Posted by Teddy Panos, Sun Staff

A couple of tricks and treats to chew on while waiting for the upcoming Halloween candy bonanza:

I’m starting to like where this Patriots season is headed. Granted, the stinker at home against Miami proved nothing will come easy to this bunch of Bill Belichick’s boys, but take a peak at the remaining schedule:

Give the Pats a road loss to the Colts this Sunday (which isn’t a sure thing). Tack on another one for argument’s sake when the Steelers come to Foxboro Thanksgiving weekend (not something I’d bet the ranch on). Heck, throw one more on the pile against Buffalo in one of the two remaining matchups against the AFC East co-leaders and maybe another upset against a ragtag collection of Jets, Dolphins, Seahawks, Cardinals and Raiders,.

Realizing it’s difficult to play the game of “we win this one and this one and lose that one,” that means an 11-5 or 10-6 record at worst for the Patriots, likely good enough for a Division title or Wild Card berth. Of course, this is the same scribe who said 9-7 or 8-8 after Tom Brady’s injury, so take the latest prediction for what it’s worth…not much.

Looks like Matt Cassel has at least silenced the critics wishing Belichick would bring in a veteran quarterback to “save” the season. I swear, if one more person brought up the name Daunte Culpepper, I was going to hurl like a 5-year old who dipped into the Halloween goodie bag before mom and dad had a chance to hide the chocolate.

When was the last time a team suffered an injury to it’s star signal-caller, brought in a new face from outside the organization, then went on to win something meaningful? If you answered never, you’re on the right track.

Look, the year Kurt Warner led the Rams to a Super Bowl win, he was already on St. Louis’ roster when Trent Green got hurt. Ditto for Jeff Hostetler with Phil Simms’ Giants. And Earl Morrall already had the Dolphins offense down pat before holding down the fort while Bob Griese recovered from injury in time to cap off the only undefeated regular and playoff season (OUCH! Still hurts to say that!) in NFL history.

You can fault Belichick for not having a veteran presence on the roster coming out of training camp if you’d like, but once Tom Brady went down, the coach was smart enough to realize the Pats only hope rested in the hands of Cassel or, somewhere down the line, Kevin O’Connell.

Speaking of Brady, I can’t help but feel the knee injury and the continuing problem with infection, coming on the heels of uncharacteristic playoff disappointments the last two years, is God’s way of balancing things out.

It’s as if the Lord said: “OK, you can be the best Quarterback in the league. You can win three Super Bowls. You can even date a pretty Hollywood starlet. But there’s no way you’re getting both the career success AND the world’s top Supermodel. Uh-uh No way. You have to give something up. Or start dating an ugly celebrity!”

Speaking strictly as a Patriots fan, I can say: “Tom, Brigitte Nielsen is at least tall like Giselle.”