Football isn't baseball. Lose a 40 HR 125 RBI .300 hitter from your lineup and you will lose ball games you would have won.
Not in football.
Tom Brady is the Patriots' cleanup hitter. An ARod who hits better in the clutch. But New England isn't going to fold the way New York would without their best hitter.
Football is a game of systems, and Bill Belichick has created arguably the greatest offensive system in the history of the NFL. High octane passing, low risk, ball possession football. Teams have to score on one of their first two possessions against New England or the game is over, because it is close to a sure thing New England will convert early possessions into touchdowns.
Tom Brady is great and not just because of the system. The question is how big a gap is there between great and good.
We are about to find out.
Cassel hasn't started a game since high school, having backed up Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at USC. But he has put up respectable numbers in the NFL (35-57-405-3 TD-2 INT), and didn't let the game get away from him against Kansas City in relief of the injured Brady. In fact, he posted a 116 quarterback rating and led a 98 yard touchdown drive.
The bottom line on Cassel won't be so much about numbers, which the system ensures he will put up. The question is what kind of production he'll have in the red zone and how few mistakes he makes outside it.
As Tony Romo is proving in Dallas, the vertical game between the 20's may be the easiest part for a young quarterback. The Patriot offensive line will give Cassel time, and his receivers opportunity. The tell will be whether you see New England walking off the field with touchdowns or field goals in the red zone. With Brady six points was almost a given, with Cassel less so.
Should the Patriots try to open market for a solution beyond the Jets game? The idea is reasonable, the answers may not be.
Duante Culpepper has been a Pro Bowl player, but he's also been a disappointment. There is a reason nobody has signed him, and it's not because (as he believes) he stands up for himself. It's because he is a creator on offense (good and bad) and not a bus driver. A controlling coach who values execution will likely be happier with Cassel than Culpepper. A Belichick-Culpepper wedding is probably not in the offing.
The truth is there isn't much out on the waiver wires or in trades. A quarterback familiar with the New England offense is better than who isn't. Ironically, the best answer would have been to get Brett Favre out of retirement, except he's already returned to the Jets.
What does the future hold? I'd say 35 TD and 17 interceptions, 13 wins and a trip back to the AFC championship game. Beyond that?
It will only cost New England $440,000 to find out.
Nothing else is working. Teams playing the receivers tight, teams playing the receivers loose, teams wandering aimlessly around the field doing the chicken dance. It's all been tried and none of it is working.
It is time to face reality.
The Patriots could finish 16-0, run the tables in the playoffs, take control of the government and come for our women. Not that they would like us saying they are "our" women, but you know what I mean. Do you really want to live in a society where Tom Brady shows up at your door and says "I'll take the tall blond one over there". I know your wives and girlfriends might not object to that, but where does that leave us?
There is precedent. In 2006 Coach Bill Bilichick was sued by the husband of a New Jersey woman for taking his wife's affections. He is now reported to be dating a woman with three children whose marriage evaporated into thin air at his approach. Plus, and this is only conjecture on my part, the guy looks like a vampire.
Some might say I'm over reacting to the threat. I say they are wrong. In the 90's we learned from movies that "greed is good". This is 2007. Panic is the new greed.
So what do we do?
Back in the sixties the counterculture used to have bumper stickers that said "imagine world peace". Didn't happen, but at least they were trying something. And it doesn't mean it couldn't work in this case. Imagine...
Imagine the Patriots completely coming unglued after a humbling loss to the Colts and finishing 8-8.
Picture all the defensive coordinators in the NFL watching the game, hitting their foreheads with their palm and exclaiming "It's so simple, now we can shut them down."
Visualize Tom Brady being dumped by Gisele Bundchen. During a game using the sideline phone.
Imagine Brady curling into the fetal position and refusing to go into the game, replaced by Matt Cassell.
Form an image in your mind of a crazed ex husband charging across the field and beating Bilichick senseless with a giant foam finger, before feeding what was left to a group of the commander in cheat's ex-girlfriend's and their lawyers.
Together let's chant, hold hands, and picture a world where Randy Moss is 10 yards behind the nearest corner back and drops the ball. Over and over and over again.
In your mind's eye can't you see Mike Vrabel coming in with the short yardage team, tripping over Brady's foot in the exchange and pulling every muscle and ligament in his body simultaneously.
We can get together on this people. We can stop the Patriots. It's like John Lennon told us....
Imagine the Patriots losing
It's easy if you try
No teams below them
Above us the Jets fly high
Imagine all the Patriot haters
Living for Sunday...
Imagine there's no Belichick It isn't hard to do
Nothing to film or lie for
And no Tom Brady too
Imagine the Bills in the playoffs New England giving up 9 TD's...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the Patriots will be done
Imagine no Randy Moss
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or plunder
Or spy equipment in vans Imagine all the Miami Dolphins Healthy at one time...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the Colts win 53 to none.
Come on, people. We're letting Payton Manning off much too easy. One Saturday Night Live does not make this guy Chris Rock. Alot of people have invested alot of time hating him. Are we just going to let all that negativity, all those nasty blog entries go to waste? Because of ONE good night.
Get your heads out of your DVD's, line back up at that keyboard, and let's pound this guy. What's next? Love letters to Kobe Bryant? Are you going to watch Barry Bonds play with a syringe sticking out his back pocket and say, "Well, we don't know for sure, we're can't really tell if it's a syringe, Babe Ruth was on heroin most of his career." Yada, yada, yada. We're bloggers here, so let's try to act like it. Give me a break.
First off, Manning is overrated. Sure, he's had a few good commercials and the SNL gig was OK, but you have to consider his supporting cast.
When you see Manning on TV he's working in a system that was designed for him. Put those kids in the lineup and they'd make Aaron Brooks into the next Richard Pryor. Put Manning in a lineup with the kids from "Phil From the Future" and he wouldn't connect on 35% of his jokes. Plus, we haven't seen Manning work with animals, or animated characters, or super models. Oh yeah, super models.
Tom Brady has worked with super models. He dates one, Giesel Bunchen.
Brady used to date actress Bridget Moynahan, who is expecting his
child. Manning married his college sweetheart. Brady takes risks.
Manning goes with the safe call.
Then there were the passes he threw to the kids. Did you see anything over 10 yards? Did you see him air it out? Sure, he hit 75% of those kids, but in that spread offense you've got to nail at least one of the little suckers every down. Johnny Unitas would have shot a bullet to one of those kids on a deep corner and left them in a sling. Manning didn't even bruise their tiny little hands.
You probably laughed at Manning's joke about why Brady is like a three ring circus compared to Manning (two more rings). If you look at the film you'll see that he saw pressure from the SNL band, came up to the mike, and checked down to a safer joke than the one Tony Dungy had sent in.
From the cheap seats it looked to me like Manning phoned in the locker room sketch. Granted, he sustained the routine for over 4 minutes, but when it came time to punch it in Mr. Big Time Commercial Guy couldn't come up with the key punchline.
Here's the bottom line. Archie Manning never won an Emmy. Payton Manning has never won an Emmy. Eli Manning is probably never going to win an Emmy. But Tom Brady will probably sleep with someone who does. And that (along with two more rings) is why Payton Manning can't carry Tom Brady's cue cards.
