UNHWildCats
September 9th, 2008, 03:02 PM
If the New England Patriots manage to win the Super Bowl in the early part of 2009 it wouldn't be the first time a Bill Belichick coached team pulled it off after losing it's starting QB during the season, it wouldn't even be the second time.
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Bill Belichick has experienced this nightmare before. Three times, in fact. Two ended with perhaps his proudest moments in coaching.
He was the Giants’ defensive coordinator in 1990, when starting quarterback Phil Simms suffered a season-ending foot injury in December.
He held the same post with the Jets in 1999, when Vinny Testaverde’s Achilles’ tendon gave out in the second quarter of the first game.
He was the Patriots’ head coach in 2001, when a truck named Mo Lewis hit Drew Bledsoe so hard that it sheared a blood vessel in his chest and put him out for three months.
The first and third scenarios ended with Super Bowl championships, so if anybody thinks Tom Brady’s season-ending knee injury is a death sentence for the Patriots, well, you need to start paying more attention.
The Patriots aren’t done yet. Obviously, they’re no longer the Super Bowl favorite in the AFC — let’s be honest here — but only a fool would dismiss them entirely. They’re too well-coached and too talented to curl up and quit on the season. Belichick, leaning on his past experiences, will make sure that doesn’t happen with Matt Cassel at quarterback.
“(Brady) played one position. He played it well. There will be someone else playing that position now,” Belichick said matter-of-factly — a cold, but necessary response to the devastating news.
There’s no crying in football. Only regrouping.
http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/26624809/
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Bill Belichick has experienced this nightmare before. Three times, in fact. Two ended with perhaps his proudest moments in coaching.
He was the Giants’ defensive coordinator in 1990, when starting quarterback Phil Simms suffered a season-ending foot injury in December.
He held the same post with the Jets in 1999, when Vinny Testaverde’s Achilles’ tendon gave out in the second quarter of the first game.
He was the Patriots’ head coach in 2001, when a truck named Mo Lewis hit Drew Bledsoe so hard that it sheared a blood vessel in his chest and put him out for three months.
The first and third scenarios ended with Super Bowl championships, so if anybody thinks Tom Brady’s season-ending knee injury is a death sentence for the Patriots, well, you need to start paying more attention.
The Patriots aren’t done yet. Obviously, they’re no longer the Super Bowl favorite in the AFC — let’s be honest here — but only a fool would dismiss them entirely. They’re too well-coached and too talented to curl up and quit on the season. Belichick, leaning on his past experiences, will make sure that doesn’t happen with Matt Cassel at quarterback.
“(Brady) played one position. He played it well. There will be someone else playing that position now,” Belichick said matter-of-factly — a cold, but necessary response to the devastating news.
There’s no crying in football. Only regrouping.
http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/26624809/