Sept 9th, 2008 – The Whole New Ballgame
One second you are everybody’s Super Bowl favorite. The next you are not even picked to come out of your division.
Things happen fast in the NFL.
It wasn’t only Tom Brady’s knee that crumpled after taking a hit from Kansas City safety Bernard Pollard. So did the Patriots run at redemption. After falling just short of perfection last season, now the little team that shoulda been, are faced with the next seventeen weeks wondering what coulda been.
Sure, they are talking the required talk. The team is rallying around a career backup Matt Cassel – who is ranked 30th out of the 32 No. 1 clipboard holders in the league. How long of a shot is he to take Brady’s ball and run with it? Brady started 128 straight games and had not missed a start since getting the job in 2001. Sunday against the Jets will be Cassel’s first start – since high school.
After it was revealed that he had torn his ACL and more ligament damage possible, Brady sent out an optimistic e-mail saying, “I’m excited to see what our team is made of. … I still like our chances.”;
Chances at what is the question.
Because after week one, the team that looks like the one to beat in the AFC East are the Buffalo Bills, then the Jets, and then, maybe, the Patriots.
Instead of being an unstoppable force, Randy Moss and Wes Welker have been relegated to just another pair of great receivers having to deal with a second tier quarterback throwing to them – like about 20 other teams in the league.
Moss should love that. The chances of him playing nice for the whole season just went from “unlikely” to “Gentleman, start your whining.” His complaining will pale in comparison to what all the fantasy league owners who chose he and Brady as their “locks.” CNBC calculated Brady’s injury could result in a shift of $150 million to $1.5 billion in fantasy prize money. The New England fans are devastated, and so should true fans of football everywhere as one of the great performers in the game is done for the year and one of the best storylines of the season is already over.
Pretty much the only folks who aren’t crying in their beer are the 31 other teams in the NFL – because their chances at playing in Tampa at the start of February just got a whole lot better.
After week one the whole league looks upside down. Many would have argued with Brady out, the San Diego Chargers would have taken over the “favorites” mantle in the AFC, except they were taken out by the Carolina Panthers. The Colts stumbled out of the gate as well falling to what was supposed to be a mediocre Chicago Bears.
Two of the AFC’s best losing to two NFC teams that didn’t make it to the playoffs last season?
It looks like we’re all in for a bumpy ride. Isn’t it great?
As for Brady, when the best player of his generation returns he will be a 32 year-old coming off major reconstructive knee surgery.
At that age, how many guys come back 100% from that?
Pollard’s hit did more than change the prospects for just this season. They may have changed the balance of power in the NFL – perhaps for years to come.
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