If Tom Brady is the Next Joe Montana, Is Matt Cassel the Next Steve Young?

In Week One of the 2008 season, Tom Brady injured his knee in a game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

As all of the New England states held their breath waiting to hear the severity of their quarterback's injury, Matt Cassel was thrust into the fire in a close game.

The Patriots were able to dodge a bullet and won a close game. But no one was worried about that, everyone wanted to know what was wrong with Tom Brady.

By the end of the game, they knew. A torn ACL. An injury that would keep him out of commission for the entire 2008 season, at the very least.

All of a sudden, Matt Cassel received more media attention than he had in eight years, since his days as a high school standout.

He was going to have to take over for the NFL's golden boy, Tom Brady.

How would he fare making his first start since high school? How would he respond to the pressures of being a starting NFL quarterback? What would happen when he made his first mistake, how would he respond?

It was a media circus and Cassel was the main attraction.

The story only got better once the dust settled and everyone realized that Cassel had gone the entire year without a hitch and had held his own.

21 touchdowns, 11 interceptions, 3,693 passing yards, an 89.4 quarterback rating, and 270 rushing yards with two touchdowns later, Matt Cassel is getting heavy looks not only from the Patriots themselves, but from other quarterback-hungry teams around the league.

It has happened before. The franchise quarterback goes down and opens the door for the young guy to come in and create his own legacy and earn his own starting job.

Most recently with Drew Bledsoe opening the door for Tom Brady, and then for Tony Romo with the Cowboys. Don Magjickowski had to go down for the door to open for Brett Favre and so on. It's a regular occurrence in the NFL.

Are the Patriots considering unloading Tom Brady in favor of Matt Cassel? It seems unlikely, but the story has taken an interesting turn with whispers of Brady's lax rehab and the recent franchise-tagging of Cassel.

While watching Cassel this season and listening to the story, it reminded me of another set of quarterbacks. But, I just couldn't put my finger on it.

Matt Cassel reminded me of someone, but who?

A strong-armed guy who saw the field very well and seemed to play well above any sort of expectations for him. A guy who could move and get out of the pocket if a play broke down, and even go so far as to make something happen for his team with his legs.

And then it hit me, Steve Young.

Now, before I go on, No. I am not saying Matt Cassel is the next Steve Young. That would be premature. But, their playing styles do require a comparison.

On the other side, the man Tom Brady is always drawing comparisons to is the man who kept Young from starting.

Joe Montana.

Montana ran the show in San Francisco while Young watched from his cozy place on the bench, learning how Montana prepared and watching how he played in order to enhance and refine his own game.

Then, in a playoff game in 1990, Joe Montana went down and was forced to miss the entire 1991 season.

Enter Steve Young.

While Young's first year was not as productive for him as Matt Cassel's, it still draws some parallels.

Joe Montana was the seasoned veteran and a guy widely considered to be the best in the game. He was a future Hall-of-Famer and would keep Young on the sidelines until Montana was ready to hang it up.

Tom Brady has been the NFL's golden boy since 2001 and would have never thought to have been in a quarterback controversy for his entire career, until an injury allowed a young man with promise to show off his skills.

Just the way Matt Cassel has, and the way that Steve Young did.

In the case of Montana v. Young, the 49ers sided with the 'Young' guy and sent Montana packing to, oddly enough, Kansas City.

Will that be the case in this scenario? Will Matt Cassel find success the way that Young did? Only time will answer these questions. But for the time being, it certainly creates an interesting thought.