Former Jets LB Blames Drew Bledsoe for Hit That Started Tom Brady Era with Patriots

In Sept. 2001, former New York Jets linebacker Mo Lewis hit former New England Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe so hard that it sheared a blood vessel in his chest, setting the stage for Tom Brady to take over as the team's quarterback.

The rest is history, of course, but Lewis has grown weary of being considered the man who ushered in the Brady Era.

"[Bledsoe] just signed a $100 million deal to be what type of quarterback? A passing quarterback, correct?" he said in Gary Myers' upcoming "Brady vs. Belichick" book (h/t Rich Cimini of ESPN). "Had he not got outside the pocket and ran with the ball, would we be talking about this? Who caused the event? The person who was with the ball. Now he's doing what he didn't sign up for. He signed up to be a passing quarterback. What do I do? I stop the people with the ball. It's just another play for me. But it's a different play for him."

Bledsoe was scrambling to get a first down on the play when Lewis cleanly, but ferociously, rocked him along the sideline. It ultimately was a definitive moment in NFL history, though don't say that to Lewis.

"It's really irrelevant to me," he said. "It was just another play to me. To you all, it's a big game-changing, history-changing play. I've never gone back to watch the play. If people want to talk about it, I don't hide from it. But it has no importance to me."