“My understanding at this point is they’re trying to trade me,” Cutler said this afternoon. “We’ll see where I end up at. I liked it here, I liked playing with these guys but obviously they’re not going to let me have that opportunity.”  (Source)

It looks like they talked about a deal where Matt Cassel would end up in Denver, Culter to Tampa, and a first round pick to New England.

As it turns out, with Cassel going to KC that is not happening.

There seem to be some hurt feelings in Denver. This bears watching.

If the Pats aren’t confident enough in Brady’s knee, and also don’t feel backup Kevin O’Connell can assume a starter’s role, they’ll work out a longer term deal with Cassel. Keeping him for the one-year tender would make no sense, as combined with Brady’s cap figure, that would tie up $29.2 million.

If their concerns about Brady aren’t overwhelming, they’ll use their asset and get the best possible deal. Franchising Cassel on the early side of the two-week window allowed by the NFL may allow more time for a market to develop and a potential deal to materialize. (Source)

This leads met to believe a trade will happen as this seems to be the record of the Patriots in these situations.

The Patriots have a big decision ahead of them….what do do with Matt Cassel.  This of course would be further complicated if Tom Brady’s knee is indeed having trouble.  (Reports are mixed)

Tony Massarotti of the Boston Globe sports blog has done a great job breaking down the different options both for Cassel and the Patriots.  A few paragraphs down he writes…

The Patriots would be better served by getting something in return for Cassel (which means franchising him) and Cassel would be better served on the open market (where he can peddle his own services), paths that seem nothing if not divergent. What Cassel wants and what the Patriots want appear to be two very different things, and the sides could very well end up playing chicken with the future of the man who effectively saved the 2008 New England football season.

So what might this mean, practically?

If the Patriots franchise Cassel, he effectively would be tendered a 2009 contract at the average salary of the five highest-paid quarterbacks in football. (While that precise number will not be known until some time in February, one football agent recently estimated that the number will be $13 million-$14 million.) The Patriots must have that salary cap space available before implementing the franchise tag, and that space must exist so long as Cassel remained under their control. Additionally, any team then electing to sign Cassel would be required to forfeit two first-round draft picks, effectively destroying Cassel’s options on the open market.

If and when the Patriots can then work out a trade for Cassel, the quarterback’s new team can negotiate a new contract — at a more reasonable annual salary with more guaranteed, long-term money for the quarterback — and compensate the Patriots with a draft choice (or choices). Cassel then comes off the Patriots’ books and New England has the ability to use the money elsewhere — like, say, on defense — having sacrificed only short-term cap flexibility in the process.

Here’s the problem: Cassel could blow the whole thing up by signing the franchise tender immediately upon receipt, locking him in for 2009 at the $13 million-$14 million. If that were to happen, any team trading for the quarterback then would be sacrificing young talent for a relatively inexperienced quarterback on a one-year, $13 million-$14 million deal.

This is great analysis.  You can read the rest, here.

Now this stat is eerie: After Tom Brady’s first 11 starts in the NFL, his completion percentage was 66.3. After Matt Cassel’s 11 NFL games this season, his completion percentage is … well, 66.3.

“Wow,” Cassel said from Miami after the Pats’ 48-28 win. “That’s pretty good.”

It’s crazy and all-too-soon and slightly irreverent. But it is also unavoidable. Life is imitating art. The career path of Cassel is following Brady’s. Brady’s record after 11 games: 8-3. Cassel’s: 7-4 — and if the Pats had won the overtime coin flip a week ago Thursday, I bet those records would be the same. Brady’s rating: 91.6. Cassel’s: 90.5. Cassel leads Brady by 377 passing yards, thanks to Cassel’s back-to-back 400-yard passing games. (Been on Mars? That’s no misprint.) As for touchdowns, Brady leads Cassel by three.

It’s hard to fathom what we’re seeing. Brady, the 199th pick in the 2000 draft, has won three Super Bowls and will be a Hall of Famer on the first ballot. Cassel, the 230th pick in 2005, hasn’t won anything big yet, but he has thrown for more yards than Brett Favre this season (2,615 to 2,461) and for a higher passer rating than Peyton Manning (90.5 to 87.2) and for more yards per pass attempt than Eli Manning. The Patriots’ system works, and it works wonders.  (Source)

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They have lost Tom Brady.  Rodney Harrision is done for the year.  They have had other significant injuries and issues.  Yet the New England Patriots sit at 5-2, tied atop the AFC East.  How can that be?  Perhaps because of one Bill Belichick.

Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe wonders that very thing and wrote a piece that starts like this…

Are we, in fact, witnessing Belichick’s greatest demonstration of coaching in this minefield of the 2008 NFL season?

We may well be.  Here is what his players said and how the story finishes.

“What makes us consistent is his consistency,” added fullback Heath Evans. “There’s no changes. He coaches hard. He coaches very precise. It doesn’t change from person to person. His consistency is about that. You always know what you’re going to get. You know what’s expected of you, so it’s easy to play that way. His coaching helps us carry on. It’s easy to play when you know what’s expected. There’s one boss.”

The boss himself wasn’t having any part of an attempt to underscore his real acts of genius. We asked about him using this moment to draw on his lifetime of football immersion and got an answer that would make skulls implode (we all stopped listening after “all three phases of the game”).

Undaunted, we made one last run at coach metro-drone.

“Do you enjoy the challenge? Is it harder now?”

No go. He launched into Boredom 101.

“Every team has good players, every team has good coaches, every team works hard, has a good offseason program . . .”

On and on it went. Made you want to run to the car and switch on NPR.

Then came a brief, benign moment of truth.

“It is challenging, but I definitely enjoy it,” Belichick admitted. “I enjoy all the aspects of it – the preparation, the on-the-field coaching, the working with the players, the watching film with them, the game strategy. That’s what I do.”

That’s what he does. Better than anyone else. And with all the stuff that’s going on around this Patriots team in 2008, it’s good to have Bill Belichick on your side. (Source of the quotes and a really good piece.)

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What is going on here?  Tom Brady?  Kellen Winslow Jr.? Peyton Manning?  Why are all these players getting staff infections?

Bob Kravitz of the Indy Star is asking the same questions…

The bigger questions, though, are where have all these staph infections come from, and why are they affecting athletes at all levels — even young kids — with such growing ferocity?

It used to be that staph infections were limited to people in hospitals and nursing homes, but now they are affecting athletes at every level. It’s not just pro football’s two marquee quarterbacks; according to several news reports six Cleveland Browns players have had staph since 2005. That includes Winslow, a tight end who recently (and properly) blasted his own organization for refusing to publicly come clean on the scope and type of his illness.

Just last week, it was reported that UNC-Asheville’s Kenny George, at 7-7 the nation’s tallest college basketball player, had part of his foot amputated because of a staph infection.

This thing is growing. And growing. And growing.

And some of the possibilities?

The first issue is why these super bugs have developed, and the answer, according to some in the medical community, is the overuse of antibiotics.

The second issue is why it is affecting athletes, and that goes to issues of locker room proximity, shared hot tubs and open wounds.

In a recent New England Journal of Medicine article, researchers, “observed a lack of regular access to hand hygiene for trainers who provided wound care; skipping of showers by players before the use of communal whirlpools; and sharing of towels — all factors that might facilitate the transmission of infection in this setting.”

Click on over and read this story as the issue might not just effect your favorite team, but you health too.

Source

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If I were a betting man…

Bye usually has meant hello to victories for the Patriots in Bill Belichick’s coaching tenure. As players return from their bye weekend and get back to work today at Gillette Stadium – with back-to-back tests at San Francisco and San Diego looming – the question is: Will that continue?

The Patriots are 6-2 following their regular-season bye weekend under Belichick, which includes wins in each of the last five seasons. (Source)

While this may happen, it seems clear to me that the problem with the Patriots is not quarterback play (Cassel’s numbers thus far are not that bad) but defense.

Peter King has been around long enough, he should instead be looking at guys who can help New England stop the ball.  It is not as exciting of an article, but it would help them win more football games.