Rob0729

I am not one to overract to a players. I don't trash Chad Jackson or Josh McDaniels or any other Pats fan whipping boys. I just don't think Cassel is an NFL QB. He has a lot of the tools, but the fact that he hasn't played any serious football since high school has hinder him in bad habits like making poor decisions and staring down WRs. It is no coincidence since preseason 2006, Cassel has 5 INTs and zero TDs other than the one he threw to Jason Taylor.

Seriously. Does anyone feel comfortable if say Brady goes out in a game and the Pats are down by 2 points with three minutes left that Cassel could come in and mount a game winning drive? Anyone feel comfortable in a game where it is close enough that one screw up could be the difference for him to come in and do anything than hand off the ball even if the opposing team had a great rushing defense?

Deus Irae

1.) Your statement of opinion is not fact in the sense of it being a general occurrence. Frankly, I've not seen it to be true.

2.) The question was about poor decisions in the last game, of which you found none besides the throw to the Bucs defender. That was either an absolutely horrendous read or an absolutely blown route. Looking at it, my impression was that Cassel just missed the defender sitting on the route and the screw up was his, but I don't know what the play actually called for.

3.) You made an assumption about Brady's speech which is both self-serving and counter to its most likely interpretation.

As I said, you have no basis for your argument and you're usually better than this. You have no idea what the Patriots have been doing with Cassel under center and that patchwork offensive line, whereas Brady does. Brady may, or may not, be lying in this case, but he certainly has far more insight into the situation than you or I do, and your comment about him does you no credit, especially since he has, on many an occasion, talked about poor play by the team (albeit in generally gentle terms).

__________________
"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."
- Marcus Aurelius

RussFrancis

Im not gonna get into pinpointing Cassell's throw the other night. But what he does do on virtually every single throw is stare down his intended target. You rarely see the guy look someone else, and come back to his secondary target with a purpose and make a quick read and throw.

Brady's ability to analyse and his actual analysis in this case need to be clearly seperated. He has little capacity for objectivity on the radio delivering a breakdown of Cassell's performance.

nashvillepatsfan

ummm, well,,,,not comfortable, no. All I'm saying, is I think he's done an ok job, not great, just ok. I just don't see him doing anything that warrants the things that are said about him on this board. He is afterall, the backup. I havent seen anything out of the other Matt the makes me think he's the future # 2, atleast not this preseason. As for staring down receivers, o'connell has been holding the ball, and staring alot more than Cassel, imho.

RussFrancis

I wouldnt argue your point about O'C. But he's also a rookie. Not a 4th year veteran with several years of studying the same system. If O'C is still doing that in his 4th year, then he wont be amounting to much either. Poise is something that I dont think can be taught. O'C seems to have it, and his obvious rookie flaws will be ironed out in time. Cassell looks like he lives with his finger on the panic button.

Rob0729

Brady has never, ever singled out a player and has lied through his teeth on many occasion about players performances. I didn't listen to Brady's interview other than the very end which was well after these comments so I don't know the context.

My original point stands though. I do not believe Brady's public assessment on any player on the roster. I do not think he gives his real opinions on players on the radio and talks them up like any good leader would. My opinion on his decision making is a side issue anyway because just because I don't agree with his assessment of Cassel the particulars of what he said is not at issue, it is whether I believe any player assessment he says publically.

As for the poor decision in the Bucs game, it was 100% a poor decision. Now Moss is running wrong routes for Cassel too? Last week it was Chad Jackson. But then again, it was one play in one preseason game.

Again, I am basing my opinion on Cassel on two years worth of work, not just one preseason game. I don't make decisions on players lightly. My frustration with him dates back to two years worth of play. If he had a horrible game this past Sunday and he hadn't thrown 5 INTs to no TDs in the two years prior to it, I would brush it off as no big deal.

Sorry, but Cassel has been annointed the #2 QB for a while now. His play has regressed for a while now. He has yet to show me anything this preseason that has proved to me that he has rebounded from his slump. Making excuses about the o-line which did a pretty good job protecting him on passing plays. If we are going to play games about believing Patriots people who say things on the radio, Belichick praised the o-line for protecting Cassel in his interview on WEEI.

Spiral

If Brady and the Patriots were ever involved in a game in which they were losing after 57 minutes, I don't think there is a QB alive that could replace Brady and win the game. Let's face it--Belichick has decided (at least for the time being) that he'd rather have two developmental-type QBs behind Brady than a veteran and a kid. That may be based on what he sees in the 3 young QBs, or on the quality of veterans that are available. I'm inclined to trust his judgment on this one.

sieglo

Put yourself in Brady's shoes.

If you have Matt Cassel playing behind me, it makes you feel very secure in your job. So you say good things about him so they don't bring in someone who would might someday take your job.

nashvillepatsfan

We all know that B.B. is always full of surprises. He might already know of a vet that will be coming available. Maybe he's waiting, who knows. I just know that B.B. knows more about football than me, so If he wants Cassel at #2, I'll buy into it. In Bill we trust

Rob0729

No offense, but how does that make sense? What if it is a 45-43 game and Brady has six TD passes? Are you going to tell me that no QB on the planet could come in and score a TD when Brady has scored six already? Just because the Pats are losing a game, it doesn't mean the offense has stalled.

Belichick has another option. Bring in a veteran QB. I think that would be the route I would go.