King In The Cassel

During the off season, I'll have plenty of time to brood over the Patriots' playoff "snub" and point fingers at who to blame (coming soon: "Why I Loathe Brett Favre"), but in the immediate wake of a disappointing close to what should still be viewed as a successful season, I'd rather drink from the half full glass and tell who not to blame.

There is no postseason in New England, the Patriots season is over. 11 and five was not good enough for the playoffs, but Matt Cassel was good enough for New England.

When Tom Brady went down with a season ending knee injury just two series into the first game of the season, it appeared that the New England Patriots season could have been over barely after it started; it wasn't.

The Patriots' offense fell in the lap of fourth year backup, Matt Cassel, who hadn't started a football game since high school.

Cassel's season started slowly, passing for over 250 yards only once in the first six games of the season (259 vs. San Francisco in Week Five). However, as he became more comfortable and confident, Cassel hepled New England overcome the loss of their fallen king.

In the second half of the season, (excepting a forgettable Week 13 performance against the Steelers) Cassel might as well have worn Brady's number 12. In the final 11 games, he passed for at least three touchdowns in five games and had a passer rating over 100 in six of those games.

Ironically, Cassel's most impressive performance (in what is expected to be his final season in a Patriots uniform) came in a heartbreaking loss that can be pointed at as the biggest reason the Patriots aren't going to the playoffs.

In a Week 11, 34 to 31 overtime loss against the New York Jets, Cassel completed a career high 30 passes for 400 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions. The last pass he threw was a 16-yard rollout to Randy Moss in the corner of the end zone that (after the extra point) tied the game with one second left in regulation.

Had the Patriots won that game, that pass might have gone down in New England sports folklore as one of the more epic plays of all time. Aside from his passing heroics, Cassel also led the Patriots in rushing in that game with a carreer high 62 yards (which is more than Brady rushed for in his entire first season as a starter).

A week later in a rout of the Dolphins, Cassel tied his Week 11 statline with 30 completed passes for three touchdowns and a new high 415 yards. He also rushed for a fourth touchdown in the game.

Tom Brady's story will always be remembered. After Drew Bledsoe went down in Week Two of the 2001 season, Brady went on to lead the Patriots to an 11-5 record and guide them to the franchise's first Super Bowl Championship.

Matt Cassel's story follows an eerily similar plot, but, due to a disappointing outcome, it will be forgotten much quicker. Cassel also led the Patriots to an 11-5 record. However, unlike in 2001, when the Patriots beat out the Dolphins in the divisional tiebreaker, and ended up with a two-seed, this year, the Patriots lost the tiebreaker to those same Dolphins, and in a disappointing mathematical outcome, won't even get the opportunity to write Cassel's story a Hollywood ending.

Even so, the story should not be discredited. Cassel passed for 3,693 yards, 21 touchdowns, 11 interceptions, and a 89.4 passer rating, which all surpass Brady's first year stats of 2,843 yards, 18 TDs, 12 INTs, and a 86.5 rating.

In fact, Cassel's yards and passer rating were better than four of Brady's seven years as a starter, and his 11 INTs are lower than all of Brady's seasons excepting 2007, when he threw only eight. Cassel's 270 rushing yards also made him much more of a duel threat than Brady (who's career high is 110 in 2002).

Suffice to say, Cassel was suited to wear the crown that Brady had dawned for the previous seven Patriots' seasons. For all intensive purposes, Cassel replaced Brady statisically and put the team in a position, at 11-5, in which it earned the opportunity to play for a chamionship.

If not for an ill suited twist of fate (and the inconsistency of Brett Favre), Cassel would have the opportunity to lead the Patriots to a Super Bowl title, just as Brady had done in his first year.

Cassel had been playing his best football down the stretch (kind of like an anti-Brett Favre) and, with 40-plus points in three of the last six games, the Patriots offense had begun to approach the elite status it held in 2007. With a veteran team, led by a confident quarterback and a successful coach, the Patriots would have been a signficant force to contend with in the playoffs, and Matt Cassel could well have become a legend, just as his predecsor was.

That won't happen this season, but Cassel did the unthinkable this season in competenly replacing one of the most legendary quarterbacks in the history of the NFL. He might not wear the red, white, and blue next season, but he should always be regarded as royalty in New England; and he'll certainly have his opportunity to play for a championship somewhere.