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October 24, 2007

Projo PatsTalk with Shalise Manza Young: Backup quarterback the Achilles heel?

Click here to listen to today's edition of projo PatsTalk with Shalise Manza Young. The topics: Randy Moss' latest receiving exhibition; is Matt Cassel still the backup quarterback? Washington's outstanding secondary; the state of the running game; and the endless buildup to the Colts game.

Following are some excerpts from Shalise's comments.

On Moss: "The most amazing thing to me about him is that he waits until the last possible second to put his hands up to catch the ball, and just throws the defensive back off. Some receivers stand there with their hands up, and if everybody in the park knows that the ball is coming to them, then the defensive back might be able to make a play. But Randy, he waits until the last second, and he puts his hands up and there's the ball."

Is Cassel still Brady's backup? "I think that's something that's yet to be seen. ... Matt Gutierrez showed well in training camp. He has a really strong arm, and I haven't heard any rumblings about him having a hard time picking things up. ... That's the one thing that could derail this team this year -- if something happens to Tom Brady. If Matt Cassel can't handle it, then their undefeated season goes out the window."

The state of the running game: "What hurts them is: We really saw a good pairing with [Laurence Maroney] and Sammy Morris, and not having Sammy -- which I would be very surprised if he plays this week -- I think that's a really good one-two punch for them. We haven't seen yet that Maroney's able to carry the offense because of the way that Morris came in and showed that he can be a good guy in a two-headed monster kind of scheme."

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 11:54 AM | Permalink