Bledsoe Is Taking His Lumps

Look out, Drew, here comes that pass rush again.

With his receivers covered, New England’s lead-footed quarterback lumbers for his life, then goes down under a massive lineman. Drew Bledsoe gets up, returns to the huddle and takes another snap.

That, in itself, is an accomplishment in a season in which injuries have sent so many other top quarterbacks to the sidelines.

“I have a little bruise here, an ache there, but overall I feel healthy,” says Bledsoe, who has absorbed 29 sacks, third most in the NFL.

While he’s still in one piece, the Patriots are falling apart.

Midway through the season, they were rolling at 6-2 and he was the AFC’s top-rated quarterback. Now, they’re reeling at 6-4, he’s fallen to the sixth slot and New England is as close to last place as it is to first in the tough AFC East.

“I’m going to do what I need to do to be effective,” Bledsoe said, “and if that means taking a hit in certain situations, that’s what happens.”

He’s been taking plenty, even after he releases the ball. That’s because he tries to give a play every chance to work, even if it means holding the ball as long as he can rather than throwing it out of bounds while a receiver fights to get open.

“He’s got a little gambling in him,” coach Pete Carroll said. “It’s a good part of his style. We’ve got to work with him to corral it at times when it can get the best of him.”

Bledsoe doesn’t lack confidence, and with good reason. He was the first player taken in the 1993 draft. He’s played in three Pro Bowls. He relishes--and usually succeeds in--fourth-quarter comebacks.

But he failed to do that in the Patriots’ last two games, losses to division rivals Miami and the New York Jets. The passing game, based on timing among the quarterback, receivers and offensive linemen, was off.

Bledsoe’s combined numbers in those games: 30-for-70 (43 percent) for 371 yards, three touchdowns and eight interceptions.

In the first eight games, he was 164-for-271 (60 percent) for 2,314 yards, 13 touchdowns and four interceptions.

Defenders hit Patriots receivers near the line of scrimmage, keeping them from arriving on time at the spot where the pass is to be thrown. So Bledsoe had to hold the ball longer, the linemen had to fight off pass rushers longer and the play broke down.

The Patriots and Bledsoe must correct that today at Buffalo (7-4) to keep their playoff prospects from growing even dimmer.

“I have total confidence in him that he can do it,” wide receiver Tony Simmons said. “He’s just getting frustrated, probably. Now he’s going to come back and play a great game.”

As long as he can avoid the injury bug that claimed Steve Young, Troy Aikman, Dan Marino and Vinny Testaverde. And don’t forget Jake Plummer, Steve McNair and Charlie Batch.

Bledsoe did miss the last three games last season with a broken finger as his 58-game consecutive starting streak ended.

And what if he goes down again?

“I don’t even want to talk about that if you don’t mind,” a squeamish Carroll said.

The Denver Broncos have been hardest hit by the quarterback drain, having lost Brian Griese and Bubby Brister to injuries. Of course, they wouldn’t have been playing if John Elway hadn’t retired.

“It may be a little more magnified with the retirement of Elway. It feels like he’s injured almost,” said John Friesz, who has seen little action as backup to the healthy Bledsoe. “It’s the nature of the position. Everybody, obviously, is getting bigger and faster and stronger, and you’re still standing there pretty vulnerable. So injuries are a part of it.”

They can be devastating if they happen to your most important player.

Testaverde was lost for the season in the opener, and the Jets were 1-6 before winning their last three games. The 49ers were 2-1 with Young, 1-6 since he suffered a concussion.

The Dolphins, however, were 5-1 after Sunday’s win over the Patriots since Damon Huard took over for Marino, who lost at Dallas in his return on Thanksgiving Day.

In fact, Jets backup Ray Lucas and Huard had better statistics then Bledsoe in the last two games. But despite their success and Bledsoe’s recent failures, New England has no interest in having its backup quarterback play.

“We win when Drew is on and we lose when he’s off,” said left tackle Bruce Armstrong, who has the critical task of protecting Bledsoe’s blind side.

But there’s only so much protection that he and his fellow linemen can provide.

“I’m not his mother,” Armstrong said. “I do my job. I try to take care of him as well as I possibly can.

“We don’t want anybody flying in and have them take those head shots, which some of these other quarterbacks have taken. And, for the most part, we’re pretty good at picking up blitzes.”

Still, sacks against Bledsoe are up, from 11 in the first five games to 18 in the last five.

“He just gets up and shakes it off,” Simmons said.

Carroll just wishes he wouldn’t have to get up so much.

“Those guys are going to get hit,” he said, but “we’d like him to get hit a lot less than he has been.”