Sep 13th 2008 1:15PM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: Jets, Patriots, AFC East, NFL FansSo it begins. Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of the Patriots 2008 season. New England’s first game in the post-Brady era comes against the New York Jets, coached by Bill Belicick’s former protege-turned nemesis, Eric Mangini.

Throw in the Brett Favre and Matt Cassel subplot, and the game most of us thought the Pats would win handily just a week ago, suddenly becomes much more competitive. Surprisingly, New England fans have been relatively measured in the aftermath of Tom Brady’s knee exploding,

Maybe it’s hubris, or denial, or, perhaps, they’re right: New England is without it’s on-field leader, but there are plenty of other guys on the team capable of stepping into that role. If that doesn’t convince you, this certainly will: Troy Aikman AND Brad Johnson have faith in Matt Cassel.
“There’s no doubt that you don’t lose a Tom Brady and get better,” said Troy Aikman, the former Cowboys star quarterback who is Fox’s lead NFL analyst. “But I think that this team is resilient enough, we’ve seen it for too many years. I believe this team is still going to have a really good year. I expect Matt Cassel to play well, I really do.

Kurt Warner stepped in and [the Rams] won a Super Bowl [in 1999]. That’s how Tom Brady got his opportunity. I know this, there’s something about Matt Cassel that they saw that they liked when they drafted him.”Continue Reading