The Brady Effect

“Tom Brady out for the season”; those are not words that a fan of football ever wants to hear! Whenever a player is injured, whether minor or major, we can only hope that they have a full and speedy recovery.

With the season ending knee injury to Brady the New England Patriots may be in for a bumpy season. Brady was the field general of that offense and the pulse of the team. Losing him may take a larger toll than any other Quarterback, especially since there is not much that we know about his backup Matt Cassel.

What we do know... Cassel has not started a game since High School, he was the understudy at USC for both Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart, and well that may be it! He played well in the game after Brady went down, so that is a good sign. It will be tough to put the Pat's back in the Super Bowl, but you can never count them out. After all, Tom Brady came in for the then injured Drew Bledsoe, and look how that turned out. Granted, Brady was a starter at Michigan, and had started many games before getting to the league, but with Belichick will make the adjustments for Cassel like he did for Brady back then. Not to mention, Cassel will have Randy Moss and Wes Welker out there to help him and a pretty good defense to back him up as well!

But, looking at it on paper, it does not appear that the Patriots are going to be at the top of the AFC East this season. Looking at their schedule I can seem them finishing as an 8-8 team and not making the playoffs. They don't have the strongest schedule, but they do play in the AFC where winning does not come easy!

With the loss of Brady the balance of power at the QB position has shifted to the NFC. Sure the AFC still has Peyton Manning, Carson Palmer and now Brett Favre. The NFC boasts a lineup of Eli Manning, Tony Romo, Donovan McNabb (these three are all in the NFC East), Drew Brees and Matt Hasselback. Sure can say that none of the NFC QB's can hold a stick Peyton or Tom, but without Tom the power balance has shifted.

When it comes to the faces of the NFL Brady, P. Manning and Brett Favre have been just that. So the effects of losing the 2007 NFL MVP and 3 time Super Bowl Champion is not only a loss for New England, it is a loss for the NFL as well. It should still turn out to be a great season, just slightly less luster than last, and unless someone can lead their team to a 16-0 regular season and break Brady's touchdown record... Let's hope someone does!