Cassel enters spotlight
Brady’s backup begins daunting task today
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The crush of reporters with cameras, notebooks and microphones surrounding New England quarterback Matt Cassel’s locker was almost too much to bear.
His classes in communications and public speaking at USC did not prepare Cassel for something like this.
“I am not going to lie,” Cassel said in the steamy locker room at the end of his first midweek news conference as Tom Brady’s replacement. “I am getting kind of hot. Maybe we need to get a fan in here next week or something.”
If Cassel thinks he is feeling the heat now, wait until this afternoon when he makes his first start against the New York Jets in place of Brady, the face of the NFL in this millennium. Brady, a three-time Super Bowl champion and reigning league MVP, was lost for the season because of torn knee ligaments sustained in last week’s win over the Chiefs.
For Cassel, who has been a Patriots backup since 2005, this will not only be his first NFL regular-season start. It will be his first significant start at any level since Nov. 24, 1999, when his Chatsworth High team lost 49-42 to Palisades Charter High in the Los Angeles City Invitational playoffs.
That’s nearly nine years ago. Cassel spent his college career as backup to Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart, attempting all of 33 passes in four years.
The Patriots selected him in the seventh round of the 2005 draft, and until replacing Brady and leading New England to a 17-10 win over the Chiefs, he had thrown just 39 regular-season passes in three years.
And starting today, he’s charged with leading a team that is shooting for a league-record 21st straight regular-season win and fifth Super Bowl appearance in eight seasons.