http://tunasports./ en-us Webligo BlogHoster Tom Brady is out for the year. By now it's been reported by enough credible sources (Yahoo, ESPN) that we can be assume this is an actually fact. Let that sink in. Now, let me give you another fact: The Patriots are not necessarily out of contention.<br /> <br /> I know, I must be crazy. They are starting Matt Cassel a college and NFL back-up who had 37 career pass attempts before today's performance. But what does that really mean? He was a back-up at USC to Matt Leinart and then a back-up to Brady with the Pats. In his career he's played on the best college team in the country and the best team in the NFL. He's backed up a Heisman winner and a multiple MVP winner. Maybe the guy just hasn't had a real opportunity. Remember that Brady was a career back-up, at Michigan then with the Pats, until Bledsoe went down. Now is Cassel really going to be the next Brady, probably not. But just because he was a back-up doesn't automatically rule him out.<br /> <br /> Then there's all the options he has around him. He's got a stellar O-Line, Lawrence Maroney to keep pressure off him with the run and Randy Moss, Wes Welker and Jabar Gaffney to dump the ball off to. Even a mediocre QB could win some games with those weapons. Not to mention that the Pats aren't going to put the game in the hands of Cassel, you can be sure of that. He'll be asked to manage games much like Trent Dilfer did when he led the Ravens to a Super Bowl Championship. Expect games much like the one Cassel had today (13-18, 152 yards and a TD) where he will be asked to throw between 20-25 passes. Now, he played the leagues worst Defense today, so its more realistic to expect that he'll complete around 15 passes. But if Maroney can churn yards on the ground and the D can cause turnovers, the Pats can still win some games.<br /> <br /> Now just because the Pats shouldn't be counted out doesn't mean that the injury doesn't change the AFC East or the whole Conference. With Manning rusty and Brady down, teams like the Chargers, Steelers and Jaguars (though they sucked today) have a legitimate chance at playing in the Super Bowl. <br /> <br /> In the AFC East, no doubt many people now consider the Favre-led Jets the favorite. But remember that Favre has always thrown a lot of interceptions and now he doesn't have the stingy Green Bay defense to bail him out. Oh, did I mention that the Jets needed a spectacular last second interception just to hold off the hapless Dolphins today. Yeah, and they only won four games last year. Let's not anoint them front-runners yet. Another team with a shot is the Bills (Go Bills!). The Bills managed to put together a 7-9 season last year despite being rattled with injuries. They have a revamped defense, the best special teams in the league and are coming off a 34-10 dismantling of an NFC playoff team, the Seattle Seahawks. Not to mention that their schedule includes two games with those Dolphins, plus games against the Chiefs, Rams, Raiders and Cardinals. A fairly favorable outlook for a young team on the rise.<br /> <br /> However, the season shapes up it's sure to be more interesting now. Let's just not assume we know who's getting in, or who's not. <p class="MsoNormal">Sponsored by EnterTo.com the first REAL <a href="http://mail.enterto.com/signup.html">spam free email</a><br /> <br />Click Below to discover and share content from anywhere on the web<br /> <script src="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js" type="text/javascript"></script> http://tunasports.3steps.com/18559/