Last week, I wrote a blog entry (which has, for some reason disappeared from this site) in which I argued that this might be a year when one of our biggest assumptions--that Favre, Manning, and Brady would continue to put up big numbers--about the NFL each year might come to pass.

Well, now, I feel like I might have jinxed Tom Brady.  Though the secretive Bill Belichick-led Patriots are often mum about the injury status of their players, it appears that Brady's knee injury in today's opener against the Kansas City Chiefs is quite serious.

I know many football fans who dislike Brady because of his pretty-boy image and the overall dominance of the Patriots since he came into the league, but this should be a sad day for the NFL.  He's one of the best of a dwindling crop of great NFL quarterbacks.

I doubt Matt Cassel can fill his shoes, but, wait, didn't we all doubt that Tom Brady could fill Drew Bledsoe's shoes when he went down in 2001?