Rodney / RB Injuries = Patriots' Mediocrity

It's not as if the season and, frighteningly -- if the reports about the post-op staph infection of his knee are correct -- potentially career-ending knee injury to Tom Brady was bad enough ...

But the injuries in the rout of the Broncos to defensive leader Rodney Harrison -- even if he has lost a step or two physically, remained key both intellectually and emotionally --

AND slashing running back Sammy Morris -- for the second year in a row -- do seem to indicate a deficit from which it doesn't seem the Patriots are going to be able to recover this season ...

If they do, it will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Bill Belichick IS the greatest football coach of all time ...

But I must admit, I am skeptical that even he can pull a rabbit out of this hat ... ;-) ...

In the wake of Brady's absence, the idea was to bring Matt Cassel along slowly but surely,

letting the running game -- for which the Pats had stockpiled 5 backs, instead of the usual 4 --

and a much tougher defense than the Pats had shown when THEY were beat up by the Chargers --

handle a lot of the load while Cassel found himself, especially in terms of being able to read defensive rhythms and adjust,

in the fashion that really makes Tom Brady the unique quarterback  he is ...

Certainly in the Monday Night game vs. Denver, that strategy seemed like a winner, and capable of bringing the Pats not just into the post-season,

but, in a season where parity rules, and no team seems to be consistently unbeatable, achieve some success in January ...

Unfortunately, the key elements for giving Cassel time to grow into the role -- a running game and stout-er defensive play -- were both devastated by the injuries to Rodney and Sammy Morris ...

Lamont Jordan was already out -- kudos to my pal Wayne for telling me two weeks ago that Jordan was prone to pathetic injuries, which then ensued that weekend, just as he had predicted --

but Sammy Morris was a tiger in the first half vs. the Broncos ... but he never came out for the second half, and was listed as questionable / doubtful for the Rams game this weekend ...

Which left only Kevin Faulk -- who is a brilliant third-down, but certainly not EVERY down, back -- Heath Evans, who is basically a blocker, altho HAS had some great games "in relief" during seasons past,

and the free agent rookie with the disarmingly charming name of BenJarvus Green-Ellis, who has been promoted from the practice squad ...

Now if he turns out to be a killer back, then hats off again to Belichick and Scott Pioli for finding yet another diamond in the rough ...

But even if he is, that's a HUGE burden for a first year player to have to carry ... and if HE should go down, for whatever reason, well ...

On the other side of the ball, it's clear that Rodney Harrison was able to make the cuts and get to the spots that his brilliant football mind him told him were right ...

But his intellectual and emotional leadership of the defense -- not least his on-field mentoring and coaching of the younger backs, like former 'Cane Brandon Meriweather -- were, by all accounts, his true contribution ...

So while the Pats MIGHT have been able to do something this year, even without Tom Brady, this latest round of injuries to the backfields -- both offensive and defensive -- would just about seem to rule a post-season out ...

Still, stranger things HAVE happened ... but I don't think this is going to be the Pats year -- and not simply because of TB ...