Tom Brady has been suspended by the NFL for four games for his role in the underinflation of footballs scandal. (This DeflateGate term has to go away, it's ridiculous.) He'll appeal, and if you ask his furious, sputtering agent, he'll win. Most likely, a game or two will end up being lopped off his suspension; whatever. He's unlikely to be the team's Week 1 starter.
How can we expect Jimmy Garoppolo to fare in his absence? Based on how Matt Cassel fared way back in 2008, when Brady blew out his knee in Week 1, Garoppolo might do just fine. Cassel has been a mediocre NFL passer for virtually his entire career with other teams, but he was pretty good in his one season filling in for Brady.
The table below shows Cassel's numbers, both total and on a per-game basis, in six seasons with other NFL teams, compared to his one season starting in New England. Only once was he nearly as good elsewhere as he was running New England's offense. Yards per game, touchdowns per game, completion percentage, interceptions -- all better with the Patriots. Maybe the footballs were underinflated in his season there, too.
Career numbers for Cassel are below; his best numbers are in bold.
| MATT CASSEL, CAREER | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Tm | G | Com | Att | Pct | Yds | TD | Int | Yds/G | TD/G | Int/G |
| 2014 | Minn. | 3 | 41 | 71 | 57.7 | 425 | 3 | 4 | 141.7 | 1.0 | 1.3 |
| 2013 | Minn. | 9 | 153 | 254 | 60.2 | 1,807 | 11 | 9 | 200.8 | 1.2 | 1.0 |
| 2012 | K.C. | 9 | 161 | 277 | 58.1 | 1,796 | 6 | 12 | 199.6 | 0.7 | 1.3 |
| 2011 | K.C. | 9 | 160 | 269 | 59.5 | 1,713 | 10 | 9 | 190.3 | 1.1 | 1.0 |
| 2010 | K.C. | 15 | 262 | 450 | 58.2 | 3,116 | 27 | 7 | 207.7 | 1.8 | 0.5 |
| 2009 | K.C. | 15 | 271 | 493 | 55 | 2,924 | 16 | 16 | 194.9 | 1.1 | 1.1 |
| 2008 | N.E. | 15 | 327 | 516 | 63.4 | 3,693 | 21 | 11 | 246.2 | 1.4 | 0.7 |
--Andy Richardson