Cassel comments

By Matt Porter, Globe Correspondent

Speaking on Boston sports radio station WEEI this morning, Patriots quarterback Matt Cassel said he had mixed emotions about being thrust into the spotlight after the injury to Tom Brady.

"You never want to see that happen to a guy like Tom, who's been a mentor for me," he said. "Part of it's business, unfortunately. We have to close ranks and move forward."

Cassel told the Dennis and Callahan show that there won't be a lightened playbook with him under center. In Sunday's win, he said the team ran the same plays it would have had Brady not been hurt. "It's not like there's a different play sheet from Matt Cassel to Tom Brady," he said.

Now, it appears he is moving from clipboard-holder to a load-bearing pillar in the New England season. "There were a number of times here where I thought, what the heck am I doing here?" he said. "But it comes down to perseverance, and working hard, and believing that time will eventually come. Yesterday was a great illustration of [that]. You never know when that time is going to come. I woke up yesterday morning thinking, Oh gosh, I hope I get in late in the game, I hope we're beating them by a lot of points. Little did I know, I'd be in there in the first quarter."

Cassel said he was ready to fill in for Brady next week against the New York Jets -- and longer, if necessary.

"I'm not trying to be Tom Brady. I'm just trying to be Matt Cassel," he said. "I don't know where that's going to take us."

Cassel said that he hadn't talked to Brady, though the two had exchanged text messages.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.