Patriots’ quarterback question: Who will play?
By Jim Litke
Associated Press

PITTSBURGH — It’s a predicament most coaches would love to have. Some other week.
“I like our chances, whoever we throw out there,” Patriots safety Lawyer Milloy said. “And that’s all I’m going to say about it.”

If only that were an option for Bill Belichick.

KRT New England quarterback Drew Bledsoe (11) scrambles against Pittsburgh in the Patriots' 24-17 victory Sunday, Jan. 27, to qualify for the Super Bowl XXXVI.

Picking a starting quarterback is not supposed to be this hard. Not when you’re headed to the Super Bowl, and especially not when your team is on the hook for $900,000 to one guy and $103 million to the other.

But no sooner had New England put away the Steelers 24-17 Sunday than a full-blown quarterback controversy was again staring the Patriots coach in the face.

It began when Tom Brady, the bargain-basement passer who stepped in when Pro Bowl veteran Drew Bledsoe was injured after the second game of the regular season, rolled his ankle just before half-time. For the first time since a vicious hit by the Jets’ Mo Lewis four months ago sheared a blood vessel in his chest, Bledsoe stepped onto a field with something on the line.

To no one’s surprise, he was masterful.

“You don’t give a guy $100 million if you don’t think he can be a championship quarterback,” Pittsburgh safety Lee Flowers said. “Nobody on our sideline was celebrating when Brady went out.”

Which explains why, compared to all the manufactured controversies in Super Bowl weeks past, this one is a 24-carat conundrum.

One can run with the ball, the other probably shouldn’t.

One has almost a decade of experience, the other the better part of a season.

One throws the deep ball better, the other throws a better-timed slant.

And both have proven themselves stone-cold winners.

“We’ll take a look at Tom’s situation and we’ll make an evaluation there,” Belichick said.

“We’ll talk about it and make the decision later in the week.”

Brady was still waiting for his turn to hoist the AFC Championship trophy when someone asked him how the ankle felt.

“Feeling good, feeling good,” he replied, “and that’s all coach wants us to say about it.”

But that won’t be the last word.

“Obviously,” Bledsoe said, “that’s the biggest game there is and everybody wants to play in it. It’s going to be a tough situation.”

The good news is Belichick has plenty of practice handling it.

And he’s got this going for him too: Both Brady, a sixth-round pick just two seasons removed from another quarterback controversy at Michigan, and Bledsoe, whose 10-year, $103 million deal before this season cemented his reputation as a franchise quarterback, have been as cooperative as two men with hyper-competitive egos can be.

“It wasn’t Tom’s fault they chose to go with him the rest of the year,” Milloy said. “A lot of us definitely felt any competitor that loses his job due to injury, you have to feel his pain.

But the way Drew handled the situation all year is the reason we were able to do the things we’re doing.

credits

TCU Daily Skiff © 2002