Matt Cassel is playing hard-to-get with the Patriots, it seems. There has been talk for awhile now of giving him the franchise tag, thus ensuring that he stays with the Pats for a long time. The price for this move seems to have been set at $14.65 million. Wow. He’s not their primary QB. But he would be the most expensive on the team if he got that much. Wow. Who does he think he is?  He led the team to a very impressive season. And they don’t know how Brady will look next year when he hopes to return. So it is, quite honestly, a bit of a challenge now, for them to say no. If Brady can’t return from his injury, they may well need Cassel, who was a quick study to take on the primary role this year.

The former Offensive Coordinator for the Patriots, Josh McDaniels, has moved on to Denver. He is replacing the fired Mike Shanahan as head coach of the Broncos. Denver didn’t make the playoffs again this year, meaning that they’ve missed 3 postseasons in a row. Shanahan led the Broncos to two Super Bowl wins in the 90s but then John Elway retired and they went back to nowhere. The Patriots will miss their Offensive Coordinator, especially with the continuing uncertainty at QB, but they’ll find a way through. Now they lost their QB coach and Offensive Coordinator this year, the first year they haven’t made the playoffs in awhile. It’s going to take quite a bit to get them back into gear, but hopefully they can do it.

Brady has broken his silence about his injury and his recuperation on a Toronto radio station. His statements come just as we’re waiting for the resumption of the playoffs with the Super Bowl in about 9 days. Brady says that he dislikes having missed the season and that he’s a bit disappointed to the Arizona in the big game, because they lost to New England by 40 points or so. He says that his rehab is a process and it takes awhile to get back into it. There are good days and bad days. But he seems to be really ready to come back and play a really good game. I certainly can’t wait to see him on the field again!

They have released the new schedule for next season with the Patriots. If this year is any indication, the new schedule is a pretty tough one. Besides the regular 3 divisional teams, each of which will be played twice. They will also play the Colts, the Titans, the Panthers, the Ravens and Falcons. Looks like a harder schedule than most, but nothing the Pats can’t handle, especially if they have their whole team intact (read: Tom Brady with two legs). It should be interesting at least.

There’s not a whole lot going on in the New England Patriots camp right now. They’re still shopping around for a replacement for Josh McDaniels, and need to figure out their quarterback situation.

Josh McDaniels, who has been the quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator for the Patriots for several years, has reportedly been named to be the head coach of the Denver Broncos. Mike Shanahan left the Broncos after last season after yet another underperforming season. He had lots of respect and a good team for quite a few years. But the team has underperformed a lot, so they decided to make some bigger changes this season. McDaniels looks like he’s going to give the team’s morale a big boost and he seems to be in a good position to do really well in his new assignment. We’re all certainly looking forward to seeing it. But as Patriot fans, we’re both happy for him and sorry for our team. How could we have done so well this year without such a good QB coach?

As most critics, pundits, and unfortunately myself seem to think, the Patriots are going to be a a decline for the next year or two or three. With Tom Brady still behind in his rehabilitation, Cassel not certain to stay with the Pats, and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and vice president of player personnel Scott Pioli possibly both on their ways out, the Patriots may be stuck with too much for Belichick to compensate for. These may be dark times ahead…

Matt Cassell will reportedly get a franchise tag soon, which will keep him from becoming an unrestricted free agent in March. This is probably a good move. With Tom Brady still uncertain for the Fall, it would be good to make sure the no one scoops up Cassell in the meantime. We should be careful with our information, because we don’t know for sure that this is the case, but it’s being fairly widely reported at this point. We are looking for Cassell to stick around. He’s so much better than we had anticipated! When Brady went down, we thought the whole season was over. Might as well just give up. But Cassell has held himself really well this season and so I’m pretty happy with where we stand this time around.

It seems incredibly strange to have a January without seeing the Patriots take the field for at least one game. However, given the situation we’re now in, it’s time to reflect and ruminate. What are the major changes that need to take place? First, the quarterback situation needs solving. Brady’s status seems to be constantly changing. Infections and other post surgery complications have him pegged as not being able to contribute much, if at all, to next season. If that’s the case, then we need to resign Cassel since his contract will expire soon. And it might be a good idea just to resign him even if Tom does comeback, considering Tom may be shaky for the first few games. Check with the Patriots official website to keep fully updated with the team.