Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Down And Out - The Tom Brady Story

Not much is left to be said about the New England Patriots and of Tom Brady. Most of the angles have been covered by this point. All I can say is that from the moment that I saw his leg bend the wrong way while watching the game I knew it was bad, the fans knew it was bad, the team knew it was bad, but most of all Brady knew it was bad. You could see both the disappointment and the pain on his face.
What New England will do is anyone’s guess, and guess they must....as Coach Belichick usually plays it close to the vest. A few QB's have been contacted and/or signed eg. Matt Gutierrez. They are still a good team and are one of few teams that a next guy in line mentality that may be able to handle the adversity but it will be an uphill battle.

Gone for the season is tough but what is worse is not knowing what kind of player will come back after surgery and rehab. It is a lot to expect the same player to return and it will be interesting to see whet level he can perform at and for how long. Lets not forget it was Brady who took over the team when then starter and thought to be franchise QB Drew Bledsoe went down with injury and except for 1 playoff game never gave the job back. Could history repeat itself? Will Matt Cassel take the ball and run with it? Remember he was behind many a good QB throughout his career (Carson Palmer and Matt Lienart at USC and Brady in New England) and is probably a pretty good QB just waiting for his chance, and in New England...wouldn’t surprise me one bit. I hope that is not the case as I am a fan of what Brady has done but only time will tell.

To some it is debatable about overall greatness and Hall of Fame worthiness, to me there is no doubt. Top 5 All Time and no brainer Hall of Famer. The Super Bowls, the undefeated regular season and the TD passing record and most importantly the Michigan pedigree all add up to one of the all time greats. Here is to hoping for a fast and successful recovery and that there is still a job for him when he returns.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think Cassel will do fine. The Pats have such a good offensive line, even Kyle Boller would look good. Think of how much time Brady has before he throws. With the same amount of time, Cassel should be good for 30 touchdowns or so.