Think about the Patriots with somebody else under center. No, you can't plug in Peyton Manning or Brett Favre or Tony Romo. For purposes of this exercise, let's go with Matt Cassel. Just like Bill Belichick would.
Back to the Patriots, a 14-0 team in the real world.
Think that happens with Cassel? Nothing against the guy, by all accounts a fine young man who has made some nice throws among his 39 career attempts. But Brady had 39 touchdown passes after 11 games.
OK, to be fair, Cassel hasn't seen much of the field in his three seasons. Put him behind New England's line and surround him with the likes of Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Donte' Stallworth and Benjamin Watson and he'd have some nice numbers, too.
But, remember, we're imagining an NFL without Tom Brady, which means we're left with "nice numbers,"
