My only concern is that just like Thigpen he operated mostly out of the shotgun based on that video. Of course, he did a hell of alot better out of the shotgun. Just hope he can become more comfortable operating under center. Unlike Thigpen, I actually have faith that Cassel can improve in that area.

His pocket presence is crazy and nice mobility. He was accurate and had a good deep ball.

He did operate mostly out of the shotgun, but so did Brady in 2007. McDaniels just loves the shotgun spread, so I wouldn't read too much into it in terms of Cassel's ability to operate from under center (although clearly he has relatively little experience with it). Personally, I don't see any reason why he can't develop that skill if he doesn't have it already. He's intelligent, has a great work ethic, mobility, and very good pocket presence. Besides, based on what Haley built over in Arizona, I wouldn't be at all surprised if you guys used the #3 on Crabtree, signed Housh, and came out next year in a shotgun spread-based offense featuring Crabtree, Housh, Bowe, and Gonzalez. You'd have LBs trying to cover Gonzalez and nickel corners trying to cover Bowe... the offense is very close to being good.

That would seem to be Haley's preference and fits with what Gailey ran last year. It certainly makes it clear that LJ is expendable...

I prefer the Tyler Thigpen highlight reel myself... :p

A couple observations:
1. Looks very accurate and good to me, love his scrappiness. It does seem like he and Tyler have a similar game, he's just better at it. Which is good, because our entire offense doesn't have to change if he goes down and Tyler comes in.

2. I wish we were getting Moss and Welker. Crazy good.

3. The Patriots o-line doesn't seem very good. In fact, they look like bottom 30% in the league handling outside rushes. This gives me hope for him behind our line. I think Brady's extremely quick read and release has made that O-line look better than it really is.

Why? Because Cassel went to USC?

He can sing too!

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I didn't like that particular song, though the lyrics did fit Cassel's situation quite well...

But if you hate on Queen again, I will... well I won't do anything substantial, because it's a message board. But I'll neg-rep the shit outta you. So yeah... take that....

That's true- the Pats' O-Line is hugely overrated. Matt Light gets manhandled by the elite pass-rushers at LT, Neal is perpetually hurt at RG, Kaczur is alright at RT, Mankins is usually very good at LG (but disappears at times), and Koppen is good, at C, but gets absolutely dominated by 3-4 NTs. If you want to see the true talent of the Pats' OL, just look at the 2007 SB. Brady was injured, so he lost a lot of his pocket mobility, and the result was that the OL just got abused.

It was also on display when Cassel came in at the start of last year. Once Neal returned from injury, the line solidified a bit, but for those first games Cassel wasn't just starting for the first time since high school; he was starting for the first time since high school against a below-average offensive line.

Another thing that hasn't been mentioned is that like Brady, Cassel doesn't make a lot of stupid mistakes. He's an excellent manager of the game. By the end of the season he was playing like Brady about 5 years ago. Look at tapes of the game at Oakland or Miami, the home game vs the Jets or Arizona. He was terrific.
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That's absolutely the worst song I've ever heard used in a highlight video. WTF was that shit?

I'm surprised by his mobility on a couple of those plays.

Of course, he's no Thigpen.

reeruned.

You never saw him force a ball into a first receiver who was covered. He threw to the first guy whenever he was open.

You don't look to the second option when the first one is open.

The guy has a rocket for an arm and great speed for a big QB.

I know I'll probably take some heat for saying this but, if I couldn't see the number on the jersey, I'd have told you that was Tom Brady in that highlight video. Very impressive! I had really only seen him against us in week one.