An upset or a sign of things to come?

2008-09-22T13:44:45-04:00

2008-09-21T17:16:54-04:00

2008-09-22T13:44:45-04:00

alrider

Mount Auburn 557299

28 Does anyone remember what ROGER GOODELL told BRETT FARVE about playing again?? One option was to wait until the season started and see what team needed help due to a QUARTERBACK INJURY??..!! 2818743

2008-09-22T13:38:03-04:00

alrider

Mount Auburn 557299

27 Does anyone remember what Roger Goodell told BRETT FARVE during the Pack-Farve divorce this summer? He told brett that he could just 'sit out' and wait until some team lost a quarterback..... 2818580

2008-09-22T08:58:12-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/445/234/thumb/bsm.gif 907 CA

Nam Vet2

Rosamond 445674

23 No doubt, Moss is a tremendous talent. However, you have to have somebody who can get him the ball. Let's see, until last week, Cassel hadn't started a game since HIGH SCHOOL!! As soon as Brady went down, they should have been looking for an experienced veteran - and this is not hindsight; it's a fact. 2814328

2008-09-22T11:32:11-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/535/432/thumb/mind.the.gap.20050112.jpg 777 AZ

No English?

Mesa 535872

No doubt, Moss is a tremendous talent. However, you have to have somebody who can get him the ball. Let's see, until last week, Cassel hadn't started a game since HIGH SCHOOL!! As soon as Brady went down, they should have been looking for an experienced veteran - and this is not hindsight; it's a fact.

26 I agree. The Patriots went from having the best QB in the league running their offense to having the worst QB in the league. I thought they would struggle to win 8 or 9 games if they stuck with Cassel for the entire year and was just as shocked that they beat the Jets with Cassel as I was that they lost to the Dolphins yesterday. Almost anyone they could pick up would be an upgrade over Cassel. 2816645

2008-09-22T10:02:43-04:00

California Dolphin

Los Angeles 14657

25 Wow, CDREAD01, you actually made some pretty good points. That's kind of sad that the "team of the 2000s" can be that easily unclothed. It makes Brady look even more the franchise player, and Bellicheck look more the winy jerk. Well... Go Dolphins! 2815111

2008-09-22T09:16:35-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/248/282/thumb/jedgarhoover.jpg 602 OH

JayEss

Westerville 248622

24 Don't start scapegoating Randy quite so fast. IF things end up going bad with the Pats, it won't be because of one guy's attitude, it will be because of an aging, injured defense that lost its juice all of a sudden. Nobody figured that New England was gonna run the table again, did they? 2814497

2008-09-22T08:58:12-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/445/234/thumb/bsm.gif 907 CA

Nam Vet2

Rosamond 445674

2008-09-22T06:27:01-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/212/58/thumb/Dad_and_Elijah.jpg 420 TX

E-Nasty

Austin 21298

22 I just don't know how Moss has been a non-factor. The guy has the natural talent to be the best of all time. But, is this the old Randy we know? Mr. "I play when I wanna play"? I wonder if he'd play if the Pats signed Culpepper...there's a thought... 2813061

2008-09-22T02:57:36-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/551/26/thumb/arizona-state-cheerleader-sparky_1_.jpg 28 AZ

cdread01

Tempe 55406

21 Ok, not to say that I saw this coming, but the signs were there that New England was going to come back down to earth this season. For all the reasons previously stated with regard to the D-line, O-line, and secondary. There is however one other point that absolutely needs to be made. Bill B. is far from the coaching genius everyone makes him out to be. When he was in Cleveland, he was lucky to have one good season and a host of mediocre and poor ones. When he first took the New England job, he was below 500 the first year and half or so. What is the next thing people look at with regard to coaching genius? They look at your assistants who coach elsewhere. Well, let's see... Mangini is less than impressive in NY, Crenel is lucky to be an average coach in Cleveland, and Weis at Notre Dame is a colossal failure thus far. Belichick is far from spawning proven winners from his 'system.' Bill Walsh, Tom Landry, and Chuck Knoll have all produced better coaching talent than Belichick has. Besides what does it say of a man when he is so petty and jealous of one of his former coaches that he acts like a three year old toward him (I am speaking of Belichick's attitude toward Mangini of course). Let's be perfectly honest. The two men who 90% of the credit for the New England run the last few years are (in this order) Scott Pioli and Tom Brady. Pioli has done an amazing job of finding the best talent available that fits the team personality and are consistent over-achievers. He does this within the salary cap era, which makes his results even more impressive. Of course, drafting Tom Brady was a stroke of lucky genius. Tom obviously has a feel for the game that not too many QBs ever acquire. His presence and leadership take an average team and make them phenomenal sometimes and much better than average nearly all the time. If Tom Brady retired tomorrow, Belichick would be lucky to have 2 winning seasons in the next 5, and those would be 9-7 at best. He had better hope Brady rehabs and comes back in top form, otherwise the Belichick mystique goes up in a puff of smoke. 2811745

2008-09-22T01:58:33-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/515/079/thumb/MIA_875.gif 244 Mn

beerndrums

Bloomington 515519

20 If this is the only game Miami wins this year,I'll be a happier man than last year.This should quiet some of the Pats fans who said it doesn't matter who their QB is...Bill is a coaching genius. 2811545

2008-09-22T01:18:28-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/115/839/thumb/kasparaitis.jpg 509 VA

Nikolai

116139

19 A few quotes: "the Patriots, who had their 21-game home winning streak ended." "But at what point in time do you keep responding when you have to keep putting in new players? They've done it wonderfully over the last [several] years, but there comes a time where it has to catch up with you, even with a team as great as this one." "interception ... of a pass by quarterback Matt Cassell" The game? The 2005 blowout of the Patriots, courtesy of the Chargers. I just think it's kind of interesting how much the games had in common. Other than that, it's clear that this year will be far less successful for the Patriots than it could have been. Brady did band-aid a few problems. Remember that last year, the lowly 07 Dolphins hung 28 on the Patriots. However, Brady and company were able to tack on 49 points. Problem solved. AFC East is still a toss-up. I'd be surprised if the Patriots don't bounce back from this and crush San Fran. To answer the question posited in this blog: I'd call it a mild upset. If they played this game ten times, the Patriots would win 6 or 7 matchups. 2811347

<p> </p> <div class="photo_container image_right"> <div class="photo"><img src="http://img.fannation.com/upload/si_blog_post_images/t1_0921_cassel.sacked_getty.jpg" alt="T1_0921_cassel" width="298" height="400" /></div> <div class="photo_attributes">The Dolphins' Quentin Moses sacks Matt Cassel.</div> <div class="photo_attributes">Jim Rogash/Getty Images</div> </div> <p>What did you expect? Did you really think the Patriots would simply continue their winning ways without <strong>Tom Brady</strong>? That <strong>Matt Cassel</strong> would somehow continue to manage the offense to gritty win after gritty win?</p> <p>Sure, few outside of Florida expected the Dolphins to go into New England and beat the Patriots, let alone by 25 points. But, really, how much of that had to do with their recent records rather than the current state of both teams?</p> <p>Following the Dolphins' 38-13 win over the Patriots at Gillette Stadium, words such as "shocker" and "stunner" were repeated by announcers to describe the win. For a moment I had to check to see if Brady had returned to the Patriots' lineup.</p> <p>The upset wasn't so much that the Patriots lost -- I think they'll be lucky to be a .500 team without Brady -- but how they lost. It's no surprise that the Patriots offense will struggle with Cassel, but most figured they would be able to rely on their experienced defense. On Sunday that usually dependable group gave up 465 total yards to the Dolphins, including 265 yards and four touchdowns on the ground. Ronnie Brown scored all four of those touchdowns, to go with a left-handed touchdown toss, as all of Miami's scores came on direct snaps to the tailback.</p> <p>New England's defensive breakdowns had nothing to do with Cassel, although Cassel certainly didn't help matters by connecting on 19-of-31 passes for 131 yards, one touchdown, one interception, and being sacked three times, one resulting in a fumble. <strong>Joey Porter</strong>, who had three sacks and a fumble, was criticized this week for saying that beating the Patriots "shouldn't be that hard" because Cassel was no Brady. Some suggested that Porter had given the Patriots bulletin board material, but he was right. No matter how many times people want to compare Cassel to Brady, the fact is the guy who hadn't even started a football game since high school before this season wasn't even qualified to be his backup.</p> <p>Besides watching an intelligent defense crumble in the face of an offensive game plan seemingly stolen from Arkansas' playbook last season, the most distressing sight for the Patriots may have been the body language of <strong>Randy Moss</strong> towards the end of the game. Moss walked through certain routes and barely tried to catch a couple of slightly off-target passes from Cassel as if he was back in Oakland. Moss on a team without Brady could quickly deteriorate into a bigger problem than <strong>Dennis Rodman</strong> on a team without <strong>Michael Jordan</strong>.</p> http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/396/7/thumb/markazi_arash.jpg 118 CA

Arash Markazi

Los Angeles 3987 6541 <p> </p> <div class="photo_container image_right"> <div class="photo"><img src="http://img.fannation.com/upload/si_blog_post_images/t1_0921_cassel.sacked_getty.jpg" alt="T1_0921_cassel" width="298" height="400" /></div> <div class="photo_attributes">The Dolphins' Quentin Moses sacks Matt Cassel.</div> <div class="photo_attributes">Jim Rogash/Getty Images</div> </div> <p>What did you expect? Did you really think the Patriots would simply continue their winning ways without <strong>Tom Brady</strong>? That <strong>Matt Cassel</strong> would somehow continue to manage the offense to gritty win after gritty win?</p> <p>Sure, few outside of Florida expected the Dolphins to go into New England and beat the Patriots, let alone by 25 points. But, really, how much of that had to do with their recent records rather than the current state of both teams?</p> <p>Following the Dolphins' 38-13 win over the Patriots at Gillette Stadium, words such as "shocker" and "stunner" were repeated by announcers to describe the win. For a moment I had to check to see if Brady had returned to the Patriots' lineup.</p> <p>The upset wasn't so much that the Patriots lost -- I think they'll be lucky to be a .500 team without Brady -- but how they lost. It's no surprise that the Patriots offense will struggle with Cassel, but most figured they would be able to rely on their experienced defense. On Sunday that usually dependable group gave up 465 total yards to the Dolphins, including 265 yards and four touchdowns on the ground. Ronnie Brown scored all four of those touchdowns, to go with a left-handed touchdown toss, as all of Miami's scores came on direct snaps to the tailback.</p>