Matt Cassel: What have we here ?

[Terry Glenn is a cowgirl]

Huh? I thought he played against the Dolphins.

ZING! *rimshot*

It is pretty obvious that Everyone from ESPN to the NFL Network hates the Pats.

Lets just see here:

Tom Jackson
Merrill Hoge
Lincoln Kennedy
Rod Woodson
Michael Irvin
Steve Young
Mike Ditka
Shannon Sharpe
Bob Costas
Dan Marino
Phil Simms
Chris Collinsworth
Brian Baldinger
Chris Carter
Stewart Scott
...I could go on and on for a long while.

Yet, I fail to see the intelligence in 98.7% of these idiots.

 

[Drewwho]

You know as a fan, I disagree!

The National Media does not HATE the Pats. Pat fans think this if they are not stroking that Pats or Brady or BB every 5 minutes. There are 31 other teams in the league and many of them were BETTER than that Pats this year.

To stand at a podium as the leader and QB of the 2 time back to back SB champions and say that he thinks the Pats were the MOST disrespected team in the NFL this year is just so ridiculous.

WHY in the World would the Pats, again with 37 guys with rings on that team, need this to fire them up. I would perfer Brady, to be Brady and shut his trap and show what he can do on the field.

I think this is a distraction and I don't see it playing out well on Saturday.

 

[oldrover]

Ummm... this is a thread about Cassel, not about disrespect or Flutie.

Calling Cassel 'Steve Young' is just a wee bit premature. However, I too thought his performance was impressive, ESPECIALLY considering his O-line was practice squad fodder playing against the Fins' starters. His arm is excellent... he throws well on the run... he runs VERY well... and he's pretty damn cool under fire.

Now, the pick he threw was a bad, bad throw. He got lucky with the roughing call. The safety looked ugly, too, but I can't fault him for that. I didn't like the play-call. Should have been either a plunge straight ahead or a quick slant just to get some breathing room.

Overall, I'd say Cassel has definite NFL potential, and SHOULD be the #2 guy next year. Hell, I think he'd do as well as Flutie right now. Either way, the Pats currently have 2 quality QB backups for the first time since the late 80's when they had Grogan and (gulp) Flutie.

 

[PatsFan37]

Oldrover,
The three things we still need to find out: how well will he learn to sense and anticipate the rush, and how quickly and deeply does he progress through his reads, and how effectively he can look off his throws.

He is smart and can learn to diagnose defenses, he has a good arm, he's athletic, he's tall, he has all the tools. Lacking experience on the field, he hasn't had the time at NFL speed to learn to move in the pocket.

When he was sacked in the end zone for a safety, it was a frontside rush that he should have seen. I don't blame him for getting sacked, because he's new and it was an unblocked rusher. Plenty of first-string NFL QB's would have gone down. McGinest did it to Manning. But I don't see it happening to Brady. I'd like to know that he can get better and seeing it coming.

With the limited number of throws and not knowing the plays, it's hard to know if he's making complicated progressions and doing a good job of seeing the open man. We did see that he can thread a pass in tight coverage. He did that at least once, as I recall.

 

[spacecrime]

Hey, maybe Cassel won't play that ridiculous disrespect card Brady did yesterday.

Pretty sad day for Brady...one of his worst as a Pro I think. He is getting smacked all over the media today. For opposing team fans, like our buddies at the Indy forum, they are LOVING this...Tom has fed right into their "Cindy Brady is a whiney ***** card"...

The Pats have 37 guys on the roster who have SB rings, WHY in God's name does our QB think we need to play the disrespect card?

Hey, I love TB, but this was just dumb!!!!

All he said was that fans and media gave up on the Pats earlier this season. And it is true. Look back on the posts here on "Patsfans.'

People said they were being "realists" not "homers" but whatever word you use to describe it, the prognosis is mid season was that the pats couldn't get it done this year.

Go back and look at the response's to AJ's posts when he had the audacity to suggest the Pats were still a contender.

And when did we start caring what the Indy fans thought?

Root for your team.

 

[BelichickFan]

As I said on another Cassel thread, anyone who wasn't excited by him (who saw the game) is either blind or a total pessimist. Admittedly I didn't think we'd end up cutting Davey but Cassel looked way better than Davey ever did. He was actually accurate for the most part. He has size, a good arm, mobility, throws on the run and even slides better than he did in preseason.

He will give us a backup with upside and/or trade value for sure.

 

[patchick]

I liked the way Cassel settled in and improved as the game went on. By the 4th quarter he looked more more like an NFL quarterback than, say, Brooks Bollinger after half a dozen starts. And unlike Bollinger or almost any other late-round qb, Cassel has the physical tools of a central-casting qb: tall, terrific athleticism, nice strong arm.

But my favorite part: he's signed for 3 more years, cheap. IF he continues to improve, that makes the Pats' backup qb situation look better than it has for a long time.

(BTW, in another thread folks were attempting to compare him favorably to Alex Smith, which is of course wildly premature. Smith could still become a Pro Bowler, Cassel could still be a bust. But...suppose you could start a team with either Smith and his current contract or Cassel and his current contract, which would you pick? How many overall #1's are ever worth the money?)

 

[PATSNUTme]

Matt need to play in NFL Europe this summer. Then some more pre-season seasoning.

I think, from what I've seen of him so far, that he can become a viable back up.

 

[Brownfan80]

All he said was that fans and media gave up on the Pats earlier this season. And it is true. Look back on the posts here on "Patsfans.'

People said they were being "realists" not "homers" but whatever word you use to describe it, the prognosis is mid season was that the pats couldn't get it done this year.

Go back and look at the response's to AJ's posts when he had the audacity to suggest the Pats were still a contender.

And when did we start caring what the Indy fans thought?

Root for your team.

I can back up these statements, I was one of the 'realists'. It remains to be seen what this team is capable of, but I do now see the folly of my earlier certainty that this team was sunk. I was dead wrong that they were already dead. I have hope now, but it is still reserved hope. We'll see what happens in the playoffs, but I do feel much better about our chances now than I did after the KC game. If I was Brady, I'd be mad at me.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

I can back up these statements, I was one of the 'realists'. It remains to be seen what this team is capable of, but I do now see the folly of my earlier certainty that this team was sunk. I was dead wrong that they were already dead. I have hope now, but it is still reserved hope. We'll see what happens in the playoffs, but I do feel much better about our chances now than I did after the KC game. If I was Brady, I'd be mad at me.

Come to Jesus Brother! Hallelujah! And pass the jug!

Nut, I disagree about sending Cassel to Europe this off-season. I believe he would be better served working with our receivers on timing and communication, cramming in the film room with McDaniels and Brady, and sleeping with his playbook under the pillow. I see him making the transition to number two, he was very Brady-like coming up to game speed extremely quickly against an excellent defense designed and managed by a BB protege who also likes to confuse QBs. He can dominate Europe in 2007 after he's been thoroughly steeped in Patriot leadership.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

Matt Cassel's First Half

First Drive: Started on NE 12; handoffs to settle rookie jitters and a dropped shotgun snap (allegedly low, but Cassel pulled out before securing the ball), he did get the ball back and get back near the LOS. Despite it being his first game play since the San Diego game, he was put in the position of protecting the ball inside the NE 20, I've seen a lot worse.

Second Drive: Nice pass down the sideline just a finger tip too far for Andre Davis who nearly made a one handed catch; hand-off to Evans; dropped pass in the flat by Pass.

Third Drive: moved the ball 38 yards in 33 seconds to set up a 49 yard AV FG. He had a nice scramble to buy time, allowing Dwight to get open on the sideline and get out of bounds.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

Matt Cassel's Third Quarter

First Drive: A Bradyesque drive hitting a really nice seam route to Andre Davis on 2nd and 15. He hurried a third down pass to a wide open Ben Watson, missing him on the three yard line. I think Ben was his third or fourth read and his mental clock had ticked down. AV FG.

Second Drive: Started inside the NE 1. Miami big blitzed and sacked Cassel - Safety.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

Matt Cassel's Fourth Quarter

First Drive: three and out.

Second Drive: sweet, NE-style drive for a Tim Dwight TD. Odd play for the extra point, I've never seen that play before?

Third Drive: Cassel is overcominig penalties and a 4th and 1 to keep the drive alive. The roughing the passer call has already been discussed in Patschick87's thread. Cassel made a hurried throw, with 16 seconds left in the game and Jason Taylor in his face, to the end zone with two receivers in the area - it was intercepted, but he gave his WR's a chance to make a play with the game on the line. Off the penalty he makes a hurried throw that was too strong for Dwight. He then hits Watson in the end zone for a TD as the clock runs out. He was making some throws too strong and too hurried, trying to do too much too quickly, the entire time he was in; his throw for the two point conversion was just that, he hurried the throw to Childress and missed.

Childress looked good on his patterns, very much like Troy and Deion. He also did well blocking and was okay in pass coverage, making a quick tackle on a slant to Chambers and tackling well overall. Booker beat him for a corner route TD, but Sanders was slow coming over the top to help as Bam was in press coverage and jamming Booker off the line - it looked like a cover two zone scheme vice man-to-man.

Davis looked good on sideline go and seam routes, his other patterns weren't as crisp. His blocking is poor, He isn't replacing Givens with that blocking and route running. His KRs were good.