You let them crush you in the POWDER BLUES? Unbelievable.

After watching that game, it's easy to recognize that Matt Cassel is perhaps the least of the Pats' worries at this point. Don't get me wrong - he's still a pretty significant worry as he looked miserable out there tonight (22/38, 203 yards, 1 INT, 5.3 AVG), but Cassel could have thrown for 300 yards and a pair of scores and it still wouldn't have been enough tonight. The bottom line on Matty Backup is that we knew he wasn't going to step forward the way Brady did when Bledsoe went down, so even though I dislike him immensely as a our top quarterback going forward, it's definitely unfair to blame this and every other loss they suffer this year (and it looks like there will be at least a few more) on him and him alone.

No my friends, the biggest problem on this team is the anemic defense, most notably the undersized, under-skilled, under-everything-ed secondary. Through 5 games, they're giving up an average of  320.8 total yards per game, good for 16th in the league. You wouldn't think that's too bad, but some stats in other categories are a bit more troubling. Let's take a look, shall we:

• 5.9 yards per play - tied for fifth worst in the league
• 9 passing touchdowns given up - tied for fifth worst
  
• 8.0 yards per passing play - tied for sixth worst
• 5 40+ yard passes given up - tied for second worst
• 4.6 rushing yards per carry - tied for sixth worst
• 5 20+ yard rushes given up - tied for eighth worst

I'm sure there are more, but I don't want to further depress you all - or myself - by continuing on about it. Suffice it to say this defense is in very rough shape. That famous "We can still win 10 or more in low-scoring 17-14, 14-10 games" strategy that everyone's been talking about since Brady went probably isn't gonna work this year.