Redemption on Hold

(Photo from Yahoo! Sports)

Meet the new boss?

So...yeah. The Patriots appear well and truly fucked. Awesome. Fantastic. Glad we can use this season to carry that grudge from last year's Super Bowl loss and barrel through the regular season and other teams like so much grist through a mill. Except, oh wait, no, Our Football Jesus is out with an apparent season-ending knee injury.

So that whole redemption thing is maybe gonna have to wait.

My mother actually suggested that this could be a fascinating season to watch in terms of game study and football theory and the mechanics and psychology of a football team. That assumes, of course, that I care about such things and that I can rationalize the injury - or rather The Injury - and view this through the telephoto lens of Sports on a Greater Scale. But there is nothing rational about sports fandom. The bottom line is that I want Tom Brady's knee to be fine. I want Matt Cassel to keep sitting his pretty self on the bench and holding a clipboard like only he knows how. And I want to slap people who are cheering an injury because that's just pathetic.

I'm just not sure we're dealing with a Friday Night Lights situation here, people. I want my QB1.

So does Randy Moss who was nearly distraught after the game. I'm sure he's currently ensconced at Brady's bedside, offering him apple juice and singing soothing Peter Cetera ballads because if Randy Moss is anything to Tom Brady, it's "a man who will fight for your honor." And even if the Pats bring in the newly-retired and currently unemployed but apparently completely healthy Daunte Culpepper for a Minnesota reunion show, it's not quite the same thing.

Personally, I'm torn. I don't know what the team should do. Part of me thinks it'd be a Patriots-like show of confidence to stick with Cassel and bequeath the team to him as Bledsoe did to Brady back in 2001 (kind of). Keeping it in the family, so to speak. But then there's the part that wonders who they're flying in and trying out. Although names like Brian Griese and Joey Harrington do not inspire confidence on my part. And I kind of think maybe the Pats will rally more around a guy they already know. But then, I'm not a football player. Which is a shame. Because both of my knees are still attached.

Also, the Red Sox won and they're now 1.5 games behind Tampa Bay with the division within reach and, wouldn't you know it? Tampa happens to be in town this week for a little showdown. Interesting. Very interesting.