Re: Matt Cassel could set another record next week.
thats ridiculous. Based on 6 passes???? . . . So Eason went 0 for 6. A lot of QBs had trouble against that Bears defense.
Eason came back in 1986 and again played better QB than Grogan ever did or could.
Of course, John Hannah was there, he still threw a former teamate under the bus, which was and is classless. He is and was Steve Grogans friend, the old timers on the team of course prefered Grogan.
none of this justifies the idiotic bashing of Tony Eason that has gone on here for so long.
I will leave this response as my final statement on Eason to avoid deviating too much from the thread topic (it is about Cassel, not Eason). Feel free to reply to this, but I will say no more on Eason.
I didn't say Grogan was great. You apparently concluded that from something I said. Grogan was a great scrambler early on (set a rushing record in 1976 I believe), was prone to heaving the ball into double coverage, and made plenty of mistakes. Marino was better than both, but the Pats drafted Eason.
As for "idiotic bashing," the reason Eason only missed on 6 passes in the Super Bowl is because he executed the "drop back and fold" play repeatedly under pressure and got pulled (kind of consistent with Hannah's opinion of him). If you knew half as much as you claim to know about Hannah and his "classlessness", you would also know he is fiercely competitive. So he would pick a lousy QB over a good QB out of friendship, despite the losses? I think not. To my knowledge, Hannah only bashed Eason and James, and from their stats without Hannah blocking, he was 2 for 2 on his observations. Neither amounted to much as far as careers (I am not saying a pro bowl level, I am saying competent at the position by NFL standards), and neither had career ending injuries prompting their unceremonious retirements from the NFL.
And why do you remember Grogan coming into the Super Bowl so early? What do you think, Eason had an early flight to catch? Review the footage and correct your own recollection. With all his competencies, how long did he last with the Pats? Why was he dropped down the depth chart?
Fans do not hate Eason for his place on the roster with Flutie, they don't like him because he was a flash in the pan and ultimately blew. And as for your recollection of the playoffs and Eason lighting it up, he threw for under 100 yards per games aginst the Raiders and Dolphins. The running backs were the offense in all but the first game (about 200 yards per game average). Of the 5 TDs Eason threw in those three games, 3 were on short passes against the Dolphins when the defense shifted to stop the run (the Dolphins got gouged for about 250 yards on the run that game). Don't give him too much credit for the playoff wins. James and Weathers had a pretty big hand in that, as did Hannah as the lead block for them.
Again, John Hannah's observations are not "idiotic" as he was actually armed with facts drawn from day to day encounters with Eason. You lack the facts, the insight and the general knowledge to refute Hannah's opinions on the basis that Grogan was Hannah's BFF and that is why Hannah said what he did. A contrary conclusion to Hannah's reflects your own subjective, unsubstantiated opinion. Eason was talented and had two good years statistically. Beyond that, I am not going to sing praises to him as you appear to, and I watched his career live just like you did. I shed no tear when he left, and I do not exalt him to greatness based on the 1985 playoff run.