Bookmark & share:

E-mail this page E-mail a letter to the editor Reader Comments (below)

STEVE SOLLOWAY 09/08/2008

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Matt Cassel looked at his teammate sitting on the turf, grasping his knee. At that moment Cassel was no different from thousands of New England Patriots fans.

C'mon, Tom. Get up. You always pop back up after you're down.

Tom Brady couldn't and, quickly, one man was very different from anyone else. When the Patriots ran back onto the field at Gillette Stadium late in the first quarter Sunday, Matt Cassel was the quarterback.

The last time he played in a meaningful football game, we all were living in Bill Clinton's America. That was some eight years ago.

Understudy to durable Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at the University of Southern California. Understudy to the previously indestructable Brady. Cassel was the second fiddle who never got to play.

But Cassel played Sunday, and he didn't hit many bad notes. His 51-yard pass to Randy Moss at the end of the first quarter was Brady-esque. With Patriots fans hoping Cassel would avoid getting tackled in his end zone for a safety on third-and-9, Moss adjusted his pass route to clear double coverage. Cassel saw the adjustment.

"I just tried to put (the ball) in the vicinity," he said.

Moss caught the ball in front of Coach Bill Belichick, who had a clear view of the play developing. Great throw, said the coach.

Minutes later, Moss was in the end zone for the first touchdown of the game, a 10-yard pass from Cassel.

"As a quarterback you have to deal with adversity," said Cassel, explaining the mindset of coming into the game cold and being pinned on his team's 1-yard line on third down. "I think through adversity comes advancement."

You knew what he meant, but not how or why he said that. It's been such a long time since he's faced adversity on the field.

"He's taken a lot of fire, especially in this preseason," said Matt Light, the Patriots' right tackle. "He's had a lot of criticism passed down on him."

Light is right. Who outside the Patriots' locker room had any evidence to believe Cassel could step up? For two years Cassel maintained he had confidence in himself and believed his teammates had confidence in him.

But the words sounded hollow. Until Sunday, he never had the chance to show his stuff.

Depending on the seriousness of Brady's injury, Cassel could be on center stage for a while. But no one believes this is 2001, when starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe went down with a punctured lung and a very young Brady replaced him. Other than the second half of the AFC championship game in Pittsburgh, Bledsoe never got his job back.

Cassel isn't Brady, but he's not a bad facsimile if Sunday's 17-10 victory against Kansas City is an example of how steady he can be under pressure.

"Obviously, there's an adrenaline pump that went on immediately," said Cassel, describing the moment he knew he was the game's quarterback. "You just take a deep breath and get going."

Fullback Heath Evans slapped Cassel's helmet several times as he ran to the huddle for that first series. Others told him they had his back, that they were stepping up their play. Even if Moss kept turning around.

"Every time the fans cheered," Moss said, "I looked over at the door (of the locker room tunnel), just hoping you would see that No. 12 (Brady's number) come out of those doors and up the steps. I was just snapping my neck around every time."

Then Moss looked to his new quarterback. "I know the show must go on, and hopefully Matt Cassel is ready to step in. From a team standpoint, we are ready to embrace him and let him lead us." Injuries are part of football. Only the blessed or the lucky escape.

"This is a violent game," Patriots cornerback Ellis Hobbs said. "In the flash of the moment, you could see a teammate go down. It's why everyone prepares so they're ready to play.

"What you saw today wasn't miraculous. It was just guys out there working hard, doing their jobs."

Matt Cassel most of all.

Bookmark and share this story: