Life without Brady

Obviously last year was an incredible season: something that in all likelihood we will never see again. While I loved watching the Patriots double up on every opponent they faced, and average 40 points a game almost halfway through the season, there came a point [week 7 against Miami with the Pats up 28-0 midway through the second quarter] where it just wasn't as fun as it used to be. Can you even remember division rivalries? Barely, I know.
Now I will guess that at least half of you, if not all of you will disagree with me on this one, but the blowouts weren't all that fun. There really was no game to look forward to on a week by week basis. [I should be so lucky to have these problems! I know!] But I like rooting for the underdog, I love pulling for the improbable last drive down the field, the long field goal attempt to win the game, and even the goal line stand.

"There's no reason the Pats shouldn't get back to the Superbowl" I tell my Dad over a Saturday night long distance phone call. Each of us is excited for the upcoming and incredibly promising season for our New England Patriots. He is primed to watch his first Pats game on a new 50 inch HD TV (which we should be able to watch some December games on), and I to the watch it over a very inconsistent, quite stuttery, albeit existent, stolen wireless feed stolen from a neighboring apartment. But I'll take it!

Hearing that we'd drawn the weakest schedule based on last year's regular season records, all of New England, no, the whole country, knew that the Patriots would win 12 or 13 games, at least. Yeah, we know our secondary is a huge question mark, but we have nearly our whole team coming back, promising new draft picks, and of course the reigning NFL MVP, Tom Brady.

All Saturday night I wait impatiently, like it were Christmas Eve, for the new season to begin. Sunday morning is even worse because with the one hour time difference, I have to wait until 2pm to watch the Patriots take the field to thrash the Chiefs. I spend all Sunday morning pretending my fantasy team needs urgent attending to, reading countless and entirely useless NFL articles, and hoping the live-stream-football-feed my housemate has set up will function as promised.

The game finally starts. Wes Welker uncharacteristically fumbles, but we're on our way. Even with the fumble this one should be over by half time. Kansas City beating the Patriots? I don't think so.

Then, the unthinkable happens. On the next offensive possession Brady goes down, and is not getting up. Alright whatever, no stretchers, he'll rest up on sidelines, and be fresh for the next series.
I was calm up to the point when Matt Cassel, our backup quarterback who barely made the roster this preseason, starting warming up. "Why is he warming up?" "Brady is in the locker room and now listed as questionable?" ...whaaaaat

-You know the rest. We kind of knew it on Sunday, and by Monday, news of Brady's torn ACL and missing of the the ENTIRE 2008 season had finally managed to sneak out of Bill Bellichick's web of secrecy, which is comparable, if not superior, to that of any successful totalitarian regime.-

No Brady, no aura, no invincibility. The likelihood of the Pats running the AFC are now slim to none [though Shaun Merriman being out for the year doesn't hurt], and are no longer the clear favorites to even win the AFC East. Our Patriots are no longer the team that can ignore its major problems on account of having the most potent passing attack the NFL has ever seen. The Patriots are once again human.

The fate of the team now rests largely in the hands of Matt Cassel who will make his first start since high school on Sunday in what is now a big division match up against the Jets. Can we do it without Brady? I think we can. Will the Pats run through the AFC like Usain Bolt? Definitely not. Our Patriots will have to prove once again, the very thing that made them great in 2001- that the team is bigger than one player. And maybe we'll need a few more two minute drives, long field goals, and goal line stands to get there. But if that's what it takes for us to win games, you won't find anybody more excited for the change than me.