Tom Brady’s season is officially over. The Patriots quarterback will have surgery to repair damage to his left knee and will be placed on injured reserve.
The first game the reigning NFL MVP will miss is this Sunday against the Jets at Giants Stadium.
After 24 hours of speculation, Patriots coach Bill Belichick confirmed the absolute worst news for the team at a press conference today. The injury was suffered during the Patriots’ 17-10 win over the Chiefs yesterday when Brady was hit by Bernard Pollard.
“We feel badly for Tom about the injury,” Belichick said. “You hate to see anyone go down. No one has worked harder or done more for this team than Tom has.”
The Patriots will turn to Matt Cassel for the immediate future. Cassel will make his first start since high school when Sunday at the Meadowlands.
“I have a lot of confidence in Matt and everyone else has to continue to do their job,” Belichick said. “Matt did some good things (Sunday), certainly the 98-yard drive. He took care of the ball and made some good plays.”
Cassel even subbed for Brady on his weekly radio show today.
“I’m not trying to be Tom Brady. I’m just trying to be Matt Cassel,” he said. “I don’t know where that’s going to take us.”
In a somber and nearly empty Patriots locker room, Brady’s locker remained stocked with equipment and personal items.
“We’re not going to tank it the rest of the season. That’s not going to happen,” defensive lineman Richard Seymour said. “There’s always a way to win. We’re not going to have a lot of excuses about it.”
Offensive lineman Matt Light said, “The leadership on this team will take care of itself. I expect (Cassel) to do his job, and that’s the same thing he expects from each one of us. There’s nobody on this team that we don’t have confidence in. You can’t have a better mentor than Tom Brady.”
Despite the advantage Brady’s injury seems to give the Jets, now a 3-point favorite Sunday, Brett Favre was not happy with the news.
“That’s terrible. Terrible,” Favre said. “I guess it’s an ACL or something. They’ve always overcome injuries and things like that, but that’s pretty difficult, Tom Brady.”
Belichick denied reports that Chris Simms and Tim Rattay would be working out for the Patriots, but said they would entertain other possibilities.
“Whatever our options are we will do what’s best for our football team,” Belichick said.
With AP