Brady Out for Season

Well, the worst possible thing that could have happened to the New England Patriots happened in the first quarter of Sunday's game: A Tom Brady Knee Injury.

The team announced today at a 3 p.m. news conference that Brady will require surgery, and he is done for the season.

Ugh.

In all likelihood, that ends the team's chances of returning to the Super Bowl. The 2008 Patriots can probably still make the playoffs, but now there are definitely better teams in the AFC.

For millions of Patriots fans, today has been a day of despair. Certainly, some (all) of the luster has been taken out of the season opener.

What the hell are we going to do now?

In times like these, I always turn to one man to make me feel better: Bill Belicheck.

Here is Belicheck's quote from the news conference (courtesy of Mark Murphy and the Providence Journal)

"We all just have to do our jobs. That's what every player has to do. Each guy has a job to do, a coach, a player, they have a job to do, and they need to do it as well as they can. Really that doesn't change.

"[Brady] played one position and he played it very well. There will be somebody else playing that position now. I have a lot of confidence in Matt [Cassel] and everybody else does to [sic]. They just have to continue to do their job just like they always have and like they always need to."

Well, now I'm fired up.... thanks, Bill.

Of course, he's right. If the Patriots are going to make anything of this season, they'll have to put a new chip on their shoulder and win despite Tom Brady. Everyone will say their season is done too.

Brady was only one part of the team (a HUGE part), and now the rest of the very talented roster is going to have to shine in order of the Pats to get back to the playoffs.

Is that likely? Well, it certainly puts more intrigue into the season. Last year, regular season games got boring after a while. Who wants a guaranteed win? Now the team will have to scratch and claw for every win, just like when they won the Super Bowl against all odds in 2001.

If there is one thing I don't doubt, it's that Brady will be ready for 2009. He's a work out warrior, and my eyes tell me it could have been worse. I can say from experience, it's a good sign that he was able to half walk off the field in the first place. If you have a badly torn ACL, you don't walk anywhere. Remember when Rodney Harrison was carted off against Pittsburgh two years ago?

Let's open the book on the Matt Cassell era, and get ready for some good games. This team has too many veterans, too many hungry players to just throw in the towel after one game.

I'll tell you what is NOT going to happen. The Jets will not finish ahead of the Patriots in the division. You heard it here.

J - E - T - S Suck Suck Suck!