Franchise Cassel?

Matt Cassel's performances over the past 2 games have been historic, well to the Patriots at the very least. Two consecutive games of over 400 yards passing, and people are already talking about a QB controversy in New England. Gone and forgotten is Tom Brady. Yes folks, the same Tom Brady who led this team to 3 Super Bowl Championships in 4 tries, a perfect regular season, and who led the Patriots from obscurity. Remember him kids? Remember Giselle and the little dog? Remember the Saturday Night Live performance? Or more importantly the Tuck Rule Game? The battles with the Colts? His MVP season last season? How the heck have we forgotten Tom Brady already?
Now with Cassel's success of late and the uncertainty of Brady's rehab from knee surgery, the Patriots fellowship is already named Matt Cassel the successor to Brady, please allow me to point out the flaws in this line of thought.

1. Financially: The only way the Pats are keeping Cassel is to franchise him, and in order to do that they are going to have pay him a salary equal to the average of the top 5 QB's in the NFL. The Pats typically do not shell out that kind of moolah for superstars, let alone at a position to potentially back up one of the best QB's of all-time...again
2. Logically: Have we seen or heard anything to believe Brady is done for next season? And please don't start in on the Bledsoe/Brady argument. Two different scenarios. Granted Bledsoe put this franchise back on the map, but isn't close to the QB Brady IS. See what I did there? I said IS and specifically didn't say was. Brady is going to be back, and just as good as he was when he left. Will he have a season like he did in 2007? Not likely. But I like him throwing to the likes of Welker, Moss, and...well anyone in a Patriots uniform.
3. Idiots: The people who are talking about franchising Cassel are the same idiots who were trying to run him out of town from the first pre-season game until the second half of the first quarter of the first game of the season. Typical fair weather, uneducated New England sports fans, who have taken over the majority from us...the people who lived and died with the Red Sox, Pats, and Celtics during the championship drought from 1986 until 2002 when the Pats won their first Super Bowl. Granted, the way Cassel played in that span, those sentiments were warranted, but don't sit there and tell me Cassel is the QB you want running your franchise.
4. Really: Do you really think Cassel wants to be here next year? He knows what is going on. As much as every completion gets the Patriots one step closer to the Playoffs, it is also adding another zero to his next contract, which is going to be bigger than he ever imagined. There is already talk and rumblings of a McDaniel/Cassel package where both youngsters are in for a considerable pay raise.
   

Look, I like the job Cassel has done thus far, and it is great to see Cassel mature in role. He seems to be improving each week, but if you can sit there and say that every time Cassel starts to run out of the pocket or throws that ball deep down field and you don't still cringe just a little bit..you are a better man than I. Granted, those cringes tend to be coming less and less, but they are still there. Don't mistake where I am coming from right now, this is not a Cassel bash, but more of a reminder that somewhere in a hot tub is "Tom Terrific," and there is no controversy, the starting Quarterback of the New England Patriots IS Tom Brady, and will be Tom Brady for the foreseeable future.