The Cassel brothers found their father, Greg, pinned under a fallen marble column, moaning. As if they had trained their entire lives for the disaster - the Northridge earthquake claimed 72 lives, injured thousands, and caused an estimated $25 billion in property damage - the boys methodically wrenched the column from their father's legs and pressed on to ensure the rest of the family's safety.
"Once we knew what hit us, we said, 'What's next?' " said Jack Cassel, now a pitcher for the Houston Astros. "We prioritized what had to be done and did it."
That, according to those who know him best, is the Matt Cassel - poised, prepared, and even-keeled even in moments of maximum stress - who today will confront one of the rarest challenges in NFL history.
Nearly nine years removed from starting his last game as a quarterback - at 17, for the Chatsworth High School Chancellors - Cassel has been summoned from football limbo to replace a legend, the injured Tom Brady, and attempt to guide the Patriots to their fourth Super Bowl title in seven years.
Or at least to the playoffs - many Pats fans, who foresaw disaster when Brady went down holding his ripped up knee last Sunday, would settle for that.
One of the longest-running understudies in professional sports, Cassel will debut in a dream matchup against Brett Favre, a quarterback he once emulated, and the New York Jets at Giants Stadium.
"Matt will be ready, just like he was when the earthquake hit," Greg Cassel said at his home in San Bernardino as the sun set on the mountains beyond him. "My boys are fearless. There's no quit in them."
Matt Cassel has trained a lifetime for this moment, his family and friends said. From his childhood days on his family's tiny ranch, he has been on intimate terms with adversity - first in the earthquake and its aftermath, then through his parents' divorce, then the years of fighting for a sense of dignity and purpose as a perpetual backup to star quarterbacks Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at the University of Southern California before he entered Brady's shadow. Through it all, Cassel has always kept his head up.
