Patriots QB Cassel masters life in the background
 

Article about cassel being a backup to many great quarterbacks in his career.


http://www.ocregister.com/sports/cas...atriots-backup

Re: Patriots QB Cassel masters life in the background
 

good article....lets just hope he doesnt get his first major experience this week.

Re: Patriots QB Cassel masters life in the background
 

He has had a strange career. He was highly touted out of high school and since then has sat behind two Heisman Trophy winners and an NFL MVP. Maybe he can really play.

Then again, Scott Zolak had a nice gig going for himself until Bledsoe got hurt that one season and went out on the field and proved definitively to anyone watching that he couldn't play.

Re: Patriots QB Cassel masters life in the background
 

My first though was why have a back up QB that never started in college. I mean you got to think there are some decent undrafted QBs with college experience even if their name was never mentioned in the same sentence with Hiesman.

But after further thought, he mentioned that the hardest thing about being a backup is getting ready and remaining focused even though it is unlikely you will play. Maybe it is that experience is why he was drafted by the Patriots. Not every college QB would be able to remain that focused in a dead end job. If you are Trent Edwards backing up JP Losman you know you have a shot at the starting job. Being Cassel or Sorgi you know you are in a dead end position.

Four years of preparing for every game in a dead-end position for four years in college might be the perfect background.

Re: Patriots QB Cassel masters life in the background
 

Maybe you're right, and it takes someone like that to realize that getting paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to do what he does is a blessing, not a hindrance.

I like Matt and I hope he gets a shot someday, even if it's not with the Pats.

Re: Patriots QB Cassel masters life in the background
 

As soon as he does he's most likely out of a job. He's bad.

Re: Patriots QB Cassel masters life in the background
 

It must be enormously difficult to motivate yourself to prepare 100% week after week, year after year for games you know you won't actually play. Like seven straight years of foreplay, knowing that...well, nevermind.

Re: Patriots QB Cassel masters life in the background
 

You think Belichick would have kept him as the top backup to Brady if he were "bad" ? I don't. Not saying he's the next Brady but I bet he could play a competent QB for someone.

With him entering his last year next year, the optimal time to trade him, I wonder if we might be able to trade him to Atlanta with Dimitroff (sp ?) there. No, not for a lot. But I could see Atlanta trading a #4 or #5 in 2009 or something with a chance to compete to actually play there.

Re: Patriots QB Cassel masters life in the background
 

I don't know how you could possibly know that based off of what we've seen of him.

If he was "bad", BB would not have kept him around and made him the #2 QB on a Super Bowl team.

I'm going to go ahead and trust BB's eye for talent more than mcbee's, if that's all right with you.

Re: Patriots QB Cassel masters life in the background
 

Pete Carroll recruited him and says you're wrong, but what else is new...

He's better than a lot of what is passing as staring QB's in the NFL these days. The fact that he has stuck as Brady's backup is not lost on people who really know what they're looking at. He'll have value if they decide to trade him and if they don't that will just further underscore it. Derek Anderson was third string in Cleveland when the season opened and he looked like crap in their pre season. Go figure. And he didn't even have anything approaching mentors.