Enter Matt Cassel, who has zero career NFL starts but is hoping to ride the momentum of his relatively strong three quarters against the Chiefs Sunday. The other option, rookie Kevin O'Connell, is a highly touted third-round draft choice who was presumably brought in as a possible No. 2 in 2009, not this year.
But those plans, like Brady's left knee, have taken a hard hit.
So, now, the question is being asked: Should the Patriots have better insured themselves?
Some might say it's classic "Monday morning quarterback ing," and perhaps there is some truth to that. After all, how many were calling for the Patriots to add a veteran quarterback back in late February when free agency began?
Yet still, it seems fair to say that what the Patriots currently face is a test of their personnel evaluation at the game's most important position.
They could have added a veteran presence in free agency, as there were plenty of options from which to choose: Todd Collins (Redskins), Cleo Lemon (Jaguars), Trent Green (Rams), Gus Frerotte (Vikings), David Carr (Giants), and Byron Leftwich (Steelers), among others.
But instead they invested in Cassel, essentially banking that, if called upon, he could do the job over a player who had held the job - for better or worse - with another club.
It seemed to help that he'd spent the past three seasons with the club.
"We have a lot of confidence in Matt; he's grown up through the system," coach Bill Belichick said yesterday. "He has expanded his knowledge of the offense as the offense has expanded through the years. He ran it a lot in preseason this year, in training camp and some of the time that Tom missed.
"I think that he is capable of handling himself in a lot of different situations because he has been through them. It is not just chalk talk but it's actually going out there and doing it on the field and doing it in practice situations. I think he showed that [Sunday] - that he could go out there, manage the game, and manage the team."
