Kai
12-28-2008, 06:40 PM
What a big day in the NFL. Last game of the regular season and so many teams were on the verge of either making or missing the playoffs.
New England (11-5) who won against Buffalo (7-9) is out of the playoffs with Miami (11-5) winning 24-17 and the AFC East title over the NYJ (9-6), and Baltimore (11-5) taking the last AFC wild card spot with a win over Jacksonville (5-11).
Long season for New England losing many players due to injury...http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/teams/nwe/injuries (list of injured NE players in Week 17)
After all these players lost, and having to work with at least 40+ different starters, I beleive Bill Belichick has coached the best year of his head coaching career and should be considered for Coach of the Year. With all those players out, he was still able to coach a depleted New England roster to an 11-5 season, missing the playoffs due to the tie-braking procedures.
There is also word that Tom Brady might miss next season too because a second surgery might be required for his knee. If Brady is out next season, Cassel will most likely be resigned in my opinion. There is always the option of using the franchise tag on Cassel but that would mean paying Cassel about $12 million for next season along with Brady's $5 million and an addition $3 million roster bonus, along with Brady's signing bonus counting against the cap next season (about $6.6 million). That's about $26.6 million just on quarterbacks with the projected salary cap being $123 million.
If Cassel is resigned, it would mean one less quarterback in the free agent market for the teams out there looking for a new quarterback. We'll see next year how New England will do, and hopefully Brady's injury isn't as bad as it seems.
New England (11-5) who won against Buffalo (7-9) is out of the playoffs with Miami (11-5) winning 24-17 and the AFC East title over the NYJ (9-6), and Baltimore (11-5) taking the last AFC wild card spot with a win over Jacksonville (5-11).
Long season for New England losing many players due to injury...http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/teams/nwe/injuries (list of injured NE players in Week 17)
After all these players lost, and having to work with at least 40+ different starters, I beleive Bill Belichick has coached the best year of his head coaching career and should be considered for Coach of the Year. With all those players out, he was still able to coach a depleted New England roster to an 11-5 season, missing the playoffs due to the tie-braking procedures.
There is also word that Tom Brady might miss next season too because a second surgery might be required for his knee. If Brady is out next season, Cassel will most likely be resigned in my opinion. There is always the option of using the franchise tag on Cassel but that would mean paying Cassel about $12 million for next season along with Brady's $5 million and an addition $3 million roster bonus, along with Brady's signing bonus counting against the cap next season (about $6.6 million). That's about $26.6 million just on quarterbacks with the projected salary cap being $123 million.
If Cassel is resigned, it would mean one less quarterback in the free agent market for the teams out there looking for a new quarterback. We'll see next year how New England will do, and hopefully Brady's injury isn't as bad as it seems.