Aug 30th 2008 7:32PM by Adam Gretz (author feed)
Filed under: Patriots, AFC East
The Patriots better make sure Tom Brady is placed in a bubble for the rest of the season, because Matt Cassel has officially made the final 53-man roster as the teams primary backup, according to Mike Reiss at the Boston Globe.

Cassel “won” the job over Matt Gutierrez despite being outplayed, statistically speaking, the entire preseason. Cassel was only 19-of-34 passing and failed to throw a single touchdown pass in the teams four games. By comparison, Guitierrez completed 64% of his passes, threw a pair of touchdowns and put up an 85.6 passer rating (compared to Cassel’s 56.6 rating).

I’m sure there’s a method to Bill Belichick’s madness, I’m just not sure what it is. And that’s probably why he has three Super Bowl rings on his fingers and I’m just sitting here commenting on his roster moves.

Cassel, for what it’s worth, continues to be the most successful fourth-year NFL quarterback to have never thrown a meaningful pass in college or the NFL. After backing up Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart during his entire career at USC, he somehow heard his name called in the NFL draft and has spent the previous three years (and now this year) as a clipboard holder behind Tom Brady. And he’s made, probably, over a million dollars for it. Good for him.