Cassel/Brady

I've been meaning to write something to this effect for a while, but I guess better late than never. The evidence is overwhelming at this point...



I have believed for a long time that Tom Brady is overrated. Is he good? Sure. He is one of the best quarterbacks in the game right now. However, I have always thought it a huge stretch to mention him in the same sentence as the greats. Even the great Manning-Brady debate, I have always thought laughable.

When Brady got injured this year, I was almost a bit upset because it gave the Patriots an excuse to not be that good. Though their aging defense would be the real cause of their struggles, now they had the pleasant out of not having "the greatest quarterback ever" as the cause.

I expected Cassel to be a moderate downgrade, as he has been, but I expected him to be more than serviceable because of the situation he is in. With one of the best lines in the NFL, the best receiver against man in the NFL, the best receiver against zone in the NFL, and several other weapons, it's hard for any quarterback to look too bad.

However, when the season began and the Patriots lost a few games, the immediate response was a predictable, "They would've won with Brady." As I wrote after the first Pats-Dolphins game:

"Midway through the second quarter, when the Dolphins were already dominating the football game, Matt Cassel was 14-17. Make no mistake: Matt Cassel did not lose this game for the Patriots and Tom Brady would not have won it. The Dolphins simply outplayed the Patriots from start to finish on both sides of the ball."

I couldn't believe that nobody realized this. It wasn't like Matt Cassel was running around like Ryan Leaf ruining everything. He had played a sound football game, but the defense couldn't stop the Dolphins and their 38 points. He continued to play sound football through the middle of the season, and people continued to ignore him.

Then, in two consecutive weeks, the game plan featured him heavily, he got great protection, and he played very well. He had two consecutive 400 yard games, a very impressive feat that Brady never accomplished (as has been well documented). Suddenly, Cassel is the hottest commodity on the free agent market and being considered Brady 2.0.

The simple truth has been very apparent if you have watched Matt Cassel play football this year. He is a good quarterback, but not as good as Brady. From the losses to the 400 yard win, he has done what has been asked of him, and just like Brady and 99% of quarterbacks in NFL history, he has struggled under pressure.

The strength of the O-line and receivers around the quarterback in New England makes it a favorable situation for any quarterback, especially because of the most quarterback-friendly player in the NFL, Wes Welker. Neither Brady nor Cassel is on the level of Peyton or Unitas, but they’ll both get the job done when put in a favorable situation.

I am surprised that it took this long for people around the NFL to respect Cassel as a solid quarterback, but at the same time I laugh at the notion that he would play anywhere near the level he is playing at right now for another team next year.

As far as Brady goes, I hold to my longstanding belief that he is a great quarterback, but not an all-time great. He has always been put in favorable situations and done what was asked of him, but has also always struggled on the rare occasion when people got after him. Put Peyton Manning in New England's offense last year, and he would make Brady look like a third stringer. Yes, Brady's got the rings, but there are 52 other guys on each of his teams earning those along with him. In fact, nobody remembers this, but Brady wasn’t even that good his first year. He did a lot of things well, but like the rest of his career, he was protected.