STUNNING STABILITY
It’s been 24 years since the Patriots have had this type of instability at quarterback.
The Pats have had one quarterback make all 16 regular-season starts 18 times in the last 24 seasons. It’s a stretch of stability that is envied by most NFL teams.
With Jacoby Brissett poised to make his first start on Thursday in place of an injured Jimmy Garoppolo and Tom Brady due back from his Deflategate suspension for Week 5, the Patriots seem set to start three quarterbacks for the first time since 1992. That was a year before Bill Parcells and Drew Bledsoe ushered in the modern era of football in New England and two years before Robert Kraft bought the team.
A look at the years since 1992 when the Pats used more than one starter at quarterback:
1992 Record: 2-14
The patriots had a revolving door of quarterbacks in final year of the dick mcpherson era (and the final campaign with the pat patriot uniforms). Only Zolak (who went 2-2 in his four-start run) was able to lead the pats to a win, as millen, Hodson and Carlson combined to go 0-12.
1993 Record: 2-14
bledsoe won the starting job out of training camp after being drafted first overall. but an injury to bledsoe in Week 1 forced new coach bill parcels to turn to secules for four games. secules went 0-4 before handing the job back to bledsoe.
1995 Record: 5-11
bledsoe yielded to Zolak for one game in Week 5 due to a shoulder injury. Zolak was at the helm for the 30-17 loss before bledsoe returned for the remainder of the season.
1998 Record: 9-7
bledsoe suffered a broken finger that kept him out of the final two regular season games and a playoff game. Zolak engineered a 24-21 win over the 49ers in Week 16 that helped pave the way to the playoffs, where he and the pats lost 25-10 to at Jacksonville in the wild-card round.
2001 Record: 11-5 (Super Bowl champion)
brady first stepped into view for most patriots fans on sept. 23 when he relieved an injured bledsoe against the Jets. He would never give bledsoe back the job and went on to win super bowl XXXVI and take hold of the New england starting job for a generation.
2008 Record: 11-5
brady suffered a torn aCL in the first quarter of the season opener that ended his year. Cassel replaced him and led the patriots to a hard-luck 11-5 record that still left them on the outside of the playoff field.