I cried a little when I heard the news five weeks ago. It couldn’t have happened, the media must be wrong; all the videos really didn’t look that bad. Luckily, I wasn’t there to actually witness it; although I almost was, a last minute decision kept me here in Troy. I might have been a little bit traumatized by the whole thing. No, it wasn’t some terrible car accident or bank robbery or something. It was my boy, Tom Brady, as he fell to the ground clutching his left knee in pain.
I’m no stranger to his injury; I sustained my own roughly eight months ago while ski racing for RPI. Let me tell you: ACL tears? They blow. He’s a little luckier than I am; hobbling around campus on crutches for two months during the snowy/rainy/crap weather season is not the easiest. Brady? He’ll have his own staff to tend to his every need, so I’m not too worried. I survived it, so he can. We actually may have the same knee surgeon, so I trust he’s in good hands. Regardless, it’s not something I’d ever wish upon anyone else, especially not the star quarterback of my football team.
Of course, what is the first thought on every one’s mind? The Pats are screwed. As a season ticket holder, I went to the pre-season games before classes started back up and witnessed the abilities of the Pats’ second-in-command firsthand. Matt Cassel did pretty well, considering that New England didn’t win a single pre-season game, but it’s not his fault that Bill Belichick didn’t actually want to win (to deter any injuries, what irony!). Yeah, yeah, I hear all the reports. Do I really care that he hadn’t started a game since 1999, back when he was in high school? No! Who cares? He’s not going to be another Tom Brady, so don’t expect him to be. I certainly am not. We bleed the blue and white in my family; to us, this is just something for the Patriots to work on, to provide them with at least some challenge in the season.
The following four weekends have definitely been interesting. The only performance I was disappointed in was the first regular season game of the year, against the Dolphins. Seriously, what happened? It wasn’t all Cassel’s fault, though; the defense fell apart. Even as our top coaches at RPI say, having a solid defense is key to having a great offense, so what could you expect? Putting that mess behind, how about the games against the Chiefs, Jets, and ’49ers? I knew that Cassel was going to do well, but no one else did. Have a little faith for once, New Englanders.
Continuing on with our 21-game-winning streak broken, I am no less confident in Cassel’s abilities. Everyone at some point needs to learn how to be a leader and this is his time. To quote a great sign I saw while driving on the Massachusetts Turnpike two weeks ago, “Matt Cassel is a wall that can’t be scaled!”
