AzPatsFan

With all the moaning about our three point loss to the Falcons I thought I'd look at how one of our competitors for the SB is doing.

The Colts lost franchsie back Edge James to Free Agency, along with a starting DT and a starting LB. They drafted a guy named Joe ... (Addai). How is their new running game going? They went 16 carries for 37 yards overall, (2.31 YPC).

Six of the yards came on a scramble by a QB, so the RBs went 15 for
for 31 or 2.1 ypc. Eleven of the yards came on a single carry by our old Practice Squader UDFA Kory Chapman. No one ever accused him of being a franchise back.

The "real" ballcarriers Addai, Rhodes, and Mungro went 11 for 19 for a 1.72 YPC. Horrors!

Since the Clots depend on a overpowering Offense to offset their terrible Defense, where is the Colts "PANIC BUTTON" ?

It should be worn out from pressing by now...

Now, I know the Chicken Littles are loose but remember the proverb...

"I cried I had no shoes, untill i met a man who had no feet."



I thought I'd offer another comparison of another SB competitor.

The Champion Steelers lost the Bus to retirement. They had hopes that Duce Staley would return from injury to take his carries, and spell little Willie Parker, who is too small to take the punishment of a full time back.

The Steelers team is structured around a punishing running game, averaging 150+ ypg. The Steelers rushing game went 22 for 72 yards against the mighty Arizona Cardinals (?)! Duce Staley provided lots of encouragement for worried Steeler fans, when he produced 7 carries for 14 yards, 2.0 YPC, with a long of 6. Discount that "big run" and its even worse as he went 6 for 8 yards or a 1.33 YPC.

Where is the Pittsburgh "PANIC BUTTON' ?

Its time for it to be pressed and hard. BTW, they lost 21-13 and it wasn't as close as that because they scored a cheap TD with a minute to play in garbage time, other wise it would have bee as lopsided as the entire game was. I was there as Cards fans started leaving with ten minutes to go in the game as is usual; but this time they were up by two TDs. It must be a force of habit that they can't break.


RE:Cassel QB Did you know he went 16/32 for 229, 1TD and 0 INTs, 1 sack 6 scrambles for 32 yds (5.33 YPC), for a 93.3 QB rating? Yet people were criticizing him for a "shakey" start including a strip sack by Abraham. In his last three outings, Cassel has gone for QB performance ratings of 122, 89 and now 93. That is not the ratings of a chump QB. In reality, his lifetime NFL QB rating is in the top twenty in NFL history!

PromisedLand

You seem to like stats, so you might like this one: did you know Cassell was 3 of 10 with a fumble lost until the Falcons 3rd stringers came onto the field?

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PatsMan26

No reason to worry about Cassel. I would much rather him back up brady then anyone that they could bring in. ie. Vinny

patsox23

very good post. A lot of people here are freaking out from ONE PRE-SEASON game. It's ridiculous. And it continues a trend of crummy posts from people, many of them newbies, who have dragged down the standards of a site that HAD been, until now, far better than the "common" boards that litter the internet.

scott99

Cassel can't control whom he faces, he can only try to play well, regardless. You have to look at the big picture, in the opportunities Cassel has had to play, he hasn't had a worse QB Rating than 89.4, and that was in a REGULAR season game against a team that was desperately trying to win. I don't know if he threw an INT in his preseason games last year, but he didn't throw one Friday. He only needs experience, he's only 24. I'm not saying he is the next Brady, I hope we never get the chance to find out. One thing you have to be excited about, in his brief playing time, he has fought hard, and put his team in the game. One thing I do remember about last year's preseason game, just like Friday night, I was impressed how he shook off a poor start to play much better. Can someone post his stats in all the Patriot games that he's played ?

AzPatsFan

PL,

No, but I did know that neither his #1, or his #2, or hs #3 WR, played a snap with him. He was strpped sacked by Abraham who tossed aside Gorin who was a second or third or maybe fourth backup playing LOT instead of Light, (the starter), or Kaycur, (the first backup) and Britt, (second backup?).

I do remember one of his RBs getting stuffed in the backfield after a Falcon DT got cleanly into the backfield, leaving #64 Gene Mruczkowski whiffing air. (I had to look in the program to see who #64 was.) I think Gene is a third stringer behind Mankins and Hochstein.

So I would say that Cssell was probably playing with HIS OWN THIRD & FOURTH STRING, long before the Falcons put their third string in to the game.

So anything else ?

PromisedLand

No. Your immensely superior argument has me shaking in my socks. But I still cling desparately to the notion that Cassell hasn't proved it to me, yet.

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scott99

NEM,

Though I agree with you, everybody knows how preseason works. The starting QB's always play the first series, and then take the rest of the game off (though Brady doesn't seem happy about that). The second game, they play at least one quarter, the third game, most of the game, and the 4th game, maybe a quarter. Every team seems to do it this way. I will say this, as far as backups, I was more impressed with Schaub than Cassel, but watching Indy, Cassel seemed way more impressive than Sorgi. Cassel isn't as good as Schaub yet, but Schaub has had a year head start, and way more college football experience. In my opinion, if pressed into play, Cassel will play fine with the first team. He was under pressure a lot of the night (with the backups in there), something Schaub, Randall & Shockley didn't seem to have to face very often.

Brady'sButtBoy

Good thread, AZPatsfan. The Colts could be a complete disaster if the running game fails. Addai, yeh, like he and Mungro are going to just step into the Edge's shoes, right.

Cassell just looked nervous at first. I don't care who he ended up doing better against but he was more patient, relaxed and threw with solid mechanics while making solid judgements later in the game. He did short arm his last pass but the sky-is-falling crowd needs to give the dude a break.

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patpatriot

Cassel demonsrarted one thing Friday night. He is *very* inexperienced. He needs major playing time before we can decide whether he is the real thing or the classic flash-in-the-pan.