Phlash

Last year, David Garrard surprised the entire NFL by coming in after being a career backup and playing extremely well. The circumstances differ in that Garrard was named starter at the beginning of the season, and Cassell came in as an injury replacement, but I believe that Cassell will be utilized in a similar manner to Garrard last year, and will have similar production in the passing game. They're both very similar quarterbacks - both have great accuracy, a good arm, and are very mobile. However, Garrard last year had more experience under his belt than Cassell, but Cassell has both a far superior set of WRs and a coach who will put him in a position to succeed, so I think that's a wash in this situation. Am I predicting only 3 INTs? No way - I'm pretty sure Cassell will have a hiccup game along the way. But I think he'll be good for about 3200 yards passing, 24+ TDs, and a low INT count, somewhere around the range of 14-16. He won't be a stellar player, but he'll be a very good game manager, and for this year, that's all we'll need.

oldskool138

You're basing this off of what exactly?

Hell, here's my prediction...the last QB that was lost for (almost) the entire season for the Pats was Tom Brady. A relative unknown from Michigan. So now that Tom Brady's out we have a relative unknown in Cassel who, I'm sure will enjoy the same amount of success that Brady did back in 2001.

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"You're all a bunch yahoos, hero worshipers and gutless suck-ups." - Tony Massarotti

BelichickFan

Garrard did a great job of not turning the ball over. I want to see Cassel do that on the road for a game or two before I buy into him. He has the ability to be decent but with so little experience, how will he handle a hostile crowd ? We'll find out.

Sicilian

Exactly. I was very happy with what he gave us on Sunday, and I think he has the potential to be better with a week's worth of team one snaps in practice, but I need to see more before I say he's going to throw 24 TDs... Last I checked, 24 TDs with a low Int count squeaks you into the Pro Bowl some years.

JDSal45

The difference is Garrard had well over 500 career passing attempts and had started 18 games in the NFL BEFORE last season, when he became full time. So, I don't think the analogy is very good.

J D Sal

chech1965

reject

Well, I sure wont mind if he becomes this years David Garrard.

billdog3484

If that were to happen, we'd win a heck of a lot of ballgames. I doubt however, that we can, or should expect that. Let's just hope he grows as a player each game.

PittPatriot

In the games following Bledsoe's loss, TB had very pedestrian numbers. Even in the Game 3 blowout win over the Colts, the Pats put up 44pts but Brady's line was 13/23 168yds 0TD 0 int.
The Pats ran the ball well with inferior backs and played a strong special teams game. We can do it again - without Cassel having to throw for 250yds a game and 2 scores.

TimU

I am not allowed to start a thread, but there is a very good piece on Cassell in today's New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/09/sp...=1&oref=slogin