Sports Monday: Matt Cassel Returns to Earth
In the giddy afterglow of Matt Cassell’s back-to-back 400-yard+ passing games (Tom Brady only had one!) a lot of otherwise intelligent people got a little ahead of themselves anointing the lifetime backup a superstar.
There’s a simple rule of NFL quarterbacking that I think is wise to follow: If you share a record with Billy Volek, it’s probably a tad flukish. There’s no question that Cassel has saved the Patriots season, and he will get paid for his efforts, whether it’s here or say, San Francisco. But that’s a story for February, and while Cassel couldn’t save the Pats yesterday he certainly wasn’t the problem, either.
The Patriots have four weeks left to get themselves into the playoffs, and while their schedule is easy, the way in is not.
New England is at Seattle, and at Oakland the next two weeks (combined record 5-19). The back-to-back west coast swing is a little tricky, but the Pats can’t afford to slip in either game. They then return home for Arizona and Buffalo.
There’s no reason they can’t run the table and finish 11-5, but here’s the problem: The Jets have a game in hand in the AFC East and a similarly easy sked—at San Francisco and Seattle, home against Miami and Buffalo. The Colts have a game in hand (and the head-to-head tiebreaker) for one wild card spot and games with Cincinnati, Detroit, Jacksonville, and Tennessee.
Which is why whoever is playing Baltimore just became New England’s second-favorite team. The Ravens at 8-4 have Washington, Pittsburgh, Dallas, and Jacksonville left and a two-game cushion for best conference record.
It will be an uphill battle for the Patriots, but at least we can safely retire two silly questions: That Bill Belichick is lost without Brady, and the Cassel is the better long-term option.
In the interest of full disclosure, I have a side gig covering the Celtics for weei.com, but even if that wasn’t the case I would have no qualms directing you to Alex Speier’s terrific piece on the Red Sox pursuit of Japanese pitcher Junichi Tazawa, a pursuit that was consumated over the weekend.
I suppose I should also mention that yes, it is a little surreal to be on the same masthead as Curt Schilling.
Congratulations to Jeff Jagodzinski and Boston College for doing the inexplicable: defending its Atlantic Division ACC crown without Matt Ryan. Before Jags took over, BC’s pattern was to set itself up and then blow it on the last weekend. Not anymore. In his two years at the Heights, BC is 20-6 with wins over Notre Dame, Florida State, Miami, and Virginia Tech.
BC gets a rematch with the Hokies in the ACC championship game this weekend, and with a win the Eagles will be Orange Bowl-bound. But even if they can’t sweep Tech (BC is slightly favored), the Eagles will be looking at no worse than the Music City Bowl. Safe to say that BC has exceeded expectations on the football field since joining the conference.
It’s also safe to say that linebacker Mark Herzlich should be in the conversation with more heralded players like James Laurinaitis from Ohio State and Rey Maualuga from USC. In a weekend spent watching football, I didn’t see a better individual play than the interception Herzlich had against Maryland.
