Mortensen, Schefter: Pioli sends Simms and Rattay back to airport

[jefmblrd]

From Mike Reiss:

"Furthermore, Patriots coach Bill Belichick was specific today when he said the Patriots did not work out any free-agent quarterbacks, or give them physicals. But the team did report to NFL headquarters that it visited with quarterbacks Chris Simms and Tim Rattay today."

So it sounds like they were here, but I highly doubt they sent them right back to the airport without some kind of meeting. It wouldn't make any sense to do that.

 

[SVN]

this is my theory. they didnt sign rattay or simms because they want to give cassel a vote of confidence instead of him looking over his shoulder. if he screws up in the next week or two then they will think of an alternative even o'connell or a trade. right now i think want to see how it plays out since its so early in the season.

 

[primetime]

Alex Smith, Cleo Lemon, David Carr, Billy Volek... all guys potentially available.

My darkhorse pick is Steve McNair coming out of retirement.

 

[Va_Pats_Fan]

Alex Smith, Cleo Lemon, David Carr, Billy Volek... all guys potentially available.

My darkhorse pick is Steve McNair coming out of retirement.

Here's an interesting name for you all...

Derek Anderson. His 2008 cap hit is $950,000 in a trade.

Looks who's behind him, with a great big contract....

 

[TN Patriot]

Alex Smith, Cleo Lemon, David Carr, Billy Volek... all guys potentially available.

My darkhorse pick is Steve McNair coming out of retirement.

McNair is going to stay in the stable, even with the Ravens releasing Boller and Smith's throat issues, he's said he's content in retirement.

 

[primetime]

McNair is going to stay in the stable, even with the Ravens releasing Boller and Smith's throat issues, he's said he's content in retirement.

Yeah, it was a long shot. His knees are probably made of metal at this point.

 

[TN Patriot]

Yeah, it was a long shot. His knees are probably made of metal at this point.

Heh, I hear he has a titanium shield in his chest also. :singing:

 

[MrBigglesWorth]

why are teams going to trade with the pats and help them out?

alex smith broke a bone on his shoulder. he's nearly done for the yr

 

[TN Patriot]

why are teams going to trade with the pats and help them out?

alex smith broke a bone on his shoulder. he's nearly done for the yr

No one is going to trade with us, that's kooky talk.

 

[signbabybrady]

Here's an interesting name for you all...

Derek Anderson. His 2008 cap hit is $950,000 in a trade.

Looks who's behind him, with a great big contract....

flip it Brady Quinn

 

[NovaScotiaPatsFan]

I like this theory:

Deebs says:
September 8th, 2008 at 5:50 pm This is all just another one of Bill Bellichek’s nefarious schemes.
Brady never blew out his knee. Bellichek is just trying to make other teams take the Patriots lightly. I swear, that guy’ll do anything to gain even the slightest advantage in gameplanning.
Watch, the Pats will introduce their new QB this week against the Jets. It’ll be a guy named “Brom Tradey,” and he’ll look just like Tom Brady, only with a big, thick mustache that looks sort of scotch-taped on.

 

[NovaScotiaPatsFan]

Culpepper is the option here. Just a few years ago he was an elite QB.. Unfortunately he had a severe injury that cost him his job in Minn.. He was never fully healed in Miami and really never had a supporting cast, never mind the fact Miami had poor coaching, remember Saban... And lets not get started about Oakland..


Culpepper has the greatest upside of any of the Qb's out there.. He only retired because he wanted a chance to start and no one would offer it to him.. Well he is in the perfect situation here (if he comes), he'll start.. Mark my words, he'll start over cassel by week 5.

I'm sorry but Daunte Culpepper is terrible, I watched him play against the Bills when he was in Miami and he threw in to 3-0 coverage. That is he threw where there were 3 Bills and 0 Dolphins.

Cassel will be the Man for perhaps ONE game........and after the fans boo him off the field

So what you're saying is in his first game he's going to get booed off the field? You know his first game is in The Meadowlands right? I imagine he'll get booed off the field when he throws a TD to Welker.

 

[Free_Pacman]

I am still hoping we get Testaverde.

 

[TealSox]

I trust that Scott and Bill have a list of free agent QBs, as well as all other positions, and have their agent's number for situations like this. Ron Wolf, when he was with the Packers, had a similiar list, which I am sure he got from the Raiders. If a GM doesn't have a list like this, I would question their credentials.

That said, Simms and Rattay must be at the top of that list.

I would personally prefer Simms over Rattay, but the vibe going forward should be that any QB they bring in are going to come in as the #2 QB with Cassel being the clear starter. Bluntly speaking, I prefer Cassel's experience in the system over either free agents.

The list the fans have come up with has been interesting thus far. I don't see them trading for Derek Anderson, who agreed to a huge contract in the off season despite having Quinn behind him. I don't see a trade of any sorts coming during the season that will address the injury and I say that with a frown. I like a guy like David Carr and even Josh McCown to come in a compete for the #2 spot.

Undoubtably, their are 15 more games till the season is over and they can't seriously go forward with Cassel and O'Connell. Gutierrez doesn't even answer the problem, but getting a guy like Culpepper or even Jack Plummer only creates issues in the clubhouse.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

Troy Brown.

 

[Section103]

Think we trade for Brady Quinn? Replace Brady with Brady?

 

[shakadave]

we need to just stick with Cassel at this point. We need to run the hell out of the ball and put him in managable passing downs. Look at the Bears/Colts game last night. Bears played good D and ran the ball well. Orton was put into good passing downs ie 3 and 5 or so and he made the passes. Same thing with us now. RUN THE HELL OUT OF THE BALL! look, we have 3 RBs that can run the ball. We can run all day without getting tired if we spell them evenly. We are not going to put up the scoring numbers like last year, but we will still be able to win the majority of our games given our schedule.

Run the hell out of the ball and we go a whole season averaging 3.4 yards per carry and 15 points per game.

 

[jbb9s]

I want someone to address this please:

If the Patriots have confidence in Cassel: Great. Fantastic. Let him play. Blah Blah Blah.

Look at last years QB stats - only a handful of QBs played 16 games - some of them played in 16 but didn't finish one because of minor ding, etc.

So the chances of Cassel staying healthy for the entire season is very unlikely. Even if he doesn't miss a stretch, he still may miss a half or a game or something like that.

So for those of you who say Cassel is our man, no vet backup (that includes BB), you are ultimately saying that kevin o'connell is good enough to play meaningful time this season.

Also with the emergency 3rd QB rule, whats the drawback in having another body.

 

[Dagg]

I think they definately canceled plans to give Cassell a vote of confidence, but wait until he poops his pants and they will definately make a move, just going to be a week or so.

 

[shakadave]

I like this theory:

Deebs says:
Watch, the Pats will introduce their new QB this week against the Jets. It’ll be a guy named “Brom Tradey,” and he’ll look just like Tom Brady, only with a big, thick mustache that looks sort of scotch-taped on.

This is the first smile anyone's been able to bring to my face today.