Bledsoe Too Indecisive To Complete Handoff

SEATTLE--Drew Bledsoe’s indecisiveness got the best of him once again on Monday night when he couldn’t decide which back to hand the ball to during a routine running play. Though the play was designed to go to Julius Jones, Bledsoe decided against handing it to his number one back, and frantically looked for an alternative before finally being swarmed by defenders and dropped for a loss. Later, he defended his actions and blamed his offensive line for failing to block for him.

“We need better blocking, that’s for sure,” he told reporters after the game. “If I don’t get more time to hand the ball off then there’s no way we can establish a decent running game. Obviously there are going to be times when I can’t go to my first option and on those times I’m going to need to scramble and find another back, or even a lineman, to hand the ball to. I’m just proud of myself for not forcing the ball to Julius. I always say a sack is better than a big gain. I guess I just come from the old school.”

On the replay, Jones did appear to be open, but Bledsoe could not pull the trigger on the handoff. Instead, he chose to scramble around, pat the ball a few times, and finally take a sack. It was a frustrating play for Jones, who was ready to take the ball and hit the hole.

“Man, I can’t believe that happened again,” said Jones, who experienced a similar play in practice this week. “It was just a simple off-tackle running play. I even saw the hole open up in front of me. I was ready to take the ball, but at the last minute Drew swiped it away and just started looking around for someone else. Who else is he looking for? The play was designed for me. Hopefully we can straighten this out. It’s just one of those bad habits that Drew has been dealing with for the past 14 years or so.” After the play was broken, Jones watched in horror as Bledsoe was dumped for a 10-yard-loss.

“After the missed hand off, Drew started looking around for someone else to hand the ball to. At one point he was pretty close to giving it to one of our lineman, Larry Allen,” Jones said. “Shockingly, he thought better of it. I didn’t know what to do myself, so I just started throwing blocks. After about five seconds our backfield was full of defenders and they were pig-piling on top of Drew. After the play was over, Drew was acting like it was no big deal. He just flipped the ball to the ref and yelled ‘Come on, O-line! We need more from you guys! Let’s go!’ He really does have great leadership skills. It’s his football-playing skills that need work.”

Seattle defenders said they weren’t surprised to see Bledsoe botch the hand off. His inability to make quick decisions has haunted him for his entire career. Veteran defenders are able to take advantage of that.

“That’s Drew for you. He won’t give up on the ball easily,” said defensive tackle Chartric Darby. “Usually you see it during passing plays. He’ll look around and look around until he finally finds someone who’s triple covered, then he’ll throw it. Either that or he won’t throw it at all. He’s just damn lucky that his backup quarterback is Drew Henson, the kid who was too inept to replace Vinny Testaverde last year.”

Coach Bill Parcells will not consider replacing Bledsoe as the starting quarterback, especially after signing him to a 3-year deal. He plans to continue working with Bledsoe on his decision-making and accuracy. With the season starting in two weeks, time is running out.

“I’m going to work closely with Drew to get rid of some of those bad habits,” said Parcells. “We’re trying to take all the decision-making out of his hands. If it’s a hand-off to Julius, we’re going to make him wear a bright red shirt so Drew remembers that he is the man to hand the ball to. Same thing with the receivers on passing plays. We originally tried making the intended receiver wear a giant sandwich board that read ‘Drew, pass it here.’ But Bledsoe got confused and thought it was meant for Drew Henson, so he ended up taking a sack. Better safe than sorry, I guess.”

Bledsoe, however, still thinks the problem lies with the protection. He has challenged his offensive linemen to “step up to the plate.”

“I know it looks discouraging, but our protection will improve,” he said. “Our guys just need to respond to the challenge and get the job done. A quarterback is only as good as his offensive line. As you probably noticed, I’ve had shitty offensive lines my whole career. Of course, they usually improve the minute I leave the team. Just a coincidence, I guess.”