FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Tom Brady will miss the entire NFL season with a left knee injury that will require surgery, leaving the New England Patriots without one of the game's great quarterbacks, their Super Bowl hopes severely damaged.
The 2007 NFL Most Valuable Player will be placed on injured reserve, the Patriots said Monday, one day after his knee was injured in the first quarter of a 17-10 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.
A statement issued before coach Bill Belichick's news conference said Brady will have surgery, ending his 128-game starting streak, the third longest for a quarterback.
Brady left Sunday's game against Kansas City after he was hit by Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard. Brady was not available for comment, but reports circulated around the league that he had torn his anterior cruciate ligament.
"We feel badly for Tom about the injury," Belichick said while not confirming the exact injury. "You hate to see anyone go down. No one has worked harder or done more for this team than Tom has."
Matt Cassel, who guided New England to its 20th straight regular-season win after Brady was hurt, will start Sunday at the New York Jets.
"As a team we all just have to do our jobs," Belichick said. "That really doesn't change."
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More on Brady's injury
With Tom Brady's knee injury, the Patriots plummeted from an exclamation point of an unbeaten 2007 regular season to a huge question mark in 2008.
• Chadiha: Quiet anxiety
• Wojciechowski: Favre's Jets enter favorites discussion
• Blog reaction
• Your take?
<!-- end sidebar table -->But Brady's injury surely changes the complexion of the AFC, where the Patriots, winners of three Super Bowls since 2001 with Brady as their quarterback, were a strong favorite. Cassel's first true game experience came against the Chiefs."I'm not trying to be Tom Brady. I'm just trying to be Matt Cassel," he said when subbing for Brady on his regular weekly radio show. "I don't know where that's going to take us."
Cassel, who even was a backup at Southern California -- to Heisman Trophy winners Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart -- could have some competition.
ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported Sunday the team was set to bring in quarterback Chris Simms on Monday for a workout. Journeyman Tim Rattay was also to be considered, Mortensen reported.
But Belichick, who runs one of the most secretive operations in the league, denied the team reached out to any other quarterbacks.
"In spite of what some people are putting out there, we haven't worked out anybody," he said. "We had a lot of people call us, I can tell you that."
For now, Cassel is his quarterback.
"The opportunities that Matt got, experience always helps," Belichick said. "I have a lot of confidence in Matt."
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Bellichick stopped short of calling the hit by Pollard dirty. He did emphasize his players are always taught it's their responsibility to hit the quarterback above the knees and below the shoulders. The league said the play was reviewed by Mike Pereira, the supervisor of officials, who determined it was legal.
"It is not a foul because the defensive player was coming off and affected by a block by the offense," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said.
Pollard said on Monday that he was not trying to hurt Brady.
"It was really an accident," said Kansas City's Bernard Pollard. "I can't change what happened. I can't do anything but pray for him and hope he has a speedy recovery."
Pollard, a third-year safety known as one of the most considerate and cooperative players on the team, said he received messages of support from friends and fans all over the country.
"I know one of their teammates called me a dirty player. If you see the play, I was not being dirty at all," Pollard said. "I was trying to get up and my momentum took me forward with 230 pounds on my back. I've never been a dirty player. You ask my teammates. You ask any of my coaches."
Brady, 31, threw for a record 50 touchdowns in leading the Patriots through a perfect 2007 season to the brink of their fourth Super Bowl title in eight years. But New England lost its chance at an unprecedented 19-0 record when the Giants won the championship, 17-14.
He missed the entire preseason with an unspecified foot injury, then left the season opener 7:33 into the first quarter.
"He was in a lot of pain," Pollard said. "When you hear a scream, you know that."
After being tended to on the field, Brady walked off, limping, between two trainers. He went to the locker room and wasn't seen on the sideline again.
Brady was 7-for-11 for 76 yards, completing a 28-yard pass to Randy Moss on the play in which he was injured. Moss fumbled the ball away when he was tackled; the Patriots forced Kansas City to punt, then Cassel came in for New England.
"Since I've been here and been around Tom, he's always popped back up," Cassel said. "I didn't know [how serious it was]. I just buckled my chin strap and the guys rallied around me. I felt their support.
"This is something I've been preparing for a long time. It's not something I expected to come up on opening day."
The 2007 NFL Most Valuable Player will be placed on injured reserve, the Patriots said Monday, one day after his knee was injured in the first quarter of a 17-10 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.
A statement issued before coach Bill Belichick's news conference said Brady will have surgery, ending his 128-game starting streak, the third longest for a quarterback.
Brady left Sunday's game against Kansas City after he was hit by Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard. Brady was not available for comment, but reports circulated around the league that he had torn his anterior cruciate ligament.
"We feel badly for Tom about the injury," Belichick said while not confirming the exact injury. "You hate to see anyone go down. No one has worked harder or done more for this team than Tom has."
Matt Cassel, who guided New England to its 20th straight regular-season win after Brady was hurt, will start Sunday at the New York Jets.
"As a team we all just have to do our jobs," Belichick said. "That really doesn't change."
<!-- start sidebar table -->
More on Brady's injury
• Chadiha: Quiet anxiety
• Wojciechowski: Favre's Jets enter favorites discussion
• Blog reaction
• Your take?
<!-- end sidebar table -->But Brady's injury surely changes the complexion of the AFC, where the Patriots, winners of three Super Bowls since 2001 with Brady as their quarterback, were a strong favorite. Cassel's first true game experience came against the Chiefs."I'm not trying to be Tom Brady. I'm just trying to be Matt Cassel," he said when subbing for Brady on his regular weekly radio show. "I don't know where that's going to take us."
Cassel, who even was a backup at Southern California -- to Heisman Trophy winners Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart -- could have some competition.
ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported Sunday the team was set to bring in quarterback Chris Simms on Monday for a workout. Journeyman Tim Rattay was also to be considered, Mortensen reported.
But Belichick, who runs one of the most secretive operations in the league, denied the team reached out to any other quarterbacks.
"In spite of what some people are putting out there, we haven't worked out anybody," he said. "We had a lot of people call us, I can tell you that."
For now, Cassel is his quarterback.
"The opportunities that Matt got, experience always helps," Belichick said. "I have a lot of confidence in Matt."
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Bellichick stopped short of calling the hit by Pollard dirty. He did emphasize his players are always taught it's their responsibility to hit the quarterback above the knees and below the shoulders. The league said the play was reviewed by Mike Pereira, the supervisor of officials, who determined it was legal.
"It is not a foul because the defensive player was coming off and affected by a block by the offense," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said.
Pollard said on Monday that he was not trying to hurt Brady.
"It was really an accident," said Kansas City's Bernard Pollard. "I can't change what happened. I can't do anything but pray for him and hope he has a speedy recovery."
Pollard, a third-year safety known as one of the most considerate and cooperative players on the team, said he received messages of support from friends and fans all over the country.
"I know one of their teammates called me a dirty player. If you see the play, I was not being dirty at all," Pollard said. "I was trying to get up and my momentum took me forward with 230 pounds on my back. I've never been a dirty player. You ask my teammates. You ask any of my coaches."
Brady, 31, threw for a record 50 touchdowns in leading the Patriots through a perfect 2007 season to the brink of their fourth Super Bowl title in eight years. But New England lost its chance at an unprecedented 19-0 record when the Giants won the championship, 17-14.
He missed the entire preseason with an unspecified foot injury, then left the season opener 7:33 into the first quarter.
"He was in a lot of pain," Pollard said. "When you hear a scream, you know that."
After being tended to on the field, Brady walked off, limping, between two trainers. He went to the locker room and wasn't seen on the sideline again.
Brady was 7-for-11 for 76 yards, completing a 28-yard pass to Randy Moss on the play in which he was injured. Moss fumbled the ball away when he was tackled; the Patriots forced Kansas City to punt, then Cassel came in for New England.
"Since I've been here and been around Tom, he's always popped back up," Cassel said. "I didn't know [how serious it was]. I just buckled my chin strap and the guys rallied around me. I felt their support.
"This is something I've been preparing for a long time. It's not something I expected to come up on opening day."
