Brady, Beanie and Broadcasters — oh my!

After the action of the first two weekends of college football and the first Sunday of the NFL season, I’m surprised we haven’t heard an update from ESPN’s talking heads that goes something like this:

We interrupt our report on the status of Beanie Wells’ foot to bring you this report on Tom Brady’s knee: it hurts him. A lot.

Stay tuned for more, including an update from Sao Paolantonio, Ed Werder, Rachel Nichols and Wendi Nix — all of whom are stationed outside the offices of Boston knee surgeons to give you a breakdown of what Brady will go through under the knife.

To be sure, Brady’s injury is huge news. Any time the (arguably) best franchise in the NFL loses (arguably) the best quarterback in the league for the season in a year it was (arguably) the front-runner for yet another Lombardi Trophy, it deserves its share of coverage. 

However, it’s been nothing short of ridiculous to see “KneeGate” get more coverage than the entire slate of Sunday games in the league. The only way this injury could get more air time is if it somehow came to light that Jeff Gillooly himself had something to do with it. Oh wait, there’s already a hilarious song about just that possibility:

I just don’t understand why an injury is bigger news than the games themselves. The same is true of the Beanie Wells situation, which spent more time in the print and broadcast media after week one of the NCAA football season than the East Carolina defensive line spent in the West Virginia backfield during week two. 

Too soon for jokes? My bad.

However, since the national media pretty much sets up what is considered “news”, I’ll throw in my perspective on the suddenly Brady-less AFC East.

In my mind, the Patriots still should be favored to win the division. Matt Cassel is unproven, to be sure, but he’s got an absolutely stacked roster to work with. He’s been around for several years in New England, so the system should be nothing new to him. He’ll have to deal with life in the media fishbowl for the first time, but if he can handle that, the Patriots should still get to 10 wins.

The New York Jets and Buffalo Bills will be competitive now, for sure. The Jets may be able to take advantage of Cassel’s “green” arm this Sunday and take the early lead in the division. There are still plenty of questions for Eric Mangini, Brett Favre and company though. The Bills looked strong in dismantling Seattle yesterday (in case you missed the highlights the media managed to cram in between updates on Brady) and could be a factor as well.

Expect New England’s veteran leadership to carry them to the division crown again, though. I see the Patriots at 10-6, followed closely by the Jets at 9-7.

Oh, as for Beanie and the Buckeyes? The flaws that Frank Solich and Ohio University exposed on Saturday will only be magnified by USC, which is, in my humble opinion, the best team in the country. As badly as the Beanie-less Ohio State offense sputtered against the Bobcats, Todd Boeckman is really in for a tough day in Tinseltown. The Trojans win going away, by at least two possessions.

Take my prediction with a grain of salt, of course. I am still the guy who said West Virginia would score 44 against East Carolina. Sorry to bring that up again. (Writer’s Note: Yes, I know I said I would tackle a post-game breakdown of that travesty of a football game yesterday. I’ll get there, I promise — I’m still in the mourning phase. Don’t rush me.)

Comments (0) : Sep 8th, 2008 by Patrick Southern
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