Thursday Night Football: Patriots-Jets Observations

Well, last night's Patriots/Jets game was entertaining, if not instructive. On 4^th down and mere seconds left Matt Cassel - MATT CASSEL! - led the Patriots to a touchdown. Think about this for a second: the only play possible is a touchdown. Fail, and the ball turns over, clock runs out. Score, have a chance for overtime. They scored.

Ty Law, just days after having signed with the Jets and in his first game since last year, covering Randy Moss, failed to remember that since Cassel was out of the pocket, he actually could have shoved Moss out of bounds. The result? An improbable strike to Moss with a defender draped all over him, makes the catch, stays in bounds and the Patriots live for another series.

The record books will show a team coming back from 24-6, what will take further examination though is the missed opportunities the Patriots had. Ben Watson's drive killing fumble. A botched snap. A failed 4^th down conversion. The Jets kick off return for 6.

Now what I did take away from this game is that Matt Cassel has quietly had a few things happen since he took the reigns. The game has slowed down a bit for him, he's getting sight of his reads now and where he was scrambling because he ran out of time before, now he's scrambling when he's made his progressions and decided he can't make a play. He's making some quick decisions out there, and perhaps more confident decisions.

He also did something he had truly yet to do - come back. Now the come back fell a little short, BUT the Patriots were positioned. The ball was being moved, perhaps not at will, but certainly well. The fact that the team would have suffered so many missed opportunities AND still played into overtime should mean something.

Now, I'm still not lining up to go pick up my Matt Cassel jersey - not even with a 20% discount and $5 shipping, $60 is still too much to pay for another 7 or so games, plus or minus. Fact is, Tom Brady is the Patriots quarterback. Fact is Cassel's a free agent at the end of the year. Fact is that there's only room for so many clowns in this big top. Perhaps that's a poor analogy - but I love the expression so I try to work it in where I can.

Now, as a Patriots fan, I do enjoy watching them win. I even enjoy watching them kick the snot of out opponents. Sorry, just the way I am - a bit of the mentality that made the Roman Coliseum so popular back in the day. BUT, I do enjoy being entertained. Watching the improbable catch (provided it's a guy wearing the flying Elvis on his head that does it), and hanging on the edge of the seat. The record shows a middling sort of team, 5-4. But the thing is that for the most part they've been interesting. Last season, I can think of 1-interesting non-playoff game. In 2004, it was almost boring - you KNEW the Patriots would win. This is different. This harkens back to the Drew Bledsoe era where it was still a game with 5 minutes left - anything could happen.

When Brady went down, and it was clear Cassel was going to be "the man," I said that I was hoping for "interesting," a good reason to watch...maybe even to the end of the game. After the Miami game, I was bracing for the wailing and nashing of teeth as Patriots nation awaited verdict on whether it would be an interesting season on one in which we would be tossed into the gaping maw of sporting hell. Thankfully, thusfar we've been treated to interesting.