Schefter: Patriots ahead of their time, again

[BPF]

http://blogs.nfl.com/2008/09/09/patriots-ahead-of-their-time-again/

Posted: Adam Schefter

As it turns out, the Patriots were ahead of their time, as usual. They made plans to bring quarterbacks Chris Simms and Tim Rattay to Foxboro, Mass., last Saturday – a full day before Tom Brady suffered a season-ending knee injury.
....

Schefter is reporting that the Pats were simply setting their emergency board with the Simms and Rattay visits.

 

[ALP]

http://blogs.nfl.com/2008/09/09/patriots-ahead-of-their-time-again/



Schefter is reporting that the Pats were simply setting their emergency board with the Simms and Rattay visits.

but after Brady went down they didnt want them????


HUH?

 

[Wildo7]

but after Brady went down they didnt want them????


HUH?

says good things about Cassel

The more I think about this the more excited I am to see how it will unfold.

 

[Lloyd_Christmas]

http://blogs.nfl.com/2008/09/09/patriots-ahead-of-their-time-again/



Schefter is reporting that the Pats were simply setting their emergency board with the Simms and Rattay visits.

this makes no sense at all.

With a healthy Tom Brady, you schedule these guys to come in for a visit to test the waters (as backups).

then, when Tom Brady goes down for the season, you tell those guys that the situation changed and you don't need them?

What the?

Barring a FA signing or trade in the near future, this just doesn't make sense. I'm not buying that Cassell looked so good that they no longer needed to work these guys out. When Brady was still healthy and Cassell was the #2, they wanted to work them out.

 

[Rob0729]

but after Brady went down they didnt want them????


HUH?

Probably they will revist with them next week. If they were already planning to look at them before Brady went down, they didn't want to give the impression that this was a reactionary move because Brady went down.

The Pats always bring in guys just to check them out for future consideration.

 

[Tunescribe]

this makes no sense at all.

With a healthy Tom Brady, you schedule these guys to come in for a visit to test the waters (as backups).

then, when Tom Brady goes down for the season, you tell those guys that the situation changed and you don't need them?

What the?

Barring a FA signing or trade in the near future, this just doesn't make sense. I'm not buying that Cassell looked so good that they no longer needed to work these guys out. When Brady was still healthy and Cassell was the #2, they wanted to work them out.

Could be that knowing Cassel would have to start against the Jets, they want him focused and not looking over his shoulder. Just a thought.

 

[BPF]

It makes a lot of sense to me. Teams have visits all the time, for ex Reiss reported these visits on Monday:

WR Patrick Carter (Louisville)

WR Joel Filani (Texas Tech)

WR Chris Francies (Texas-El Paso)

P Tom Malone (Southern California)

OT Will Svitek (Stanford)

G Jeb Terry (North Carolina)

WR Chandler Williams (Florida International)

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/reiss_pieces/2008/09/patriots_tryout.html

I don't think the Pats are in the market for a WR, eventhough they had 4 visit on Monday but just in case injuries hit the position they need to be prepared.

I think after Brady was hurt the Pats changed their thinking and thought about the psychological impact that signing a Simms or Rattay would have. Singing those guys when Brady is the starter means nothing and they will know their role when they sign but now those guys will have their eye on the starting spot. There needs to be a definite pecking order at QB and right now the best move is to show Cassel you have confidence in him. In reality the Pats best chance is to have Cassel be succesful. If you have to turn to Simms or Rattay that means things are very dire, it will show desperation.

 

[SVN]

if this is true, simms or rattay wouldve been behind brady and cassell ? if not then what does it say about their 'confidence' in casell ??

 

[BadMoFo]

I'm pretty sure they were sent back because Belichick wants to show Cassel that he has all the faith in the world in him.

If this Cassel thing works and we make the playoffs and hopefully earn a title, this may go down as the greatest coaching job ever.

 

[mcgraw_wv]

this makes no sense at all.

With a healthy Tom Brady, you schedule these guys to come in for a visit to test the waters (as backups).

then, when Tom Brady goes down for the season, you tell those guys that the situation changed and you don't need them?

What the?

Barring a FA signing or trade in the near future, this just doesn't make sense. I'm not buying that Cassell looked so good that they no longer needed to work these guys out. When Brady was still healthy and Cassell was the #2, they wanted to work them out.

Make's sense because you have a Matt Cassel in the last year of his contract... So BB needed to bring in someone who they felt was worth signing for more than 1 year to learn the playbook under TB. When that player got thrust into action, the plan to have a capable back beyond this year was thrown out the window, and no longer needed...

 

[SVN]

here is peter king's uninformed take on it

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/peter_king/09/09/mail/index.html?eref=T1

Why did the Patriots send Chris Simms home without a workout? No one in New England's going to touch that one, but I will. At least I'll tell you what I think. The Patriots don't like being told what to do. They don't like news being broken on their players or their plans. More than any other team in the league, other than maybe Oakland, there is a very high sensitivity to the release of information in Foxboro, be it injury or personnel. And so when Al Michaels mentions on the NBC telecast that Chris Simms will be brought in for a workout, when ESPN starts running on a crawl during the Sunday night baseball game that Simms and Tim Rattay will be brought in for workouts Monday, I believe that really chapped the Patriots.

And so whoever leaked the info -- whether it came from an agent or player or someone inside the team (highly doubtful) -- my feeling is the Patriots said, "Fine. We'll show you how our business operates here.'' And so when the quarterbacks showed up, the Patriots said, "Don't call us. We'll call you.'' Again, that's my speculation, not anything from the inner sanctum.

Second feeling here: Scouts and personnel people are less in love with Simms than the public is. The last time Simms played before his spleen injury, in September 2006, he was poor. Three games, 54 percent, 53 percent and 59 percent accuracy, one touchdown and seven interceptions. Jon Gruden had him in camp this year, and he deemed four quarterbacks better for his offense. Does that mean Simms shouldn't get a chance somewhere? No. But it won't be New England.

 

[spacecrime]

I'm not buying that Cassell looked so good that they no longer needed to work these guys out.

Denial is a wonderful thing

It makes sense if you think about it. Simms and Rattay would need several weeks to be able to back up Brady. With the injury, BB needs a QB for next SUnday, and that can only be Cassel.

Now that he has Cassel, who got pummeled by mediots and faniots last summer, he doesn't want him looking over his shoulder every pass. QBs need confidence, and that is not a confidence builder to see soemone on the sideline waiting for you to screw up, and/or to feel you have to force a ball rather than throw it away on third down and force a punt (with attendent home town crowd boos from the faniots).

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

F Peter King.

Sending them off without a workout and physical could just have been Pioli down-checking them after the interview.

 

[Mogamedogz]

Could be that knowing Cassel would have to start against the Jets, they want him focused and not looking over his shoulder. Just a thought.

We have a winner.

 

[TheGodInAGreyHoodie]

Could be that knowing Cassel would have to start against the Jets, they want him focused and not looking over his shoulder. Just a thought.

I see several reason, that one.

They were thinking of signing these guys with the expectation that they would join the team and be ready to be a back up week 4 or 5, if Brady went down then.

Also team coaching time constraints. When they thought Brady would be QB against the Jets the team had time to workout some QBs. Now those personal is busy getting Cassel ready.

But I think the biggy is what you said. Matt, you are taking us to the post season or you are taking us to an early draft pick. But you won't be sitting on the pine.

 

[NEPatriot]

BB wanted to give Cassel a second chance so that he won't complain that he has not had an opportunity to 'play' if he screws up.

We'll see him playing this Sunday.

 

[SoCal Pmen]

We have a winner.

This is exactly what Schefter just speculated on Total Access

 

[JoePats]

here is peter king's uninformed take on it

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/peter_king/09/09/mail/index.html?eref=T1

Wait, Peter King is saying that the Pats would send away two guys they thought would be good additions to the team because they don't like when the media breaks news about their personell plans?

 

[SVN]

Wait, Peter King is saying that the Pats would send away two guys they thought would be good additions to the team because they don't like when the media breaks news about their personell plans?

goes to show how hard one is working to get information and how another is just speculating that the pats are so egoistic that they would fly someone the previous night and then send them back.

 

[Leave No Doubt]

I'm pretty sure they were sent back because Belichick wants to show Cassel that he has all the faith in the world in him.

If this Cassel thing works and we make the playoffs and hopefully earn a title, this may go down as the greatest coaching job ever.

Agreed on both. Though the Pats are always prepared and were probably well aware of the possibility of injury to Tom, there's a big difference between an injury that sidelines Brady for say 2 weeks, and one that ends his season. Belioli went from 0 to 250 in seconds. Their needs changed from "let's see what's out there to cover us just in case" to a major catastrophe. Joe Montana wasn't applying so rather than settle, they went with Matt. Once that decision was made, they circled the wagons and decided the easiest transition for the team was Cassel, therefore the last thing they wanted to do was rattle his confidence. He looked awful in preseason, fans and the media were calling for his head and he knew it.

If this works out, the Cassel Decision will be one more item on BB's legend book. Right up there with Brady over Drew, etc. Epic if Jupiter aligns with Mars and they win it all.