How quickly we fans can re-assess, indeed flip-flop 360 degrees. Imagining that Cassel may be the new Brady off one solid, and admittedly, clutch performance against the woeful Kansas City Chiefs flies in the face of the conventional wisdom that prevailed before Sunday. Cassel started all four pre-season games while Brady nursed a foot injury and appeared so inept that fans clamored for any replacement, and local reporters speculated he might not make the roster. There was certainly no comfort to be found in his college career. At USC, Cassel backed up a pair of Heisman Trophy winners, Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart, and actually threw fewer passes—28 in four years—than he has in a Pats uniform. On Sunday, we will witness something that is likely unprecedented. When Cassel takes the field Sunday against Brett Favre and the New York Jets, he will be making his first start since high school in Northridge, California—his first start since the last century.

Of course, the Super Bowl scenario that fans are now fantasizing about has little to do with new faith in Cassel or his sketchy resemblance to a young Brady. It is based entirely on a conviction that Patriots coach Bill Belichick is the reigning genius of the NFL. Last season, despite the 18-0 run to the Super Bowl, Belichick's "genius" faded from view, obscured by his new image as "Bad Bill," the renegade coach who was not only willing to bend the rules, but would break them for an edge. And given a chance for the last laugh, Belichick didn't look remotely smart, let alone like a genius, after the Pats' Super Bowl fold.

Perhaps a guy with a .711 winning percentage and three Super Bowl championships in eight seasons in Foxboro, shouldn't need it, but this Brady-less season gives Belichick a chance at—yes sports fans, here it is again— redemption. His Super Bowl triumph behind kid Brady reflected an ability to frame a winning game plan within the limited capabilities of a raw quarterback. While Brady threw the ball 11 times in 15 plays, or 73 percent of the time, before he went down Sunday, Cassel threw just 18 times in 42 plays, or 43 percent. Cassel made a few big plays, but most important of all in this scheme, he made no big mistakes. So while some more experienced quarterbacks found their way to Foxboro for auditions Monday, Belichick stood by his man. Cassel, though, hardly stands alone. New England is blessed with far more talent on offense than Brady inherited back in 2001: exceptional receivers, a deep array of talented running backs, and three Pro Bowlers on the offensive line.

The déjà vu-ers seem to be prevailing. After the Pats opened as a three-point underdog for their visit to the Meadowlands to play the New York Jets Sunday, the line quickly dropped by 1.5 points. (Nothing, however, could stop the Patriots' plunge from a 5-2 favorite to win the Super Bowl to a 20-1 outside choice. My friends at Cold, Hard Football Facts.com, called Brady's woes "the single most significant injury in betting circles in NFL history.")

As for me, I've had several days to nurse my psychic wounds and to contemplate my team's future. And while I recognize that there is no comfort in rejecting hope until hope is truly gone, I am ultimately condemned to be a rationalist, and, in this case, a naysayer. The view from my head, rather than my heart, is bleak. I can't envision a winning season, let alone the Patriots as a playoff team. And that Super Bowl fantasy is preposterous. The foreboding was there before Sunday and certainly nothing has happened that would cause it to recede.

Trivia Answer: The two colleges that boasted two starting NFL quarterbacks on the NFL's opening Sunday were Boston College (Matt Hasselbeck, Seattle and Matt Ryan, Atlanta) and Purdue (Drew Brees, New Orleans and Kyle Orton, Chicago).

© 2008