PatsFans opinion on why Cassel kept over Gutz?

[stcjones]

If Brady gets hurt, it doesn't make any difference whether Cassel

or Gutierrez is the backup. With Brady the Pats are playoff bound,

without Brady they are no better than an average team.

This is very true....Brady IN.....top tier team.......Brady OUT......average team......good points......Doesn't really matter if Cassel....Gutz..(when he was here) or Okee come into the game.....they aren't going to replace Brady.......good realistic post Jim.....

 

[stcjones]

I agree with this, there is a reason why Brady is one of the greatest players ever.....he makes a huge impact on a game. However, anyone who says Cassel is any better than a bum, is totally delusional, and chugging the kool-aid at a record pace. Cassel is terrible!

Bill knows we are screwed if Tom goes down, and thats why he let Cassel stick around.

I agree with you here.......but why do you suggest that they let Cassel "stick around"? Is he simply the "best" of a worst case scenario.....In other words, because he has the most experience in the Pats system (despite the fact that he can not RUN the system successfully and is an awful QB).....that is why he is still the backup? I think you are right on that.......Besides, I think I recall BB saying that he had the best hold technique on the clipboard....and he had decent timing avoiding the chains when Brady moved the team up and down the field.....

 

[stcjones]

I love how when the know it alls here are proven wrong they lash out at those of us who weren't not to mention impuning the intelligence of a HOF HC.

You people want a HOF QB backing up our HOF starter, NOT EVER GONNA HAPPEN. Absent that you want some guy whose got name recognition and nothing more, ALSO NOT GONNA HAPPEN. Every season you fall in love with the new kid on the block and turn on the incumbent backup like a pack of rabid dogs...

You're the delusional ones and what your chugging is half ignorance and half sour grapes with a dash of overinflated football ego. The media led you on because you have no basis on which to judge these guys and when one of them reported the team really loved Gutz the rest of them climbed on that bandwaggon and suckered you along for the ride by beating that drum in the face of a whole preseason worth of evidence Cassel remained firmly in the #2 slot. It got to the point seemingly Cassel could do no right and Gutz could do no wrong. Then of course there was the rookie...slinging it past the hamburger flippers at the tail end of 2 preseason games...like they all don't do that.

What a bunch of freakin' sheep...

I think what we want "Oh ye' great mind of football" is a COMPETENT backup should the need occur......It is mind numbing how you could watch the same games all of us did ...with Cassel looking like a deer in the headlights on nearly every play.....and feel confident in this kid stepping in for Brady.......Mind numbing

 

[MoLewisrocks]

I think what we want "Oh ye' great mind of football" is a COMPETENT backup should the need occur......It is mind numbing how you could watch the same games all of us did ...with Cassel looking like a deer in the headlights on nearly every play.....and feel confident in this kid stepping in for Brady.......Mind numbing

Name me an available COMPETENT backup oh ye addled mind of football... If Bill doesn't sign one can we assume there wasn't any better option for this team than Cassel? Because if there were Bill would certainly sign him. He's all about making the team better after all... or don't you believe that either when he doesn't see it your way?

Bill watched those same games and he actually saw what each of them did and didn't do. Unlike some fans here and media who donned virtual blinders where Gutierrez was concerned...because they heard someone on the team say they really liked him and they all kept repeating that as if it meant he hated all the other backups. I bet they still do really like him, he's a great guy and gives 110% effort. Same as Cassel...

I also realize that Bill watched lots more tape including hundreds of mini camp and training camp snaps and drills and kept sending Cassel out there as the #2 while Gutierrez battled the rookie at trying to impress the hey he pulled one out of his ass crowd - a group he should know after a year his HC is not a member of. He struggled all through camp but the blinders crowd looked away lest their pre conceived notion got shot full of holes too.

Honestly, this was like watching some Jim Jones koolaid drinking by a bunch of lovestruck groupies. I've seen some bizarre behavior from the Boston football media over the BB years but this took the cake. And it took more than half the fan base with it. Now they are all looking for some hidden meaning in all this that will validate them down the road. Me, I just want everyone ON THIS TEAM to do well.

 

[Leave No Doubt]

BB kept Cassel over Gutz simply because he's been around,knows the system, and let's be honest he's made a career out of being exactly what we need him to be-a backup QB. Brady gave him a glowing reference which should count for something. With 1 year left on his contract we'll see what happens at that point but for now, as you look at the BIG picture, I think he was the better choice. Either way Gutz may end up back on the PS for all we know. Plus I think if the unthinkable happened, BB may seek out a vet but even that could depend on the timing.

I complained about Matt C after the first game or 2 but he showed improvement and by the 4th game things were looking up for him. No he didn't get a TD but the rest of the offense deserves a little piece of that too.

This team doesn't revolve around Brady, or it shouldn't in an ideal world. If he goes down, the rest of them need to step it up big time, and they'd have to do that no matter who our backup is. They need to tighten up a few things even WITH Brady on the field.

 

[italian pat patriot]

if i have to be honest i thought the Pats would have cut him; i'm a little bit surprised

 

[NormZauchin]

Name me an available COMPETENT backup oh ye addled mind of football... If Bill doesn't sign one can we assume there wasn't any better option for this team than Cassel? Because if there were Bill would certainly sign him. He's all about making the team better after all... or don't you believe that either when he doesn't see it your way?

Bill watched those same games and he actually saw what each of them did and didn't do. Unlike some fans here and media who donned virtual blinders where Gutierrez was concerned...because they heard someone on the team say they really liked him and they all kept repeating that as if it meant he hated all the other backups. I bet they still do really like him, he's a great guy and gives 110% effort. Same as Cassel...

I also realize that Bill watched lots more tape including hundreds of mini camp and training camp snaps and drills and kept sending Cassel out there as the #2 while Gutierrez battled the rookie at trying to impress the hey he pulled one out of his ass crowd - a group he should know after a year his HC is not a member of. He struggled all through camp but the blinders crowd looked away lest their pre conceived notion got shot full of holes too.

Honestly, this was like watching some Jim Jones koolaid drinking by a bunch of lovestruck groupies. I've seen some bizarre behavior from the Boston football media over the BB years but this took the cake. And it took more than half the fan base with it. Now they are all looking for some hidden meaning in all this that will validate them down the road. Me, I just want everyone ON THIS TEAM to do well.

Here goes for the fourth time. Todd Collins, Todd Collins, Todd Collins. He would not have been really cheap as I said previously, but the Pats could have got him for less than he signed with the Skins for all the usual reasons, plus he still lives in the Boston area and has a baby at home. See http://voices.washingtonpost.com/redskinsinsider/2008/02/the_todd_collins_contract.html for the outline of his deal with the Redskins. Signed in the spring, he would have had time to learn the Pats offense, unlike any veteran the Pats could acquire now. I brought this up with Mike Reiss and this was his reply:

Fair point on Collins. He was available and is better than Cassel. My only argument would be that at the time, the Patriots were probably figuring that Cassel would progress after three years of investment. He hasn't to this point. Now Collins would look a lot better.

--Mike

Original e-mail to Reiss:

Mike, you're not the only person to say it, but I have to take exception to the claim that there aren't (or weren't) any decent backup quarterbacks out there, or at least none that are better than Cassell and who otherwise meet Patriot specs. I offer Todd Collins as exihibit A. He leads the Redskins to four straight victories and a playoff berth last year after Campbell goes down. He's a classic dropback QB who manages the game and plays within his abilities. At the end of the season, he is a free agent. Has been a career backup, so he isn't asking for the sky. And besides, he's a local boy who flew home to Boston during the win streak to be with his wife as she was giving birth. With Gibbs gone and a new offense being installed, he was looking for change. According to his agent, only Jacksonville showed any interest. The Patriots could have had him for a song. But Bill would rather go with a backup quarterback whom he wouldn't trust with a three touchdown lead against the weakest team in the league, rather than make an effort to sign Collins. Isn't this a prime example of a Bill Belichick oversight?

 

[NEPatriot]

Whenever Cassel was on the field, our O really sucked. The fact that he couldn't score a TD in any game told me a lot about him. Knowledge is good but if he can't use it to score a TD, what is good of having knowledge?