Tom Brady suffers season ending injury in pats opening day win

The New England Patriots opening their 2008 season on a winning note, but the mood was anything but celebratory after MVP quarterback Tom Brady was knocked out of the game midway through the first quarter.  He didn’t return, and on Monday team officials confirmed Patriot fans worst fears at a news conference:  Brady will require knee surgery and is out for the season.

While it’s hard to suggest that there’s a silver lining in the loss of the team’s franchise QB, they can at least take solace in the fact that his backup—Matt Cassel—played well in relief.  Cassel went 13 for 18 good for 152 yards and a TD after taking his place under center.  The game was scoreless when Brady went out and Cassel calmly led the team to a workmanlike 17-10 victory.

The bigger test for Cassel, as well as the rest of the Patriots, is still to come.  It’s one thing to play well in a relief role, another thing entirely to lead a team with Super Bowl level aspirations.  Though deferential to Brady, Cassel insisted that he was ready for the challenge:

"This is something I've been preparing for [for] a long time. It's not something that we expected to come up on opening day.  I've been here and been around Tom, he's always popped back up."

No further validation of Cassel’s observation that “Tom has always popped back up” is needed beyond Brady’s 128 game consecutive game starting streak at QB which will obviously come to an end next Sunday.  To make the situation even more of a challenge for Cassel, he’ll make his debut as Patriots starter in one of the team’s highest profile games of the season—in the Meadowlands against the Brett Favre led New York Jets.

Ironically, Sunday’s game was the first time in over three years that Brady wasn’t listed on the Patriots official injury report in some fashion.

Brady suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) after he was hit by Kansas City safety Bernard Pollard.  While the notoriously paranoid New England fanbase are calling Pollard’s hit “dirty”, a review by the NFL confirmed that it was a clean, legal hit. 

Cassel is the team’s starter for the time being, but the Patriots are reportedly not going to take any chances and are seeking to shore up their depth at QB.  Chris Simms and Tim Rattay are being brought in for workouts, and there may be others considered either for a starting or backup role.

Though obviously shaken by the unfortunate development, Pats taciturn coach Bill Belichick tried to give the impression he was taking it in stride:

"We feel badly for Tom about the injury. You hate to see anyone go down. No one has worked harder or done more for this team than Tom has."

He then concluded with a thought that might become the team’s mantra for 2008:

"As a team we all just have to do our jobs. That really doesn't change."