Cassel storm subsides
On the bright side, no more “Trade Tom Brady” inanity.
Of all the ludicrous knee-jerk mentality that sports talk radio can breed, the recent fortnight we just endured perhaps took the title for worst “What have you done for me lately?” foolishness. The premise was simple enough. Matt Cassel, it turned out, wasn’t as bad as Patriots fans once feared -- he was even on par with what that other guy did in his first season at the helm.
He’s younger than Brady, and a free agent. Now, cite the incumbent's knee injury and the difficulty he may have coming back from it, and you’ve got yourself the modern equivalent of Brady-Bledsoe, with the two-time participant in each discussion physically unable to prove his worth at the time being.
As if he should have to.
Well, Brady fans can today relax, for if three Super Bowl titles and an MVP season weren’t enough to quiet down the moronic legions willing to go into the future with a shiny new toy rather than one of the game’s greatest, many of them will likely go into hiding today after Cassel’s two-interception, two-fumble game against a smothering Pittsburgh defense, helping the Steelers to a 33-10 rout. Cassel’s QB rating for the day was a paltry 39.4, which was only about 17 points higher than Marc Bulger’s dreadful 22.2 Sunday afternoon vs. Miami (a painful, three-hour unpaid advertisement for DirecTV).
This is not to denounce anything that Cassel has done this season, one in which the young man has made himself a nice living come the offseason, when plenty of teams will be searching for a quarterback. Even a quick glance of the rosters yesterday shows that many franchises would be nuts not to take a look at the perennial backup. If Josh McDaniels does tackle a head coaching job somewhere next season, it’s not out of the realm of possibility to imagine he’d like to take a familiar face with him. If Belichick lets him. We all know how that works.
And really, after a string of stellar outings, one had to suspect this type of effort was coming from Cassel, who had yet to face such a devastating, hard-hitting defense as the one Mike Tomlin brought with him to Foxborough (and surely one Wes Welker, among others, might classify as “dirty” after the hit put on him by Ryan Clark). Plus, with a remaining four-game schedule that includes Seattle, Oakland, Arizona, and Buffalo, odds are we’re to hear some more Brady-Cassel debate into the next month, and perhaps as far as the franchise tag will take us. Sweet.
This debate shouldn’t have even begun, but if we must, here are the factors involved in arguing it:
Tom Brady has won three Super Bowls.
Matt Cassel has beaten the Chiefs, Jets, 49ers, Broncos, Rams, Bills, and Dolphins, teams that are a combined 36-48. He’s 1-1 against the Dolphins and Jets, leaving the Broncos as the only other above-.500 team he has faced and beaten that has not (and will not, barring a playoff game) evened things out. The Patriots have lost to Indianapolis, the Jets, and now Pittsburgh, over the past month, a trio of defeats that won’t look any prettier once the playoff docket is set with all three of the aforementioned in the mix as well.
Oh, and he had back-to-back 400-yard games. If that’s what some Pats fans want to base jettisoning a future Hall of Famer over, then I guess we can finally seed out which ones are there for the game on a weekly basis, and which ones are there simply to spew their guts all over the Gillette hallways.
On the grand scale of knowledgeable football fans, the past few weeks have made New England appear to be on the lowest rung, right down there with the “Kick Us More, Please" fans of Raider Nation. Trade Tom Brady. Hey, Cassel beat the Dolphins. Younger. Knee questions. Free agent. Brady’s 31.
It has all made a grand portion of Patriots fans to look like buffoons.
New England could still be in the playoff mix, particularly with the schedules that the Steelers and Ravens face over the final four weeks. But once there, to expect this team to do much is ludicrous. It’s been a surprise season, with a nice resume put up by Cassel, but through no fault of his own will the man ever be Tom Brady. Could he be Matt Leinart or Carson Palmer, the other two NFL QBs he once backed up in college? Sure. He’s probably already surpassed Leinart, and Palmer’s injuries make him a concern going forward.
Is he, as ESPN's Cris Carter so generously put it some weeks back, a "high school quarterback?" Uh, no. Any concern that Cassel is an inexperienced, walking uniform has been jettisoned. Is he a top-tier NFL QB? He may get paid like one, whether he is or not.
But Tom Brady was/is the best quarterback in the NFL. To talk of his demise over a nice string of performances from his backup is a slap in the face to all the guy has done around here.
Who would have thought, seven years, three Lombardis, and an MVP later we’d have to have to this discussion again?
Until we watch what Matt Cassel can do with a receiving corps of Reche Caldwell and Doug Gabriel in place of Randy Moss and Wes Welker, this argument, as if we needed to wait for yesterday's reality, is officially over.
Hey Patriot Fans. Maybe you're not as good without those secret videos that stole defensive signals in the past. Just maybe, just maybe Joey Porter is right.
A Steeler Fan
In this era of 24-7, 365 sports coverage saturation if it wasn't for Knee-Jerk reaction, there may be no reaction at all... it's maddening.
Thank you Eric Wilbur for calling out the morons who spew this crap. How insane is it that Pete Sheppard was the rational one last week.
Well, I guess I can say that you've hit the nail on the head. I can't disagree with a thing you've said. I guess the "pink hats" can crawl back under their rocks. Looking forward to next year when Tom's back at the helm. They do need to address some defensive issues but hey, worry about that next year.
It is reality time people. What you are now seeing is a typical Belicheck coached team when they can't cheat. Think Cleveland Browns of the 90's. To date the biggest Belicheck coaching failure. Then he goes to New England starts cheating from day one and becomes a "coaching genious" what a joke. IF Belicheck can't cheat he is toast. He won't last 3 more years in Beantown.
Hey Steeler fan-
I'm thinking more likely that it has something to do with the fact that the MVP of the NFL has been out for the season, and the 2 defensive captains have been out a long time as well.. but hey, whatever makes you feel better about those 2 home AFC Championship Chokes your team had to the Pats..
1. I love the morons who chime in about how the Pats can't win if they don't cheat. Didn't they go undefeated to the Super Bowl last year? I know Steelers fans are bone-dumb as it is, but they don't remember that? It was in all the papers.
2. I can't speak for the idiots on talk radio, but was there really much talk about Cassel REPLACING Brady? I think most of the talk was franchising Cassel in case Brady's surgery was further complicated. From a depth standpoint, that would be a good move. Plus, he could always be traded.
Sad to see Cassel cost himself money in next year's contract with such a poor outing. He's definitely no Brady.
Sure am glad my name is not Wes Welker today.... i bet he is one sore little puppy!!! It would have really been someting had he actually completed the full rotation on the back flip, it was close, i will give him 8.9 on style points!!! Think twice about coming across the middle against the leagues #1 defense!!!
Patriots O and ST stunk it up... the D certainly helped, but it didn't force Randy Moss to drop 2 balls, Slaton to muff the ball, or Gost to miss a chip shot. What about the other poor drives... Pats drive to the 30 in the opening drive of the second half, then get knocked out of FG range? Wha? A run on 3rd and short in the first half when everyone in the stadium knew it was coming? They were due for this mess, and without Brady to right the ship the game got away from them in a hurry.
Amusing...when a long-time juggernaut loses, the low-lifes (I'm looking at you Patton and "screenplay") come out of the wood-work and prove how little they know about football. The Patriots only won those 3 Super Bowls because they videotaped a couple of hand signals??? Yeah, it really affected them last year when they went undefeated up until about 1 minute left in the Super Bowl. People like you have no clue what it takes to win a game in the NFL.
EW- I agree with you, it should never be in question who the QB of the Patriots is. Tom has earned the right to choose his own time to hang em up. Plus, I fully believe that Brady will put in every bit of effort needed to get back to his elite status.
I don't think you can put all the blame on Cassel. I remember seeing a lot of dropped balls by some "money" players - not just the forced fumbles. If Randy catches those dropped passes it's a different ball game. Unfortunately for Cassel it got to the point where he HAD TO throw down the field - and when that happens you end up throwing into coverage and you get interceptions.
This is typical of media and sports talk show hosts who try to make themselves look more informed and intelligent by taking a couple of callers' stupid opinions and turning it into some sort of "issue". I even heard Glenn Ordway last week use the phrase "the trade Tom Brady movement". Five callers out of thousands of fans doesn't make something an issue-Borges did it today too and now you, Eric.You can't listen to ten minutes of talk radio without one of the hosts saying "Everybody says" or "people forget...", like they have any idea what EVERYBODY says or what people FORGET!
Let's all remember that Brady had some less-than-perfect performances over the last few years. Although we were quick to jump on the Cassel wagon, we are just as quick to jump off. The guy has played a great season so far. He may not be a Brady now, but he could be in the future and the team who gets him will be lucky.
I bet he bounces back next week.
Rich Patton,
enjoy your little win for the week, bravo for you! way to handle a regular season victory in stride and with a fair amount of class, karma will come back around and send you and your team full of punks home early right along with us. nobody likes a sore winner jerkoff....and joey porter?? please, biggest jackass in the nfl today, nobody likes excuse makers either...
To the sentence "Matt Cassel is a starting quarterback in the NFL." a qualifying adjective must be added. I would suggest 'serviceable' or 'adequate' are the most accurate choices. He might be slightly better than either of these words connotes, but not by much. He takes too long to go through his checkdowns and his release is slower than Brady's. Add this to his passes being delivered with less accuracy than Brady's, and the decision becomes easier. If there are legitimate concerns about Brady's knee injury, it should be apparent by the time free-agency comes around whether or not Brady can make a full and timely recovery. If there is still concern at that point, the choice will be whether or not to overspend on Matt Cassell, or to get a cheaper, experienced, but still serviceable temporary fill-in.
ahh, the ironies. pats fans calling pitt fans "bone-dumb", even as they were selling out brady and anointing cassel. pats fans threatening with "karma", even as the memories of spygate and david tyree burn bright. pats fans whining about dropped balls when pitt had just as many (umm, it was raining). pats fans talking about how their team won those past title games not by cheating but by being better, but then accusing pitt of "choking". how do you "choke" if the other team is better?
and, by the way, if the cheating didn't help, then why'd they do it?
Dave and Shawn- 5 Super Bowl Championships baby, to what, 3? Pleasem you all tried hard to be as great, but lets face it, the Pats are just that, Patsies. oh, and by the way, nice crowd, full of Steeler fans waving their Terrible Towels while the Pats "fans" left because they couldn't deal with it. We call you the Cleveland Browns of the North. Steeler Wannabes.....actually, Steeler fans are hoping the Patsies do make the playoffs, so we can pummel them by 50 points when we get our 2 starting cornerbacks back!
benjikaye put his finger on it. No one disputes that the Patriots have had a marvelous team for the past several years. But, like Barry Bonds and his chemical cheating, the record is tarnished. Who knows how they would have performed without the info gained from the illegal taping? Belicheck would not have bothered had there been no advantage gained. Take two equally-matched teams and give one an intelligence (read: G-2) advantage--most often the one with prior knowledge of a game plan, defensive set, etc., will win. Q.E.D.
Always nice to hear from the bottom of the barrel Steeler fans. How else would we know the Steelers finally beat the Patriots? We don't know for sure that you're "bone-dumb", it's just that when we read your comments it's hard to come to any other conclusion. We figure you're all typing with one hand and waving those silly towels with the other. Congratulations on the win. Your team earned it. Just one last thing. The cheap shot on Welker (as dirty a play as I've seen and could have paralyzed him or worse) won't be forgotten.
Mr. Patton-
If you genuinely believe what you wrote than you are probably on the same reading level as Joey Porter. Maybe you are right and Pittsburgh finally reversed the trend of the last seven years by beating us up because we no longer videotape defensive signals (like every other team used to and probably continues to do). Or maybe it's because our Hall of Fame quaterback, the best player in the league, is out for the season. I feel guilty for dignifying your classless, moronic comment with a response, but I sometimes lose my patience with stupidity.
ahh, you know fellow patriot fans I was almost beginning to dwell in the sun of Cassel, but I forgot hell! he's the backup,the backup,to the Great Brady....I knew that the black and gold clouds of the steelers were on the horizion....why didn't our offensive think tank think of away to help Cassel prepare for the storm.....you know maybe they forgot that..........hell..............he's only the backup........
Its time to get rid of Cassel so far this yr He hasn't won more than 2 games in a row Thats pathetic. He needs to go. He basically won that game for the Steelers the way he played He was PATHETIC. get BRADY BACK go away Cassel
And Moss when he thows the ball to you CATCH IT IDIOT you would have caught those balls if Brady was throwing them to you. just go away Cassel WE NEED A REAL QUARTER BACK one that will be able to win more than 2 games in a row.
i WOULD HAVE benched Cassel in the 3 quarter and put the new guy in A grand Mother would have done a better job than him
Good points Eric, but your comments are typical "Monday morning quaterbacking". You would have added more credibilty to yourself if you wrote this prior o yesterday's debacle.
Well for what it's really worth. Just as it's too early to chime in on "Trade Brady" it's not fair to say that Cassel isn't the next big thing considering he is a rookie and Pittsburgh is Pittsburgh. The #1 D in the league. Remember Brady QB'd a masterful 31-0 loss against the Bills after winning a Superbowl or two. If you're going to watch for the kneejerk, also watch for the smarky "I told you so". Both are very damaging.
The major point the "trade Brady backlash" is missing out on is the obvious fact that this defense stinks and even with Brady this team will not win squat. That's a fact. They couldn't get it done last year because the team couldn't get off the field on 3rd down when it counted. It's even worse this year and will only get worse as Bruschi, Vrabel, and others get older and slower, Harrison probably doesn't come back, and their overrated D-line continues to get exposed. They can't cover anybody and can't tackle (besides Mayo & Guyton). From a business standpoint, why doesn't it make sense to consider trading Brady for multiple draft picks plus the cap room saved by clearing his contract. Yes, it's almost too terrible to think about after all #12 has done for the Pats. But ask #11 what it's like to be kicked to the curb after being the face of the franchise. Imagine if they could revamp the D with a solid draft and some key free agents using Brady's cap space.
Pittsburgh, NYG, and Tennessee are all legit contenders even though they have just average QBs because they have shut-down D. The Pats just proved last Feb that you can't get by without the D when it counts--or have we already forgotten how we beat the Rams when they had the Super Stud QB of the decade?
I do think Cassel is good enough to lead a team. Maybe his career doesn't quite match Brady's in the end, but if the Pats fix their D I see no reason why he can't be good enough (they still have Moss & Welker, right?) to win Super Bowls.
I sure hope all these people now coming out of the woodwork to bash the "Trade Brady" camp keep their big mouths shut IF (and we hope it never happens) #12 doesn't come back from his knee injury and the Pats are destined for mediocrity due to age & no cap flexibility. Because that's a real possibility too.
I think the Niners would give up several draft picks (and maybe Patrick Willis) to land their hometown QB for a few years.
Are you telling me you wouldn't entertain an idea like that if it meant the defense immediately improved with proven vets obtained in a trade plus free agent CB(s)???
Wow, Steeler Fans are pretty insecure. It's hurts, I know, to lose every home playoff game to the Patriots. To book plans to New Orleans, then come out with a half ass effort against an inferior opponent (2001). To get blown off your own home field after posting a 15-1 record (2004). To talk a river of smack, guarantee victory and get tripled up on the score board (2008).
Now, your team beats the weakest Patriots team since 2001, minus the QB who owns your overrated Defense, and you're talking smack? Back to the saw mill, Cleatus...
Cassel didn't have an award-winning game, but he played better than Moss. He played better than Deltha O'neal. He played better than Gaffney. He played better than Watson. The only Pats player who had a better game was Faulk. Yet, pundits are treating Cassel like dirt. That's just as silly as elevating him to Brady-caliber status.
As for the "dirty" play of the Steelers, yes, that hit by Clark was bad. It was a bad hit because his feet left the turf inches before contact. That's technically illegal. But I gotta ask why there's no outrage over Wood going helmet to helmet with Heath Miller? Yeah, Wood lost that match-up, but he still came in with his helmet set on "spear".
none of us really know the gritty details of spygate, we only know what the media presented to us, and we all know the media can be bias. but i suppose taping the jets signals, not only helps you beat the 2007 jets later on in the season (something that any NFL team was capable of doing except last years dolphins), it also help you win the 14 other regular season games, and nearly another crown, right?
Tom Brady couldn't get the 19-0 season. There was a lot of hype, but could not pull it of. That is a lot of pressure. He has had successful years prior to that 18-1 year. I believe that he simply isn't motivated to play this season and may have exaggerated his injury to avoid playing this season. If he had not, he would not have played well at all. Whatever drove him last season, is not this now. His real injury is his ego.
more irony...pats fans calling steelers "dirty". this from fans of a team that employs rodney harrison, richard seymour, matt light, and the great belicheat.
awesome.
One minor point--
NFL teams cannot prohibit OCs/DCs from interviewing for HC positions (although they have some control over when such interviews can happen). Likewise, they cannot stop OCs/DCs from accepting a HC position elsewhere, _even if they are still under contract_.
In other words, if McDaniels sticks around, we can reasonably reach one of three conclusions: (1) He really is happy here, and doesn't want to go anywhere, (2) he doesn't feel he's ready, or (3) he has an agreement to take over at HC after Belichick. [It won't be because no one will hire him.]
Any safety can make a hit like that on a defenseless receiver; what a cheap shot. Lucky Clark hits like a girl or Wes might really be hurt.
Brady brought the Superbowl back into Patriot hands and was ON THE SIDELINES HAVING DONE HIS JOB when the defense lost him his almost perfect season. Brady should have been the MVP instead of that pansy Mini-Peyton. Let us remind you, Canon, that Brady was the one who led that 18-1 season. And that with his underwear model-girlfriend in the stands watching, which you cannot say for certain other quarterbacks. Tom Brady is football, and the Patriots would be dumber than blondes in a college library if they ever traded him.
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