Why Cassel has it easier than Brady

By Os Davis  |   Wednesday, September 17, 2008  |  Comments( 9 )

New England Patriots
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After Matt Cassel passed his trial by fire on Sunday, pundits and fans alike praised the New England Patriots as having won in different fashion. However, the methods employed against the Jets in everything from the passing game to the other side of the ball were nothing new at all.

The most compelling stats of last Sunday’s AFC East clash came with the comparison of Cassel’s game-day numbers versus those of one Tom Brady, dated Sept. 30, 2001. Eerily identical (Cassel went 16 of 23 for 165 yards, while Brady completed 13 of 23 for 168; neither threw a TD or a pick), the Patriot backup’s statistics indicate that the New England Belichicks’ game plan is the same as it ever was. Only better.

Commentary: How so? Let us count the ways.

• Most obvious first: the wide receivers. The numbers say that Brady’s top two receivers in 2001 were Troy Brown and David Patten, who accounted for a total 152 receptions, 1,959 yards and nine touchdowns; this represented just under 50 and 60 percent of the 2001 Pats’ total stats in the first two categories while Brown and Patten’s nine scores accounted for exactly one-quarter the number of TDs notched by New England that year. Sure, Brown and Patten are nice players both, but how can they be compared to Wes Welker, possibly the best pure slot receiver in the NFL right now, and Randy Moss, simply the greatest WR ever to wear a Patriots uniform (sorry, Stanley Morgan)? No comparison.

• Nearly as obvious a direct improvement over the past eight seasons is the offensive line. Check out Brady’s career stats and one number in particular sticks out in a Hall of Fame career: Observe how the ridiculous 41 sacks Brady incurred in 2001 (and that in just 14 1/2 games, mind you) steadily drops throughout his tenure until last year’s way-low mark of 21. Though he was never a Drew “Immovable Object” Bledsoe, did Brady’s mobility really improve that much? Yeah, surrrrrrrrrrrre. Cassel will be getting all the benefits of a matured O-line that Brady simply didn’t have. (Heck, now-perpetual Pro Bowler Matt Light was an unknown quantity back then.)

• Game planning. Another stat that particularly stands out in Brady’s career is the interception ratio. At a crazy-low 2.4 percent (archrival Peyton Manning stands at 2.8 for his career), Brady has consistently shown that one doesn’t need to take Brett Favre-level risks in order to win big. Now, some of this may be on Brady’s abilities themselves – after all, Bledsoe and his 3.7 percent mark managed just two seasons at his replacement’s career average in the category – but when Bledsoe went down, the switch to small ball only benefited the evolution of Tom Terrific and his Patriots. Cassel’s zero picks (not to mention no seriously close calls and just a couple of underthrows) have to be cause for cheer in New England.

• The reputation. Any other team loses a franchise quarterback for the season, it's presumed done. (How many left the 2001 Patriots for dead in Week 3 right through to Super Bowl XXXVI despite the fact that they entered the playoffs as No. 2 seed in the AFC?) Four Super Bowl appearances later, that ain’t happening this season, and New England remains pretty high in most power polls, all things considered.

• The coach. Jeez, the way Bill Belichick is talking, it’s like he’d planned for this all along. Here’s the loquacious coach on Cassel’s performance this week: “[He] did a lot of things real well. I thought he made, for the most part, good decisions in the game. I thought he managed the game well and handled the team well. He handled some situations ... I thought he did a good job. It wasn’t perfect. There were a couple of things he could have done better, but overall for the first league start, I thought he did a pretty solid job.”

Oh, wait a minute. That was Belichick on Brady in 2001. Here’s the line on Cassel: "I thought Matt did a good job ... It wasn't perfect. We had some rough spots. He did a good job of making good decisions. He didn't put us in any bad situations and made some good positive plays. I thought he managed the game well."

Turn back the clock, indeed. The 2001 Patriots are back, but better than ever. Message to the NFL: Be afraid. Be very afraid.

And just call Cassel “The Human Reset Button.”
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's ...
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