's
Speaker 2: a really cool thing. Rick and I actually ended up
Speaker 2: being really great friends. They tried to play us off
Speaker 2: as as rivals when we were coming in. And the
Speaker 2: funny thing is we went for the first time we
Speaker 2: met was in New York City. We flew out to
Speaker 2: do an ESPN deal with Joe Heisman, and which at
Speaker 2: that point meant that we mostly sat around and listened
Speaker 2: to Joe uh talk and Joe, I hope you hear
Speaker 2: this someday. But Rick and I ended up having a
Speaker 2: ton in common and we've been great friends really since
Speaker 2: the first time we ever met was you know, just
Speaker 2: saw him a couple of weeks ago. And he's in
Speaker 2: the wine business also. He's making some killer wine down
Speaker 2: in NAPA under his Mirror label. But yeah, man, being
Speaker 2: the number one overall pick, he can't take that back.
Speaker 2: You know, it comes with a whole box of tricks,
Speaker 2: you know, that go along with it, not the not
Speaker 2: the least of which being that the team that picks
Speaker 2: number one is usually a pretty shitty football team, because
Speaker 2: that's how they got to pick number one. But yeah, no,
Speaker 2: I was that's a cool thing.
Speaker 1: What if anything, did you know about New England other
Speaker 1: than there aforementioned lack of football expertise.
Speaker 3: I did not know very much at all.
Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, one of the one of
Speaker 2: the only players out side of Andre Tippett that I
Speaker 2: knew of coming in was Irving Friar, and he was
Speaker 2: gone by the time I got there, you know, Bill
Speaker 2: sent him down to to the Dolphins.
Speaker 3: I did not know very much.
Speaker 1: You just said that that just sparked something that that
Speaker 1: game down in Miami, you and Coats, Danny and Irving Fryar.
Speaker 1: I mean, I know that there's Patriot fans who couldn't
Speaker 1: have cared less about football back of the time you
Speaker 1: lost the game, which ultimately that's what matters. But they're
Speaker 1: Patriot fans today to talk about that reverentially that you know,
Speaker 1: gunslinging game. I assume other than the you look, time
Speaker 1: is kills, all wounds. You wanted to win the game.
Speaker 1: But do you look back at that game and go,
Speaker 1: that was fun?
Speaker 3: Man?
Speaker 2: Well you also have to realize, you know, for me,
Speaker 2: that's Dann Marino, right, and you know that he was
Speaker 2: part of.
Speaker 3: That was it the eighty three draft class?
Speaker 2: Yes, and so I was eleven when he got drafted,
Speaker 2: and so him and l Way and Jim Kelly and
Speaker 2: all those guys, you know, they were my heroes right
Speaker 2: about the time that I started to watch football, and
Speaker 2: so all of a sudden for me, you know, I'm
Speaker 2: out there going toe to toe with Dan Marino, and
Speaker 2: you know it's sort of one of those whoever had
Speaker 2: the ball last was going to win the game.
Speaker 3: And for me, that was I mean, that was awesome,
Speaker 3: you know.
Speaker 2: And then I think the next week we had a
Speaker 2: showdown that was very, very similar with which Kell.
Speaker 3: Yeah right, and for me it was really really cool.
Speaker 2: But it was also sort of one of those deals
Speaker 2: where like, Okay, yeah, no, I belong here. You know,
Speaker 2: I can go toe to toe with these with my heroes,
Speaker 2: and you know, after the game, I can go get
Speaker 2: their autograph. But but but during the game, man, I
Speaker 2: want to try and take these guys down. It was
Speaker 2: a really cool time.
Speaker 1: So I'm just going to back up a little because
Speaker 1: that was actually in your second year, But did you
Speaker 1: feel any pressure as the overall number one pick? Like
Speaker 1: I got to be the franchise, I got to be
Speaker 1: the man. There's a lot of responsibility here on my shoulders.
Speaker 2: Oh for sure, you know, for sure, And you know
Speaker 2: and then you go, you know, as a small town
Speaker 2: kid from Walla, Walla that went to school a couple
Speaker 2: hours away in the wheat fields of Pullman, Washington, and
Speaker 2: then all of a sudden thrust into the Boston sports scene,
Speaker 2: which I very quickly learned was a different kind of deal.
Speaker 2: You know, it's more of sports are more of a
Speaker 2: religion than a pastime, you know, in in that in
Speaker 2: that sports scene, Yeah, certainly I felt the way to
Speaker 2: that weight of that and.
Speaker 3: You know, and it was you know, it was a
Speaker 3: it was a big thing.
Speaker 2: And I had high expectations for myself, and I know
Speaker 2: that the organization in the region had high expectations for me.
Speaker 2: And yeah, it was a bit of a whirlwind. Thankfully,
Speaker 2: we won the last four games my rookie year, so
Speaker 2: we had we ended on a high note. But but yeah,
Speaker 2: that was a big thing.
Speaker 1: What was your first meeting with parcels?
Speaker 2: Like, first meeting with Parcels was at the Combine And
Speaker 2: I actually turned twenty one at the Scouting Combine. My
Speaker 2: twenty first birthday, I spent at at Hooters with Alex
Speaker 2: van Pelt in Indianapolis.
Speaker 1: You didn't have the money yet for Sam, No.
Speaker 2: No, we couldn't know. It was way wait but no.
Speaker 2: First meeting was in a hotel room. And I've described
Speaker 2: it before. It's like it's like you're meeting you know,
Speaker 2: the you know, the you know, the head of the mafia, right,
Speaker 2: you know, I mean the big New Jersey you know, dealing.
Speaker 2: It was just one on one meeting in the hotel
Speaker 2: room and we sat and visited for a while. I
Speaker 2: don't remember the I don't remember the conversation. I just
Speaker 2: remember being very intimidated.
Speaker 1: And did that help break the ice a little bit?
Speaker 1: You know, you get drafted and everything like that, do
Speaker 1: you get a little memory flashback and go, Okay, I'm
Speaker 1: going there and I'm going with him, So at least
Speaker 1: I know kind of what I'm up against, although you
Speaker 1: don't really know what you're up against.
Speaker 2: You know, I I he didn't. He did not let
Speaker 2: anybody know until the pick was announced whether he's gonna
Speaker 2: go with me or with Rick, you know, so, I
Speaker 2: mean I thought I was gonna go number on to
Speaker 2: New England, but I didn't know until the pick was
Speaker 2: announced whether I was going to go there or to Seattle.
Speaker 2: And you know, back then, I wanted to go to
Speaker 2: Seattle because it was home. Right in retrospect, you know,
Speaker 2: I got really lucky.
Speaker 1: Did you think you should have started right out of
Speaker 1: the shoot?
Speaker 3: Of course?
Speaker 2: You know, of course, you know, I mean, you you
Speaker 2: when you come in as the number one pick, you
Speaker 2: know you want to be on the field. You know.
Speaker 2: I didn't want to sit and watch somebody else play.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm certain that there could have been some
Speaker 2: benefits from sitting and watching for a little bit, and
Speaker 2: I actually did get to sit and watch for a
Speaker 2: couple of games when I got hurt midway through that season,
Speaker 2: and it was beneficial to watch somebody else play and
Speaker 2: let it slow, you know, kind of let it slow
Speaker 2: down a little bit. So then when I came back
Speaker 2: after I after the after my my knee injury, when
Speaker 2: I came back, you know, the game had slowed down
Speaker 2: a bit just because I got to sit and watch for.
Speaker 1: The competitor of you. Yes, I want to play, I
Speaker 1: need to play them the number one pick, but do
Speaker 1: you see the vantages like maybe if there's somebody there,
Speaker 1: but then you're probably say yourself, I'm better than this guy.
Speaker 1: Why is he starting instead of me? Right?
Speaker 2: Well, you know, I mean, I mean it's a it's
Speaker 2: you know, it's it's a meritocracy, right, you know, you
Speaker 2: go in there. If you're the best guy, then you
Speaker 2: go play. And and you know, I did feel like
Speaker 2: I was the best guy.
Speaker 3: But at the same time, you.
Speaker 2: Know, you certainly have seen other instances where guys have
Speaker 2: been able to sit and watch for a minute, and
Speaker 2: you know, and you know have more immediate success when
Speaker 2: they do take the field because of that time. But
Speaker 2: you know, I wanted to learn, you know, by being
Speaker 2: thrown into the fire.
Speaker 1: You mentioned the finale in ninety three touchdown, passed attempts
Speaker 1: and to win it snow in the stadium. Did you
Speaker 1: get a sense then, drew that you know, maybe we
Speaker 1: might be onto something here when we're building something here,
Speaker 1: which is why they drafted you after all in the
Speaker 1: first place.
Speaker 2: You know, I did, and that those those early teams,
Speaker 2: we were really young, right, and there was a very
Speaker 2: collegial kind of atmosphere around the team. We all hung
Speaker 2: out together, you know, there were very few you know,
Speaker 2: Bruce Armstrong, you know, was the you know, they had
Speaker 2: the seniority, and obviously tipp It was there my rookie year,
Speaker 2: and I've got a funny Tippot story for you when
Speaker 2: he scared the crap out of me. But but for
Speaker 2: the for the most part of they were really young teams,
Speaker 2: and I think we, you know, we had a sense
Speaker 2: that we could change things and and you know, and
Speaker 2: we did. You know, we did change things, and so
Speaker 2: they were really cool things to be a part of.
Speaker 2: Tell me about tipp It so rookie year and Andre
Speaker 2: was always very kind, but he also was Andre Tippett,
Speaker 2: you know, one of the baddest dudes to ever walk
Speaker 2: the planet. Right, you know, NFL linebacker now Pro Football
Speaker 2: Hall of Famer, but he was also what seven degree
Speaker 2: black belt. We were walking in to after practice the
Speaker 2: one day, and this is back when fans really had access,
Speaker 2: and so there were kids kind of hanging around the
Speaker 2: the facility, and so we're walking up and I'm walking
Speaker 2: walking and next to Tippet, and this little kid comes
Speaker 2: up to ask me for an autograph, and Tip looks
Speaker 2: down at the kids kid and goes, beat a kid,
Speaker 2: get out of here. No autographs, right to this little
Speaker 2: eleven year old, right, and uh, and I just like it.
Speaker 2: I froze, and I just okay, Well, get mister Tip
Speaker 2: an autograph. So I guess I'll just go downstairs. Well
Speaker 2: Tip came down a few minutes later, and he'd gone
Speaker 2: back to the kid and grabbed what he wanted to
Speaker 2: sign and brought it down to have me sign. It
Speaker 2: turns out he wasn't messing with the kid. He was
Speaker 2: messing with me right like he was. He was trying
Speaker 2: to get him my head, and he did scared the
Speaker 2: crap out of me, but it was just it was
Speaker 2: it was funny. And but Tip was always man. He
Speaker 2: was always great to me.
Speaker 1: Uh, we're gonna move forward here to ninety four and
Speaker 1: the Minnesota game. What happened at halftime of the Minnesota game?
Speaker 3: Was it?
Speaker 1: What was what? That's where something happened, clearly because of
Speaker 1: the way you guys came out and changed and adapted
Speaker 1: for the second half.
Speaker 2: Well, I changed my shoes before the last drive, and
Speaker 2: I'm not superstitious, but but the I did wear those
Speaker 2: shoes for the next six games. But really, what it
Speaker 2: happened at the end of that end of the first half,
Speaker 2: we went two minute offense, went down and scored right
Speaker 2: before halftime, and Zolac still claims that it was him,
Speaker 2: and I can't.
Speaker 1: Which I was gonna say. I was going to bring
Speaker 1: him up because he believes he convinced somebody to let
Speaker 1: you sling in.
Speaker 2: And I think he at least did say something to Parcels.
Speaker 2: But he's like, hey, why don't you just go too minute?
Speaker 3: Let the kid go? And so we did.
Speaker 2: We came out and we went two minute offense the
Speaker 2: entire second half, and you know, people do forget sometimes,
Speaker 2: you know, because we threw it seventy times and came
Speaker 2: back and won it, but our defense also stepped up
Speaker 2: shut him out in a second half and caused some
Speaker 2: bumbles and so but that was, you know, that was
Speaker 2: kind of when I think, you know, he he finally
Speaker 2: just like, all right, we're gonna take the reins off
Speaker 2: and liver or die by letting this kid throw it around.
Speaker 1: Do you look back at that game fond we?
Speaker 3: Oh? I do, of course I do.
Speaker 2: Of course that game was and I remember, you know,
Speaker 2: after I through that that the touchdown passed to win
Speaker 2: the game, to to you know, God rest his soul.
Speaker 2: I remember distinctly thinking, all right, I'm gonna soak this in, right,
Speaker 2: because you know, had some big games in college and
Speaker 2: it was all kind of a blur afterwards, and so
Speaker 2: that one I very very vividly remember. After that, after
Speaker 2: Kevin caught that touchdown pass, I'd stopped and I just
Speaker 2: kind of looked around and I soaked it up and
Speaker 2: took it all in. And then we won the next
Speaker 2: six and made it into the playoffs.
Speaker 1: So I do try to listen, and you mentioned Turner,
Speaker 1: and I can only think of three. You could probably
Speaker 1: give me a lot more, but g strew Kevin Turner,
Speaker 1: Terry Glenn David Patten. I mean, I know, we all
Speaker 1: nobody's guaranteed tomorrow, but at a sport where everybody's immortalized
Speaker 1: and everything like that, and you think everybody's just gonna
Speaker 1: live forever. That has to hit home in a way
Speaker 1: that you know, just like me and you all the
Speaker 1: sweat equity that you had with these guys.
Speaker 3: You know, yeah, I mean you develop a can ship
Speaker 3: in a brotherhood. You know.
Speaker 2: I always push back when people compare it to military,
Speaker 2: because you know, when you're playing football, you're probably gonna
Speaker 2: you might get injured, but you're probably gonna walk away.
Speaker 2: It's not like going to war. But you do develop
Speaker 2: a brotherhood, you know, with with these guys when you
Speaker 2: when you play with him. And I remember Kevin called
Speaker 2: me after he got the diagnosis, the als diagnosis, and man,
Speaker 2: I was one of the saddest phone calls I've ever
Speaker 2: had in my life because he was he was talking
Speaker 2: about he goes, yeah, my son, I can't play catch
Speaker 2: with him anymore. And uh, you know, to have have
Speaker 2: him struck down, you know, when he was heading into
Speaker 2: you know, some really prime years of his life, you know.
Speaker 2: And then Terry Glenn, you know, had finally after so
Speaker 2: much turmoil in his life, he was finally in a
Speaker 2: really good place in his life, and he was happy,
Speaker 2: and he and I actually had a really really good relationship.
Speaker 2: He didn't trust very many people, but I think he
Speaker 2: trusted me, and he was and when he was when
Speaker 2: he was taken, you know, and then and then David Patton,
Speaker 2: you know, tragically, you know, goes away, and so yeah,
Speaker 2: so that's it's really really hard, you know, when you
Speaker 2: see guys go that that have so much to.
Speaker 3: Still give to the world.
Speaker 1: On a better note, when we were out here a
Speaker 1: month ago and you and RKK were driving to the winery,
Speaker 1: you said you're You said, oh, I've been out here
Speaker 1: since your wedding and you said to him just like that,
Speaker 1: you went, oh, by the way, and thank you for
Speaker 1: the wedding present. Because of Terry Glenn, God rest his soul.
Speaker 1: When you saw that the team drafted Glenn, was that, like,
Speaker 1: h what did that mean to you?
Speaker 2: Well, so in ninety six through for a bunch of yards,
Speaker 2: and then in ninety seven something like sixty percent of
Speaker 2: that production was no longer on the team, and so
Speaker 2: you know, I'm not here still trying to do the
Speaker 2: same things, but we don't have the same.
Speaker 3: Level of weapons. Uh.
Speaker 2: And then when when we saw I saw that we
Speaker 2: were going to go get this this dude, I was like, Okay,
Speaker 2: you know, now I got another guy that can really
Speaker 2: go get it. And I think I don't know if
Speaker 2: that record still stands, but I know at one point,
Speaker 2: even though he even though he had missed a couple
Speaker 2: of games early in the season, he had the all
Speaker 2: the time rookie record for past receptions.
Speaker 1: Was there a point in time in ninety six do
Speaker 1: you remember a game? Do you remember a series? Do
Speaker 1: you remember anything where you said we're legit, We're legit.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 2: That's a good question. That's a good question. You know,
Speaker 2: I felt like we had something good going, you know,
Speaker 2: all the way through.
Speaker 1: Do you remember beating San Diego? And San Diego is
Speaker 1: that a Sunday night game and the Chargers were good? Yeah,
Speaker 1: Like that's a game the Patriots will lose every single
Speaker 1: time on the road. Is you throttled them? Glenn had
Speaker 1: a huge game in that game.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we gave them a good beating that day.
Speaker 1: Like, I don't know if that was the game, but
Speaker 1: that's the one that sticks out of me. Form like
Speaker 1: that one was.
Speaker 2: That one was a big one. I remember late in
Speaker 2: the season, you know, we had to come back and
Speaker 2: beat the Giants down in the meadowlands, you know, to
Speaker 2: to keep our keep our hopes alive because we ended
Speaker 2: up having to buy. But but you know, with two
Speaker 2: games to go in the season, I we weren't guaranteed playoffs, right,
Speaker 2: you know, so yeah, there were there were a number
Speaker 2: of games that season. But yeah, given the uh, you know,
Speaker 2: given the Chargers a beat down out there, that one
Speaker 2: was pretty fun. And that was one of those games
Speaker 2: where the guys took such great care of me. You know,
Speaker 2: I think I came out of that game without any
Speaker 2: grass stands, you know, which those are fun games absolutely.
Speaker 1: What do you remember about the AFC Championship game in
Speaker 1: Jacksonville and how electric the stadium was? Not only when
Speaker 1: the game started, of course, I say electric the lights
Speaker 1: go out in the middle of the game, but afterwards
Speaker 1: where my words here?
Speaker 3: It was like.
Speaker 1: I think Patriock fans knew that they were onto something
Speaker 1: when they drafted you. You know what, there's now hope,
Speaker 1: We've got a legitimate coach, We've got an owner now
Speaker 1: who's committed to the team and at that point in
Speaker 1: time all that culminated and going to the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: did you feel like the region you talked about Boston
Speaker 1: sports and you didn't know what you're getting yourself into.
Speaker 1: At that point in time, you do go, now, I
Speaker 1: know what we're getting into here.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: It's when you're in the middle of it, you just
Speaker 2: focused on playing ball, right, And so I do know
Speaker 2: that that was it was pretty amazing. You know, first
Speaker 2: of all, the week before against the Steelers with the fog,
Speaker 2: you know, where the Steelers were, I think I think
Speaker 2: we were underdogs. And in those games, even though we
Speaker 2: were at home, it seemed like we were at least
Speaker 2: we felt like we were underdogs. But then when yeah,
Speaker 2: when we when Otis returned that that fumble for a
Speaker 2: touchdown and that ice the game. We're like, man, We're
Speaker 2: going to the freaking Super Bowl. And I think that
Speaker 2: it was it was cool for us because we were
Speaker 2: you know when when when we got there, you know,
Speaker 2: we were the fourth team by a long ways in
Speaker 2: New England, and uh, and all of a sudden we
Speaker 2: were relevant in the New England sports scene, you know,
Speaker 2: and yeah, no, I felt like, okay, yeah, we arrived,
Speaker 2: We're onto something.
Speaker 1: It didn't end the way you wanted it to end,
Speaker 1: but you just said something. We were fourth, you were
Speaker 1: dog four at that point in time. Do you take
Speaker 1: pride Drew in saying, hey, I was a part a
Speaker 1: resurrecting it and igniting a flame in New England and
Speaker 1: in the Boston region where the Patriots are now they're
Speaker 1: one and you can't even see.
Speaker 3: Them a two.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I think I think I was just
Speaker 2: with Willie McGinnis down at the super Bowl. And I've
Speaker 2: shared this story before, but remember the the one super Bowl,
Speaker 2: or I guess so too. After the one season, you know,
Speaker 2: we're there and Tommy's plan and but Willy came over
Speaker 2: to me in pregame and he goes, hey, never forget
Speaker 2: we started this ship right. And you know when you're
Speaker 2: when you're when you're a part of whether you're talking
Speaker 2: about cultural change in society or cultural change in a business,
Speaker 2: or cultural change in a in a sports organization.
Speaker 3: Cultural change is hard.
Speaker 2: And we took great pride in the fact that we took,
Speaker 2: you know, a franchise that was a perennial you know,
Speaker 2: doormat to a team that was a contender and a
Speaker 2: team that people cared about and knew about. And so yeah,
Speaker 2: we take a lot of pride in the fact that
Speaker 2: that those teams changed it.
Speaker 3: These are my words.
Speaker 1: Did parcels antics for lack of a better word, did
Speaker 1: that ruins may be too strong, but that did that
Speaker 1: affect you and others? Not from a game preparations team.
Speaker 1: But I'm not saying that, but when you look back that, Yeah,
Speaker 1: we watched the Super Bowl and guys like McGinnis, malloy
Speaker 1: tye talk about seeing the green confetti come down and
Speaker 1: they could never get that out of my mind. But
Speaker 1: you know, did that cause a stain or leave a
Speaker 1: stain for you?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 1: You know what, that wasn't what I wanted from a
Speaker 1: super Bowl. Like, if we're gonna lose, let's lose. But
Speaker 1: all this other mischig gosset was.
Speaker 3: Going on just was unnecessary, you know. It was.
Speaker 2: Well, first of all, I've never watched that game. I've
Speaker 2: never seen I've never seen film never, I've never watched
Speaker 2: that Super Bowl.
Speaker 3: It's too painful, you know, It's.
Speaker 1: Would you have any interest in ever doing that?
Speaker 2: I don't, I don't think so, you know, it's just
Speaker 2: it's it's too painful when you're when you're when you're
Speaker 2: that close to the ultimate goal and it doesn't work out.
Speaker 2: That's it's you know, it'd be like, you know, you
Speaker 2: hear about climbers that go climb Everest and they get
Speaker 2: within you know, you know, a few hundred feet of
Speaker 2: the summit, you don't get to get there and you
Speaker 2: have to turn around. So but I do know that
Speaker 2: it was it was frustrating. You know, during that week
Speaker 2: we've been on this unexpected run to the super Bowl.
Speaker 2: Nobody had predicted that we would that we would be there,
Speaker 2: and that wasn't the story. The story was whether or
Speaker 2: not Bill was going to the Jets. That part was
Speaker 2: frustrating to us.
Speaker 1: So then were you happy or did you think, you know, what,
Speaker 1: change is going to be good here? We could use
Speaker 1: a change of pace here and it happened to be Pete,
Speaker 1: So let's go. I think the change is going to
Speaker 1: be good and we'll be okay. Did you embrace that?
Speaker 1: I guess is maybe the better way to say it.
Speaker 3: I did.
Speaker 2: I did, and I think we did as a team.
Speaker 2: I think we had a lot of hope that we
Speaker 2: were going to build something that was very sustainable going forward.
Speaker 2: You know, Unfortunately, we had some drafts that didn't work out,
Speaker 2: and we had some untimely injuries, and it just it
Speaker 2: didn't go where it should have gone. And I think,
Speaker 2: you know, Pete took the brunt of that in most cases,
Speaker 2: in most ways, you know, unjustifiably. But we just, you know,
Speaker 2: it was it just didn't work out the way that
Speaker 2: we wanted it to. But we had a lot of
Speaker 2: hope that things were going to go.
Speaker 1: Is that the reason why it didn't for all those
Speaker 1: reasons drew that, you know, because everybody talks about what
Speaker 1: the shape the roster was in and all your leadership
Speaker 1: and everything like that young quarterback Prime's career. Was it
Speaker 1: those myriads of things, the injuries, poor drafting, isn't like,
Speaker 1: yeah it's your fault, Pete, or yeah it's your fault whoever.
Speaker 1: All those things contributed to it.
Speaker 2: All those things contributed to it, you know. And you know,
Speaker 2: winning at the NFL level is so hard, and you know,
Speaker 2: most of the games come down to one or two
Speaker 2: play is at the end. Most of the games are
Speaker 2: really close. And when you have you know, some of
Speaker 2: your you know, your playmakers that aren't available you know
Speaker 2: sometimes that one play, you know, whether it's you know,
Speaker 2: Meggett making a guy miss and getting a big first down,
Speaker 2: or you know, or you know, Terry or Sean, you
Speaker 2: know that if they're at one hundred percent, maybe we're
Speaker 2: maybe we're still rocking and rolling. But it was it
Speaker 2: was all of those things that contributed and that you know,
Speaker 2: we didn't make the run that we expected to run
Speaker 2: to make.
Speaker 1: You're in a much better place now, and you don't
Speaker 1: seem like a person who has regret. But you talk
Speaker 1: to a lot of professional athletes, coaches and everything like that,
Speaker 1: and they'll tell you it's the failure that keeps them up,
Speaker 1: not the success. So with looking back in that, you
Speaker 1: look back at those three years and go, man, we
Speaker 1: that was a golden opportunity.
Speaker 2: It was a golden opportunity. And I remember saying you
Speaker 2: have to go back and find it. But I remember
Speaker 2: saying when when Bill left and then when Curtis left
Speaker 2: and went to the Jets, and we had a whole
Speaker 2: bunch of draft picks, like these drafts are going to
Speaker 2: determine whether or not we continue to climb or or
Speaker 2: whether we you know, becoming also ran and a lot
Speaker 2: of those draft picks didn't work out. Poor Robert Edwards,
Speaker 2: you know, he was he was his way to be
Speaker 2: in a special player before he got hurt at the
Speaker 2: Pro Bowl, and you know, and so that you know
Speaker 2: that that was really ultimately, I think what prevented us
Speaker 2: from keeping going was was how we did in the
Speaker 2: draft those those ensuing years.
Speaker 1: I know, Robert talks about what he made the decision,
Speaker 1: which couldn't have been easy for him to get rid
Speaker 1: of Pete, and he wanted Bill. He talked to lawyer,
Speaker 1: he talked to Tye because of those guys' relationship with.
Speaker 3: Him back in ninety six.
Speaker 1: Did you did you get a chance to weigh in
Speaker 1: and did you think so you're here with this again?
Speaker 1: My words, that's authoritarian guy in ourselves maybe a little
Speaker 1: bit more player friendly guy in Pete. Now you're going
Speaker 1: to go back to this other kind of style. Were
Speaker 1: you on board with that?
Speaker 2: I was, you know, and you know, and I love
Speaker 2: Pete then loved Pete to this day. But it hadn't
Speaker 2: worked out and looked like things were going to change.
Speaker 2: And I remember, you know, Robert asking me, you know,
Speaker 2: and I didn't. I obviously was on the other side
Speaker 2: of the ball. So I wasn't around Belichick in ninety six,
Speaker 2: but I knew I didn't want to compete against him anymore,
Speaker 2: you know, so if nothing else, we were getting him
Speaker 2: out of the division and then bringing him over to
Speaker 2: UH to our side, you know, seemed like it seemed
Speaker 2: like a good move.
Speaker 1: How did you feel?
Speaker 2: So?
Speaker 3: Was it you helped me on the date? Here?
Speaker 1: It's a summer two thousand? When did you sign your
Speaker 1: next deal? Was it the sum at Bryant at the summer?
Speaker 3: It was? Uh?
Speaker 2: No, it was I actually went out there in the
Speaker 2: in the in the middle of the winter. I remember
Speaker 2: because I went on landed and we'd had a big snowstorm.
Speaker 2: So it's the middle of the winter, and I flew
Speaker 2: out there to to sign that deal, you know, prior
Speaker 2: to the to the one.
Speaker 3: Season, right, right? Yes, yeah, it was prior to the
Speaker 3: one season? Right?
Speaker 1: And how did that make you feel? And I think
Speaker 1: at the time, high paid quarterback, high pay player in
Speaker 1: the game. Those are modeling, yeah, isn't it?
Speaker 3: Yeah? No, it was. It was.
Speaker 2: What it meant to me was that great, I'm gonna
Speaker 2: be able to finish my career in one place, you know,
Speaker 2: That's what it meant to me. And that's and that's
Speaker 2: what I anticipated, and I think that's what everybody anticipated
Speaker 2: at that point, was that now, now, now I'm here
Speaker 2: for the duration.
Speaker 1: Was there a feeling of invincibility? I don't know if
Speaker 1: that's the right word, but did you feel like, well,
Speaker 1: I'm immune to anything here, you know, like they've got
Speaker 1: a lot invested in me, and so I'm good, I'm good.
Speaker 2: I think so, you know, I mean I think they did.
Speaker 2: That would be unavoidable, right, You're like, Okay, you know,
Speaker 2: I've been here for eight years and I'm the guy,
Speaker 2: and we just signed a ten year deal and you know,
Speaker 2: now we're set, let's go, and uh, this is gonna
Speaker 2: be a good run, you know, for the foreseeable future.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I certainly felt that way.
Speaker 1: And because of that, do you see the Damon's, the
Speaker 1: Michael Bishops, the Tom Brady's, is anything other than just
Speaker 1: a backup?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 3: And those guys were they were they were, they were backups.
Speaker 1: I was the guy, right right, And I don't mean
Speaker 1: that like that sounds like I'm being derogatory.
Speaker 3: No, no, not at all.
Speaker 1: No, this isn't necessarily competition. These guys have a role
Speaker 1: to play.
Speaker 3: It's a very important role. But I'm the quarterback for sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there was and and you know, and and I
Speaker 2: think all of those guys and Tommy included, would say
Speaker 2: that I was an open book.
Speaker 3: You know. I shared everything with him. You know.
Speaker 2: I remember hearing, you know, Brett at one point, Brett
Speaker 2: Favre saying at one point when Aaron Rodgers is there, like, no,
Speaker 2: I'm not here to coach this guy. I'm not here
Speaker 2: to I'm not here to groom my replacement. And so
Speaker 2: I don't know that he helped Aaron a lot, you know,
Speaker 2: but I shared information openly and freely because there was
Speaker 2: I did not feel any any threat from from those guys.
Speaker 1: This one might be a question better for Tom instead
Speaker 1: of you, But I know you and Tom have a
Speaker 1: really good relationship. And if you put yourself in his
Speaker 1: shoes for a second, which is really hard to do, sure,
Speaker 1: but if you were to put yourself in his shoes,
Speaker 1: do you think that he would say, you know what,
Speaker 1: the guy who got us on a winning streak should start,
Speaker 1: and necessarily the incumbent shouldn't start. Do you think he
Speaker 1: would look at it the way that you looked at
Speaker 1: it that way.
Speaker 2: If you know, we've never actually had that direct conversation.
Speaker 3: We never have.
Speaker 2: I know that I know that Tom had you know,
Speaker 2: at that time, I think you'd have to call it
Speaker 2: an irrational belief in his ability question to h to
Speaker 2: take it on. Now in retrospect, obviously it wasn't irrational,
Speaker 2: but you know, but I think that you know, he
Speaker 2: viewed it as this is his opportunity, and he's going
Speaker 2: to try not to sit back down, you know, which
Speaker 2: is the way that you should approach it.
Speaker 3: I've talked to other quarterbacks over time that have.
Speaker 2: Obviously nobody's had Tom's level of success, but other guys
Speaker 2: where you're like, Okay, yeah, I'm here to be the backup,
Speaker 2: and so I'm going to go play for a little
Speaker 2: bit and then I'm obviously going to go sit back down.
Speaker 3: I don't think he ever really viewed it that way.
Speaker 2: I think he viewed it like, Okay, well I'm I'm
Speaker 2: going to go I'm gonna go take this job and run.
Speaker 3: With it again. Time's a great healer and everything.
Speaker 1: At the point in time when this is going on,
Speaker 1: I can't imagine what you were going through. But with
Speaker 1: the benefit of time, and as you already mentioned what
Speaker 1: he's done, does that take any of the sting out
Speaker 1: of it at all? I mean, the guy's freaking's still
Speaker 1: playing and he's forty five years old.
Speaker 2: Well, first of all, he needs to find a hobby
Speaker 2: and that's quick, and he's got to find something else he.
Speaker 3: Wants to do.
Speaker 2: Maybe he can be an investor. Yeah, there you go, right, right, right,
Speaker 2: or at least start. I was kind of hoping that
Speaker 2: when he quote unquote retired, that maybe he is going
Speaker 2: to start drinking wine again. But I guess now he's
Speaker 2: gonna go back and play, so I don't have to
Speaker 2: wait a while before he starts buying wine. Maybe just
Speaker 2: he'll buy some wine, but no, you know, I think,
Speaker 2: you know, the if you're going to be replaced by
Speaker 2: a guy and not get your job back and then
Speaker 2: he goes on to become one of the greatest of
Speaker 2: all time, you know, that makes it feel a little
Speaker 2: more palatable.
Speaker 3: You know. I still think it was the wrong decision,
Speaker 3: but anybody.
Speaker 1: As well, you should because you're a player, right.
Speaker 3: Of course, man, Yeah, you always want to be the guy.
Speaker 1: Right, And I think I think people have seen little
Speaker 1: clips here or there You've come back on several occasions,
Speaker 1: you know, honorary captain for AFT Championship Games, been there
Speaker 1: for Super Bowls, and people see the not many people,
Speaker 1: but you get a chance to react with Tom. There's
Speaker 1: a bond there that's never going to be broken. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think people that might not know anything, go, you know,
Speaker 1: Drew's never going to talk to him again. And why
Speaker 1: would he do that. He took his job. That's not
Speaker 1: the case with you guys, right.
Speaker 2: No, man, we had we had a great relationship through
Speaker 2: the whole thing, and I continued to help him, you know,
Speaker 2: after that decision was made, I continued to help him
Speaker 2: out and and I you know, even before he took
Speaker 2: the field, he was a guy that had a lot
Speaker 2: of respect for because of the way that he approached things,
Speaker 2: the way that he worked, and all of those things
Speaker 2: that are legendary now. So he and I never we
Speaker 2: never had a problem.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: It's it's it's it's hard to be warm and fuzzy
Speaker 2: when he's got your job and you don't. But we
Speaker 2: were able to put that aside and I was able
Speaker 2: to help him through the you know, through the whole thing.
Speaker 1: There's a very famous clip that I think it was
Speaker 1: Fox that carried that captured it because they.
Speaker 3: Had the game.
Speaker 1: But it's after the game, the Super Bowl thirty six
Speaker 1: against the Rams, and he's pounding your chest like we
Speaker 1: did it, we did it, and he was basically saying
Speaker 1: like we got this one for you, and you look
Speaker 1: kind of amused, like this is this young kid?
Speaker 3: Is? You know?
Speaker 1: Was that bittersweet for you? Drew it?
Speaker 3: It was.
Speaker 2: It was the very definition of bittersweet. You know, this
Speaker 2: is my team, right, you know, and this is the
Speaker 2: goal you want to win a championship. But I wasn't
Speaker 2: the guy on the field, so it was the very
Speaker 2: definition of bittersweet. I was so ecstatic for the team,
Speaker 2: but personally hurt. Man, It hurt to not be the
Speaker 2: guy when we were doing that. But there's there's one
Speaker 2: one kind of interesting anecdote about about our relationship that
Speaker 2: I don't ever think of ever put out there. We
Speaker 2: bumped into each other skin in Montana, and by the way,
Speaker 2: Tom's still not a very good skied apparently now he
Speaker 2: skis really fast, but kind of.
Speaker 3: Out of control.
Speaker 2: But we were there and said hi to him up
Speaker 2: on the hill and then I was skiing with the
Speaker 2: kids and we took off, and end of the day,
Speaker 2: I had a phone call and so I up there
Speaker 2: and I was on this phone call while the mountain closed,
Speaker 2: while I was while I was up there, and all
Speaker 2: of a sudden, there's nobody on the hill. So I just
Speaker 2: go ripping down and I get to the bottom and
Speaker 2: I see Tom kind of getting his skis off, and
Speaker 2: he was with a female. So I just assumed that
Speaker 2: was Gizelle. So I came ripping down. I came in
Speaker 2: to spray him, right, I was gonna just cover him
Speaker 2: in snow. Well, of course I miss. And I just
Speaker 2: covered Gazelle with snow. And I've never met her at
Speaker 2: this point, right, And so Tom looks at me, you know, like, oh,
Speaker 2: it's go time, right, you know, I don't care.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna beat the shit out of you. And so
Speaker 3: I said, hey, hey, it's Drew.
Speaker 2: And so I just I walk over and I give
Speaker 2: Gazelle a hug, and she gives me a big hug back, right,
Speaker 2: And so then we're walking in and she goes, she goes,
Speaker 2: she goes. Understand that I don't normally give people hugs
Speaker 2: when I meet him for the first time.
Speaker 3: She goes.
Speaker 2: But you don't understand how you talked about in our house,
Speaker 2: which was a really cool moment because you know, there
Speaker 2: was obviously there's a ton of mutual respect there and uh,
Speaker 2: you know, it was a cool thing.
Speaker 1: You mentioned the it's the ultimate and bitter suite. What
Speaker 1: did it take for you to get over that? Was
Speaker 1: it to go and have success someplace else? Was the
Speaker 1: you know, the thirty one to nothing in O three?
Speaker 1: I mean those things are fleeting because you're onto the
Speaker 1: next game or anything like that. How do you process
Speaker 1: that through?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean you know what is it? Living well?
Speaker 2: Is the best revenge? You know, like and yeah, I
Speaker 2: wanted to go on and uh, you know, prove that
Speaker 2: I could have success elsewhere.
Speaker 3: You know, we only had the one, the.
Speaker 2: One great success against against the Pats, but that one
Speaker 2: was a lot of fun. That was right after they
Speaker 2: had traded Lawyer to UH or let Lawyer come over
Speaker 2: to UH to Buffalo, and uh, yeah, that's that's That's
Speaker 2: what I wanted then, was to go, uh, you know,
Speaker 2: prove that I could do it again.
Speaker 1: Obviously, the region loves Tom for obvious reasons. As you said,
Speaker 1: one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time? How can
Speaker 1: they not love him?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Do you realize how much the region loves you? Did
Speaker 1: it take maybe that Hall of Fame induction weekend with
Speaker 1: everything that had gone on and everything like that we
Speaker 1: talked earlier about, you know, you're part of the Holy Trinity. Man,
Speaker 1: it's you, it's parcels, it's craft, that's what built this.
Speaker 1: Do you realize that there's legions of Patriot fans that love.
Speaker 3: You for that? You know? I do.
Speaker 2: It's really fun for me now when I go back
Speaker 2: because the the people that were fans then are older now,
Speaker 2: and I feel like they have this really strong feeling
Speaker 2: that we're buddies. And I feel that way too, you know.
Speaker 2: So I'll walk down the street and instead of you know, hey,
Speaker 2: we got to get a sell fie or sign a soutograph,
Speaker 2: like hey, Drew, how you doing?
Speaker 3: Man?
Speaker 2: Good?
Speaker 3: Good?
Speaker 2: How's the wine business good? You know, and it's you know,
Speaker 2: high five and keep moving. But the Hall of Fame
Speaker 2: induction was really really cool, and it was it was honestly,
Speaker 2: it was really great closure for my family, you know,
Speaker 2: because I think I'd kind of processed it and was
Speaker 2: it was was through it and but for my family,
Speaker 2: you know, when something happens to somebody that you love,
Speaker 2: it's more painful than when it happens to you. And
Speaker 2: we've all experienced that in our lives. And for my
Speaker 2: family to feel like I wasn't treated, you know, properly,
Speaker 2: to be out there and to stand there and to
Speaker 2: hear that ovation from that stadium that day, it was
Speaker 2: a great closure for mom and dad, for my brother,
Speaker 2: for my wife, you know, it was a great closure
Speaker 2: for them as well.
Speaker 1: I know Tippett scared the kid off who was asking
Speaker 1: you for an autograph, but you're a twenty something year
Speaker 1: old kid from a completely different part of the area.
Speaker 1: You know, there's rabid Northeast Corridor Boston fans who can
Speaker 1: be really obnoxious and as a twenty four, twenty six
Speaker 1: year old, maybe maybe Drew Bledsoe's got to be stand
Speaker 1: office about it. Yeah, the circle of life, You mature,
Speaker 1: different things happen in your life and you realize now
Speaker 1: how much they do love you, and you love them back.
Speaker 1: Now now it's it's easier for you to understand what
Speaker 1: that passion was like. Is that fair?
Speaker 3: That's yeah, that's very fair. That's very fair. And it.
Speaker 2: You know, look at you know, the New England fans
Speaker 2: can be a fickle bunch, you know, and we all
Speaker 2: we all know that. But ultimately, I think, you know
Speaker 2: a few things. Number one, I think I always tried
Speaker 2: to conduct myself in the right way. Now I would
Speaker 2: I did have to, you know, kind of bring that
Speaker 2: circle in pretty tight while I was playing. You know,
Speaker 2: we didn't, we thankfully as before social media and before
Speaker 2: eybody had a video camera in their pocket. But you know, now,
Speaker 2: you know, going back, I don't really feel like I
Speaker 2: have to be that way, and I can. I can
Speaker 2: be out there with people and I think there there's
Speaker 2: you know, mutual respect and admiration with the th and
Speaker 2: with me and with my family.
Speaker 1: And I try not to be on social media. But
Speaker 1: here's just a little and I never try to read
Speaker 1: the comments. But that picture that we took a month
Speaker 1: ago with you and Robert at your winery at double Back,
Speaker 1: and that was pushed out and I looked at some
Speaker 1: of the comments, Drew, and I don't know if you
Speaker 1: look at if you're a comment person, I'm telling you
Speaker 1: it was one hundred of the fans. I was saying,
Speaker 1: love Drew, good for Drew. Great to see Drew and
Speaker 1: just wonder that that gets to you somehow, not when
Speaker 1: I when I say gets you that you can get
Speaker 1: that message.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that gets back to you, for sure. I don't.
Speaker 2: I you know, I've been pretty good with the on
Speaker 2: the social media front of I try to eliminate the
Speaker 2: negativity to the to the extent that I can. But yeah,
Speaker 2: it's almost entirely positive. And uh, it's uh yeah, and
Speaker 2: it's good. It's it's it's good, you know, and it's uh.
Speaker 2: It was an important informative time and.
Speaker 3: Uh in my life. And it was a hell of
Speaker 3: a ride.
Speaker 2: And now to to have that mutual appreciation that goes
Speaker 2: both ways, it's a very very cool thing.
Speaker 3: Who's the best teammate that you ever played with?
Speaker 2: Oh? Man, who's the best team I've ever played with?
Speaker 2: And I played with so many great ones. That's a
Speaker 2: really hard question. Let's see. Well in Buffalo, Larry Centers
Speaker 2: was one of the guys that jumps out the man.
Speaker 2: The guy was a character. He's really smart and would
Speaker 2: do everything. You know, he he should be there's certain
Speaker 2: you know, there's a lot of guys that should be
Speaker 2: in the Hall of Fame. Larry Center is the all
Speaker 2: time leading receiver for a running back in the history
Speaker 2: of the league.
Speaker 3: And he's not in he should be in.
Speaker 2: But he was also a great blocker, great you know
Speaker 2: in in New England. I mean, for me early on,
Speaker 2: Coates was the guy that saved me personally because he'd
Speaker 2: you know, just on the on the field, Teddy Bruski,
Speaker 2: lawyer tie and then obviously I'd go right down the wad.
Speaker 2: I'm with all the guys that blocked for me, that
Speaker 2: were that were superheroes. I'm still still close with with
Speaker 2: Bruce Armstrong. We keep in touch on a pretty regular basis.
Speaker 2: It's amazing with Bruce, though, who was such a certified badass.
Speaker 2: And I get random text messages from Bruce like Hey,
Speaker 2: just want to reach out to tell you I love
Speaker 2: your brother, right, Like, wait, who's got Bruce's phone?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 2: You know who's messing with me? But man, so many
Speaker 2: great guys, and it was, you know, through through the
Speaker 2: whole thing. Man, there's so many great teammates. If I
Speaker 2: charge started to try and list all the great ones,
Speaker 2: I probably wouldn't do it because I would end up
Speaker 2: leaving somebody out and be like, oh, shoot, that's right.
Speaker 2: And we talked about Chief. Earlier we talked about David Patton.
Speaker 2: What a great teammate that guy was, you know, up
Speaker 2: and down.
Speaker 1: So yeah, who's the toughest opponent you played against?
Speaker 3: Is there one or two people?
Speaker 1: And you can think of that your game playing that week,
Speaker 1: and you go, this is going to be a grind man,
Speaker 1: really hard.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: Warren Sapp was a guy that was that was a
Speaker 2: pain in our ass. And I had to play against
Speaker 2: him again when he was with the Raiders. When I
Speaker 2: was with the Bills. Oh no, man, no, with the Bills,
Speaker 2: and I think with the Cowboys, Bruce Smith obviously, but
Speaker 2: we had Bruce Armstrong over there, so that was a
Speaker 2: battle that everybody focused on every week. But but thankfully
Speaker 2: we had Army you know, blocking him, so it was
Speaker 2: not as big a deal as it would have been
Speaker 2: for other people. I do remember my rookie year, there
Speaker 2: was one play that they had with Bruce Smith on
Speaker 2: tape that they took out of all the cutups because
Speaker 2: they didn't want guys to see it because Bruce just
Speaker 2: Bruce Smith just ruined the He lined up over the
Speaker 2: center and just ruined him and it was Yeah.
Speaker 3: So those are two pretty good examples.
Speaker 2: Yeah, remember Deon Sanders for all the noise and all
Speaker 2: of that stuff, that guy, that guy was, he was
Speaker 2: He was that good. Also, you know, thankfully didn't have
Speaker 2: to play against him that much.
Speaker 3: Right, Okay, so let's go back.
Speaker 1: Why was it important for you to have Robert come
Speaker 1: out here and see what you've built?
Speaker 2: You know, it was important for him to come, and
Speaker 2: I've been trying to get him to come out for
Speaker 2: years and years because a lot of what we do
Speaker 2: and a lot of what we talk about as a
Speaker 2: business ties back to what he's done in building the
Speaker 2: Patriots and to what they are and what they've become.
Speaker 2: And probably the most important piece of that is that,
Speaker 2: you know, I asked him at one point, you know
Speaker 2: what separates you from everybody else? He goes, There's there's
Speaker 2: not one thing, it's everything. We compete at everything, and
Speaker 2: that's a mantra in our business, like we there's there's
Speaker 2: no detail too small to not try to be the
Speaker 2: best at. And so yeah, I talk about it. I
Speaker 2: talk about him a lot with our team, and it
Speaker 2: was important for me to have him come see that
Speaker 2: a lot of what we've done is in some ways
Speaker 2: attribute to him and what he's built.
Speaker 1: For you to do that, and you know, I'm sure
Speaker 1: you speaking to your team about him in almost like
Speaker 1: mythical ways, and does this guy even exist, you know
Speaker 1: and everything? What did they get out of seeing him
Speaker 1: and seeing the two of you and who I've been
Speaker 1: telling you guys is that this is my guy. What
Speaker 1: did they take out of that when they saw him
Speaker 1: actually in the flesh?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I think that I think that they
Speaker 2: realized that, you know, yeah, this guy's a real person
Speaker 2: and also a really good person, right, you know. And
Speaker 2: I think that, you know, people can tend to see
Speaker 2: these guys that have achieved achieved these unimaginable levels of
Speaker 2: financial success, and they're like, oh, this this guy must
Speaker 2: be just an asshole, capitalist pig, you know. And to
Speaker 2: see that he has true heart and soul about him,
Speaker 2: I think that was really meaningful for our team. And
Speaker 2: it's also kind of fun. Honestly, so much of our
Speaker 2: team is so young that to have him show up
Speaker 2: and and you know, talk about me the way that
Speaker 2: he did, like some of these people realize, oh, okay, yeah,
Speaker 2: you know our boss you know, actually you know, did
Speaker 2: some shit back in the day.
Speaker 3: It's I think I don't know. I'm not a great
Speaker 3: math person.
Speaker 1: It's nearly thirty years after you were drafted and you
Speaker 1: can pick up the phone. I know he wasn't there
Speaker 1: right at that time, but pretty soon after. And you
Speaker 1: can still have a relationship with your boss. I mean
Speaker 1: it was your boss, wasn't your coach?
Speaker 3: Was your boss.
Speaker 1: He afforded you with that contract, you know, lifestyle that
Speaker 1: you probably never could dream about. Sure, and the fact
Speaker 1: that today that you can pick up the phone and
Speaker 1: call him, what does that say about the relationship.
Speaker 2: The two of you have, d Well, it transcends, you know,
Speaker 2: a working relationship, you know, boss owner, you know player.
Speaker 2: It's a true friendship and a and a you know,
Speaker 2: he's been a great mentor, even when he's not trying
Speaker 2: to be a lot of times I think he says
Speaker 2: things and I tell him all the times I hate
Speaker 2: you know, when you talk, I actually listen, so be careful.
Speaker 3: What you say.
Speaker 2: But uh, yeah, it's a it's a it's a unique
Speaker 2: relationship that that went that that that changed over time
Speaker 2: into a true friendship and you know, great mutual respect
Speaker 2: and uh, you know, I think you know, it's it's
Speaker 2: just a it's a neat thing for me to have
Speaker 2: that real, true friendship with a guy like that.
Speaker 3: Is it important to you? As you talked about a
Speaker 3: little bit earlier, you know, you're not going.
Speaker 1: To do everything that you learned, You're not going to
Speaker 1: take everything that somebody says, but it's important to you
Speaker 1: to take those key tenants that you learned maybe from him,
Speaker 1: and implement that into the way you build and you
Speaker 1: operate and run.
Speaker 3: Your business on a daily basis. Absolutely, it's absolutely important
Speaker 3: to me that. And there's a.
Speaker 2: I don't want to say pressure, but there's an accountability
Speaker 2: that I feel if I'm going to call him a
Speaker 2: friend and mentor, there are certain ways that we have
Speaker 2: to do things from an ethical standpoint that that have
Speaker 2: a little bit more weight.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: One of the things I talked about with our team
Speaker 2: that's that's true with him is that he's had, you know,
Speaker 2: people that have worked for him. I think Al said
Speaker 2: he's worked for him for forty one years, and you know,
Speaker 2: Stacey's been there since ninety three. I don't know, did
Speaker 2: you start oh four yeah, four? See you got there
Speaker 2: with no good You're just a kid. But and I
Speaker 2: talk about that with our team, is like we're One
Speaker 2: of the things that we are really trying to do
Speaker 2: is to build a business that people don't want to leave,
Speaker 2: and and we tried to because of that. We try
Speaker 2: to treat our people in a way that they know
Speaker 2: they're valued, so that they don't always have their eyes
Speaker 2: on the greener pastures on the other side of the
Speaker 2: fence and that and that's another thing that that that's
Speaker 2: important to me. You know, I don't I don't want to.
Speaker 2: I don't want to be a stepping stone business. I
Speaker 2: want to be a business that people want to work
Speaker 2: for forever.
Speaker 3: He's a pretty open book.
Speaker 1: He's on the society pages. He's with music people, actors, actresses, rappers.
Speaker 1: Yeah what and Patriot fans I think have at least
Speaker 1: a pretty good glimpse of who he is. What would
Speaker 1: they be surprised to know that you know about him
Speaker 1: that maybe the general public doesn't know Drew Well?
Speaker 3: First of all, I don't know if people get a
Speaker 3: sense for how funny he is.
Speaker 2: I mean, he's a funny dude, and you know, and
Speaker 2: and can be pretty off color, you know, in a
Speaker 2: in a really funny way sometimes. And I'm certain that
Speaker 2: they don't get to see that side of him.
Speaker 3: But you know, he's very very genuine. You know, he's
Speaker 3: very genuine.
Speaker 2: And very loving and uh, you know, it's I know
Speaker 2: that I'm certain that he gets a lot of grief
Speaker 2: for having you know, the young girlfriend for the second
Speaker 2: time now fiance, I think. But that's a that's a
Speaker 2: genuine love between the two of them. And you know,
Speaker 2: from the outside of think people probably look at it like, well, no,
Speaker 2: his his wife passed away, so now he's just gonna go,
Speaker 2: you know, chase the young girls around. That's and that's
Speaker 2: not the way I went That's not the way I
Speaker 2: went down. He and he and Myra. We got to
Speaker 2: witness and sit in the kitchen with them and see
Speaker 2: the relationship that they had and that was a genuine
Speaker 2: love affair for what fifty four years something like that.
Speaker 2: He's a very genuine and loving person.
Speaker 3: Life for Drew Blesze is pretty good.
Speaker 1: Family in your hometown, creating jobs, a business. You said,
Speaker 1: you're a wine person now who used to play football.
Speaker 1: You had a happy point in the time of your life.
Speaker 2: I'm got a I'm at a good place and and
Speaker 2: and then you know, and I recognize and I think
Speaker 2: I try to say frequently. You know, I've lived in
Speaker 2: an extremely blessed life and that has very very little
Speaker 2: to do with financial success. You know, I grew up
Speaker 2: in a loving home with two parents, got a brother
Speaker 2: that's still my best buddy, you know, married my college sweetheart,
Speaker 2: have four happy, healthy kids, you know, and and and
Speaker 2: I've never had a real job after high school. I mean,
Speaker 2: you know, I worked construction, and you know when I
Speaker 2: was in high school, and you know, I had to
Speaker 2: go work in the wheat fields and so on. But
Speaker 2: but you know, since since high school, I really never
Speaker 2: had a real job. I got to play football, and
Speaker 2: then I got to start and own a winery. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's a it's a blessed, blessed existence, and I recognize that.
Speaker 2: And you know, I hope that I'm playing a very
Speaker 2: good hand. Well, is what I'm trying to do. You know,
Speaker 2: people get all kinds of I've got a great friend
Speaker 2: in Montana whose license plate says seven two one w N,
Speaker 2: which seven to two is the worst hand you can
Speaker 2: ever get in in poker, and he's taken the worst
Speaker 2: hand and one with it right. And for me, you know,
Speaker 2: I mean I was dealt aces and I'm trying to
Speaker 2: play him really well and then trying to make a
Speaker 2: good impact on the world and do some difference.
Speaker 3: Tremendous perspective.
Speaker 1: Thank you very much for your time. His name is
Speaker 1: Dreu Ledsoe, the OG number eleven. Drew. Great to catch
Speaker 1: up with you and thank you for all your time.
Speaker 3: Thanks for coming to see me man, I appreciate it.
Speaker 3: Thank you for downloading this podcast. Subscribe on the Apple,
Speaker 3: Google Play, and everywhere else you listen.
Speaker 1: Like the show, please rate and review us.
Speaker 3: Listener comments and ratings help keep us high in the
Speaker 3: podcast rankings so new listeners can find us.
Speaker 1: Be sure to check Patriots dot com for more news
Speaker 1: and more podcasts.