Click the play button below to hear Shalise Manza Young's comments, recorded this morning. She discusses the challenges facing Brandon Meriweather and other defensive backs as they try to fill the void left by the injury to Rodney Harrison, how the Patriots backfield will play this weekend without Sammy Morris, possible options for the Patriots at quarterback this offseason, and what to expect from the Rams, another one of those confounding NFL teams.

Here's an excerpt from what Shalise said about quarterbacking options, if Brady's recovery from knee surgery is significantly set back:

"They would have to re-sign [Matt] Cassel [if that was what they wanted to do]. He is actually in the last year of his rookie contract. ... Or they could bring in a veteran guy. There will be several veteran free agents who are coming up on the market. Kurt Warner is one of them. Warner is probably in a position, though, where he'd probably want starter's money and the chance to still start [for the entire season]. He has also talked about retiring. ... There's also Kevin O'Connell. Brady was only in his second year when he took over for Drew Bledsoe in 2001. O'Connell has made big strides. He has that big arm, which we haven't really seen from Cassel. So it really will be interesting to see what happens as far as how far back Brady's development is pushed."