Projo Pats Blog

Matt Cassel may not have led the Patriots to a victory last night, but he took advantage of a national TV audience and probably made himself a great deal of money with his NFL-record setting performance against the Jets (Cassel became the first player since the 1970 merger to run for 60 yards and pass for 400 yards in the same game).

Cassel, who is a free agent after this season, was a man who many wanted cut before the start of the 2008 campaign. Now he figures to sign somewhere else for big money. ProFootballTalk.com discusses an intriguing possibility for the Patriots: Use the franchise-player tag on Cassel and then flip him to a quarterback-needy team in a trade. Teams that might be looking for a quarterback next season? The Chiefs, the Vikings, the Bears, the Lions, the Buccaneers, the 49ers, the Rams, the Seahawks -- even the Jets.

Then there are some people out there -- including the NFL Network's Marshall Faulk -- who think the Patriots should consider keeping Cassel and trade Brady. Does anybody think that's a good idea?

SHINING JUST AS BRIGHTLY: The Patriots have no such dilemma when it comes to linebacker Jerod Mayo, who had a more quiet (unless you were on the receiving end of one of his bell-ringing tackles) breakout game against the Jets. ColdHardFootballFacts.com put Mayo's performance to a soundtrack, and had this observation: "Mayo seemed to make every other tackle for the Patriots defense, while nearly decapitating a handful of Jets with big, picture-perfect hits in which he drove right through the ball carrier so convincingly that Vince Lombardi himself jumped up to pat him on the back."

THE ONE HE NEEDED: Although Brett Favre disappeared for a long stretch of the second half, allowing New England to climb back into the game, Gary Myers of the New York Daily News writes that last night's victory was a validation of the Jets' decision to trade for Favre.

THE ULTIMATE UN-PATRIOT: Former wide receiver Troy Brown, who was honored by the Patriots at last night's game, said that the Patriots became successful because none of them wanted to be like Billy Joe Hobert (ESPN). In case you're scratching your head, Hobert was the backup quarterback of the Carolina Panthers in 1997 who entered a game against the Patriots when the starter went down, struggled, and later admitted that he had not bothered to read the playbook the week before.

THIS WEEK'S PICKS: Last week I was 10-3 (forgot to pick the Thursday night game). I'm off to a 1-0 start -- but not happy about it -- this week with our selection of the Jets. Here's what I see for the rest of the weekend, with the home teams listed in caps:

FALCONS over Broncos: The AFC West has to send someone to the playoffs, and that team may well be Denver, which does not deserve it. The Falcons are averaging 32 points per game at home, quarterback Matt Ryan is 4-0 in Georgia, and the Broncos still can't stop anyone.

DOLPHINS over Raiders: Two weeks ago Oakland was stomped Atlanta -- a once down-and-out team that has turned things around while the Raiders have continued languishing. This week they will see the same situation when the playoff-hungry Dolphins come to town. An easy win by Miami will tie them for second place and set up another crucial game for the Patriots in Week 12.

PACKERS over Bears: Green Bay, at 4-5, is in a tough spot after last week's one-point loss to the Vikings. But the Packers can still turn things around, and a victory over the tied-for-first-place Bears would be just the ticket. The Bears' quarterback spot remains in question -- will Kyle Orton return or will Rex Grossman stay in control? -- but either one will have trouble with the Pack's tough pass defense.

GIANTS over Ravens: That Super Bowl win for the Giants is looking like less of an upset now, isn't it? The bigger question isn't how the Patriots lost to the Giants, it's how the Giants lost to the Browns earlier this season. This game will feature a terrific matchup of the league's number-one rushing offense (Giants averaging 168.9 yards per game and 5.2 yards per carry) and the league's number-one rushing defense (Ravens allowing 65.4 yards per game and 2.9 yards per carry). But if Baltimore limits the New York ground attack, the Giants have lots of other areas to make big plays -- including their aggressive defense attacking rookie quarterback Joe Flacco. New York can help the Patriots' playoff hopes by winning this one, and I say the Giants do.

COLTS over Texans: The last time these teams met, the Colts pulled off one of the season's most improbable comeback victories, with a big assist from the careless Sage Rosenfels. I give the Colts credit for pulling off back-to-back victories over New England (which I predicted) and Pittsburgh (which I did not); they shouldn't need a comeback to beat Rosenfels and the Texans this time around.

PANTHERS over Lions: The countdown to history begins. The 0-9 Lions' remaining schedule: at Carolina, Tampa Bay, Tennessee, Minnesota, at Indianapolis, New Orleans, at Green Bay. Which of these games, exactly, would you consider winnable? Certainly not this week's game at Carolina, where the Panthers' offense will be mighty motivated after last week's awful showing against the Raiders (only Oakland could lose while facing such an inept attack), and the 31st-ranked Lions defense should be an easy foil.

Saints over CHIEFS: After Kansas City's near upset of San Diego, the way Tyler Thigpen has been playing, and with the return of Larry Johnson, I'm tempted to take Kansas City to upset the struggling Saints. But how do you pick the team with the NFL's worst defense to beat the team with the NFL's best offense? You don't. The Chiefs might make it close, but they find a way to lose these things.

Eagles over BENGALS: Speaking of teams who don't know how to win, Philadelphia has proved itself to be pretty inept in close games. But the Eagles haven't had much trouble burying the bad teams, and even if Cincinnati is no longer chasing 0-16, they remain a bad team.

BUCS over Vikings: An interesting matchup of two good defensive teams. Tampa Bay has been very good against the run in its recent home games, and Jeff Garcia has been a far more effective quarterback than Gus Frerotte. Tampa Bay, coming off a bye, should go to 7-3, proving that the best division in football is the NFC South, not the East.

Cardinals over SEAHAWKS: Matt Hasselbeck looks ready to return to the Seattle offense, but it's too late to save the Seahawks' lost season. The Cardinals have already seized control of the division, but winning in Seattle -- where they have lost five games in a row -- will be a nice piece of symbolism.

49ERS over Rams: With apologies to Raiders vs. Chiefs, this could be the lamest division rivalry going right now. I'm picking San Francisco because their close loss to Arizona -- as hard to swallow as it may have been -- at least gives the Niners something to build on, while the Rams have lost all momentum they gained after the hiring of Jim Haslett.

STEELERS over Chargers: Ben Roethlisberger is a man with something to prove. The San Diego Chargers are a team with something to prove. But after the Chargers nearly lost at home to Kansas City, how can you expect them to stand up under the pressure of the Steelers defense, which will be highly motivated after letting last week's game against the Colts slip away. And if Roethlisberger struggles, there's always Byron Leftwich.

Titans over JAGUARS: Tennessee didn't look like world beaters against the Bears or the Packers these last two weeks, but they just keep on winning. Jacksonville might have stuck it to Detroit, but they'll crash back to earth against real competition this weekend.

Cowboys over REDSKINS: I'm not saying that Tony Romo is going to turn the Cowboys' season around, but he will give them a tremendous lift when he returns to the field at FedEx on Sunday night. The likely absence of Clinton Portis will give Washington less ability to take advantage of the Cowboys' weaknesses on defense.

BILLS over Browns: These are two teams heading in the wrong direction. Buffalo has not been able to put any pressure on opposing quarterbacks, which is a good thing for Browns rookie Brady Quinn. But Buffalo has too much talent to lose this game, don't they?

 Tags  Football Today Jerod Mayo Matt Cassel

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