Undertaker #59
06-22-2004, 08:03 AM
Getting the house in order
Bledsoe sees Bills straightening out
By Nick Cafardo, Globe Staff | June 20, 2004
Among the many hits Drew Bledsoe took last year, the one he didn't mind came in the selling of his house. Red Sox ace Curt Schilling bought the quarterback's 11,000-square-foot Medfield estate at a discount in December. "Yeah, I'm real happy Curt came along," kidded Bledsoe from his home in Oregon last week. "I spoke to Curt a few times and I really enjoyed our conversations. We had that house on the market for about a year and a half, dropped the price a couple of times [from $8.995 million to less than $6.5 million], took a pretty good hit, and finally Curt bought it.
"It's a great house. Part of me is sad that we weren't able to enjoy it for a longer period of time, but the fact there's a family in with three or four kids running around and using it the way we envisioned makes it a little easier to take."
The thing he'll miss most?
"The home theater," said Bledsoe. "The kids and I spent a lot of time in there watching movies and just being together as a family."
The Buffalo Bills' training camp is still six weeks away, but the minicamps and passing camps under new coach Mike Mularkey, offensive coordinator Tom Clements, and quarterback coach Sam Wyche have rejuvenated Bledsoe after a miserable 2003 campaign.
The team's new offense is a throwback to what Bledsoe ran as a young player in New England under Ray Perkins. The terminology is different, but he claims the new system (his sixth as a professional) will allow him to make quicker decisions, reducing the hits on him.
While the Bills' offensive line wasn't very good last year -- "some of the plays just took too long to develop and we were asking our offensive line to protect for a long time," said Bledsoe -- he believes new line coach Jim McNally is going to make a difference with his protection schemes.
"I feel we have a tremendously talented coaching staff," Bledsoe said. "Last year I think there was some confusion with our offense. I'm not sure the offense really suited the type of personnel we had. It just feels that we fit this year."
Bledsoe calls first-round pick Lee Evans, a receiver out of Wisconsin, "the real deal. He reminds me talentwise of Terry Glenn when he was a rookie. Very explosive pass catcher. He should be an asset to our offense. The big part for us is Eric [Moulds], who was injured last season and just wasn't himself. Travis Henry is a great back and now we have Willis McGahee, who looks really good. He no longer has the limp he had last year and he's going to really help us offensively."
Bledsoe, who renegotiated his massive contract in April to avoid a November option bonus date that would have been awkward for him and management, said he's never doubted that he can still play at a high level.
"A lot of things went wrong last year," he said. "I didn't play very well, but I just have an extremely high level of confidence in myself. I have a lot to prove again, and if there's one thing that motivates me, it's that last year wasn't me."
He'll have to prove himself again because the Bills selected a quarterback, J.P. Losman from Tulane, with their second first-round pick (22d overall). Bledsoe has been lauded for the manner in which he's treated the young man who may eventually take his job. The veteran Bledsoe won't let competition deter him from helping the rookie, the same way he helped Tom Brady in New England.
But at age 32, he's not ready to declare his career over.
He admits he still keeps an eye on the Patriots.
"Oh sure," he said. "They're our rivals. We have to beat them to get to where we want to go. When you see all of the draft picks they had and then they obtain Corey Dillon, you just shake you head. You get sick. That's what we're up against."
At least he doesn't have the albatross of a $9 million house on the market.
Bledsoe sees Bills straightening out
By Nick Cafardo, Globe Staff | June 20, 2004
Among the many hits Drew Bledsoe took last year, the one he didn't mind came in the selling of his house. Red Sox ace Curt Schilling bought the quarterback's 11,000-square-foot Medfield estate at a discount in December. "Yeah, I'm real happy Curt came along," kidded Bledsoe from his home in Oregon last week. "I spoke to Curt a few times and I really enjoyed our conversations. We had that house on the market for about a year and a half, dropped the price a couple of times [from $8.995 million to less than $6.5 million], took a pretty good hit, and finally Curt bought it.
"It's a great house. Part of me is sad that we weren't able to enjoy it for a longer period of time, but the fact there's a family in with three or four kids running around and using it the way we envisioned makes it a little easier to take."
The thing he'll miss most?
"The home theater," said Bledsoe. "The kids and I spent a lot of time in there watching movies and just being together as a family."
The Buffalo Bills' training camp is still six weeks away, but the minicamps and passing camps under new coach Mike Mularkey, offensive coordinator Tom Clements, and quarterback coach Sam Wyche have rejuvenated Bledsoe after a miserable 2003 campaign.
The team's new offense is a throwback to what Bledsoe ran as a young player in New England under Ray Perkins. The terminology is different, but he claims the new system (his sixth as a professional) will allow him to make quicker decisions, reducing the hits on him.
While the Bills' offensive line wasn't very good last year -- "some of the plays just took too long to develop and we were asking our offensive line to protect for a long time," said Bledsoe -- he believes new line coach Jim McNally is going to make a difference with his protection schemes.
"I feel we have a tremendously talented coaching staff," Bledsoe said. "Last year I think there was some confusion with our offense. I'm not sure the offense really suited the type of personnel we had. It just feels that we fit this year."
Bledsoe calls first-round pick Lee Evans, a receiver out of Wisconsin, "the real deal. He reminds me talentwise of Terry Glenn when he was a rookie. Very explosive pass catcher. He should be an asset to our offense. The big part for us is Eric [Moulds], who was injured last season and just wasn't himself. Travis Henry is a great back and now we have Willis McGahee, who looks really good. He no longer has the limp he had last year and he's going to really help us offensively."
Bledsoe, who renegotiated his massive contract in April to avoid a November option bonus date that would have been awkward for him and management, said he's never doubted that he can still play at a high level.
"A lot of things went wrong last year," he said. "I didn't play very well, but I just have an extremely high level of confidence in myself. I have a lot to prove again, and if there's one thing that motivates me, it's that last year wasn't me."
He'll have to prove himself again because the Bills selected a quarterback, J.P. Losman from Tulane, with their second first-round pick (22d overall). Bledsoe has been lauded for the manner in which he's treated the young man who may eventually take his job. The veteran Bledsoe won't let competition deter him from helping the rookie, the same way he helped Tom Brady in New England.
But at age 32, he's not ready to declare his career over.
He admits he still keeps an eye on the Patriots.
"Oh sure," he said. "They're our rivals. We have to beat them to get to where we want to go. When you see all of the draft picks they had and then they obtain Corey Dillon, you just shake you head. You get sick. That's what we're up against."
At least he doesn't have the albatross of a $9 million house on the market.