Brady on IR: New England Patriots on Course for Disaster?

September 7, 2008 could go down as the day the New England Patriot Dynasty collapsed in a heaping pile of wreckage. History can certainly help to predict whether the Patriots have just taken a step back or whether fans must start following the Boston Bruins.

The Titanic did not actually perish to the bottom of the Atlantic because the iceberg tore it to pieces. Instead, it was the correct combination of tricky engineering, questionable characters, and really, really bad timing that set off a slew of domino-like consequences culminating into the catastrophe that Leonardo Dicaprio so accurately brought to life. So the question must be asked: is this Patriots team on track for a meltdown that ends with Head Coach Bill Belichick muttering “I’ll never let go!” as he goes down with his ship?

The pieces are certainly in place.

The climb to the top of the football stratosphere was nothing short of impressive for the New England Patriots. When the face of the franchise Drew Bledsoe went down early in 2001 with a life-threatening chest injury, it seemed as if the Pats were destined for yet another embarrassing season. But in came sixth-round pick Tom Brady.

The young, unknown quarterback, who split time with Drew Henson during his college days at Michigan, transformed into arguably the greatest ever at his position. He led such a perfect offense that mediocre players became stars, and stars became legends when they stepped on the field along side him. Without Brady, the Pats do not win three Super Bowl championships, Belichick is not revered as a football genius, and the Patriots do not gain a swagger that makes them feel…unsinkable.

With Brady at the helm, the Patriots brass knew they could take risks. Having not won a Super Bowl in three years, Belichick and General Manager Scott Pioli decided it was time to go out and give Brady something he never had: a ship with weapons. They traded a valued second round draft pick for undersized, but intense wide receiver Wes Welker. They scoured the free agent market and brought in talented wideout Donte Stallworth and stable running back Sammy Morris. However, nothing compared to the acquisition of disgruntled wide receiver Randy Moss.

Moss came to New England with so much baggage that many skeptics questioned whether even Belichick and Brady could convince him to be a team player. He blew up in Minnesota when Daunte Culpepper went down, and he stopped playing altogether in Oakland because he felt the team just did not deserve him.

Never underestimate Tom Brady.

Not only did Brady sell the “Patriot Way” to Moss, he instantly changed Moss from a potential Hall-of-Famer into a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer. Moss and Brady put together record setting seasons in 2007 and brought the team to the brink of perfection, until they showed some weakness in the Super Bowl and lost to a surprising foe in the New York Giants, led by quarterback Eli Manning. 2008 was meant to be a year for redemption with expectations just as high and anything short of a championship a disappointment. Too bad all the fog prevented them from missing the iceberg.

Just eight minutes into his first game of the season, Brady stepped into a 23-yard pass downfield to Randy Moss and immediately let out a scream so telling that every player on the field knew what had happened. Brady’s planted leg met the helmet of Kansas City Chiefs’ safety Bernard Pollard, and Brady, after completing the pass to Moss, crumbled to the ground clutching his left-knee. Torn ACL. Season ending surgery. Thousands of fans looking like they have just seen a ghost.

While the Brady injury can certainly be ranked as one of the worst in Boston sports history, a great deal of fallout should be expected and cannot be overlooked. Although Matt Cassel, New England’s second string quarterback, entered the game after Brady fell and played well enough for the Pats to win, there are some serious questions concerning Cassel.

First and foremost, Cassel is a career backup. He has not started a football since the last game of his senior year in high school. While no one can fault him for being stuck behind Heisman Trophy winners Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at USC and Brady, the lack of experience cannot be ignored. There is a reason he is a backup. Cassel has never shown any coach that he has the complete package to be an effective starting quarterback.

Belichick claims he knows things that outsiders do not. The fans certainly hope so because the little time that Cassel has received in the NFL has not been very good. As a matter of fact, there were questions as to whether or not he was going to make the roster after his abysmal preseason, where in four games he was out played by third-stringer Matt Gutierrez. Cassel has to find a way to limit mistakes because so much of what he does will affect this team.

Even without Brady, it appears as if Belichick has every intention of throwing the football. Now of course Cassel is not expected to throw as frequently as Brady did a season ago; there will have to be more balance. But the way this team is constructed the objective is still to pass. The Patriots wide receiver core boasts two Pro-Bowl caliber players in Moss and Welker. The running game, led by Lawrence Maroney, has yet to prove that they can carry the ball effectively twenty to thirty times a game. Cassel’s number will be called and more often than people think. He will have to perform better than he ever has.

Should Cassel not be able to produce, will Randy Moss continue to be the perfect citizen, or will he revert back to his old ways? The Patriots should fear the latter. Moss’ track record shows that when things are going well, everything is great with Randy. But when things take a turn for the worst, Moss’ attitude often boils over and destroys the team. This is why he left Minnesota, and this is why the Patriots were taking a risk when they brought him in from Oakland. The last thing they want is a disgruntled Moss.

So if the offense follows this course of action and begins to face turmoil, can the defense step-up and mask the offense’s problems. The answer is most likely no. While Coach Belichick is a defensive mastermind, there are some serious problems with this unit. They lost their top two cornerbacks from last year in Asante Samuel and Randall Gay, and their age is certainly starting to climb. Rodney Harrison, Mike Vrabel, Tedy Bruschi, and Adalius Thomas are all in their thirties and getting old fast. Rookie Jerod Mayo has looked exceptional at times, but the defensive scheme Belichick employs is too complicated to be led by any rookie. Although the free agent replacements, most notably Deltha O’Neal, looked good on Sunday, they were facing an awful offense that was also using its second-string quarterback.

They better hope the strength of the defense, the stalwart line, stays away from serious injury. Going into the season the plan was to put as many points on the board as possible because this defense was going to giving up some touchdowns. Now with all the question marks on offense, defense and special teams are more important than ever.

Now the future does look bleak for the New England Patriots. With everything that subsequently happened after the Titanic hit the iceberg, it only took the ship two and half hours to sink. The Patriots should last a little longer than that. Who knows? With the easiest schedule in the league, the playmakers that are still on the roster, and that superb coaching staff, no one would be too surprised if they still made a run for the playoffs. After all, the Bears made it all the way to the Super Bowl with Rex Grossman in charge. In that case, the Patriots would take Cassel any day.