FOXBORO - Deltha O’Neal has been down this route before.
When Tom Brady, the Patriots iconic quarterback, was knocked out of the game with a left knee injury in the first quarter against the Kansas City Chiefs yesterday, sucking the air out of the opening day crowd at Gillette Stadium, O’Neal was reminded of the mind-boggling playoff game he played in against the Pittsburgh Steelers three seasons ago.
O’Neal, a veteran defensive back who signed with the Patriots last week and played a prominent role in their 17-10 win yesterday, was with an up-and-coming Cincinnati Bengals team on January 12, 2006, when franchise quarterback Carson Palmer went down with a gruesome knee injury.
There were accusations back then about the legality of the hit by the Steelers’ Kimo Von Oelhoffen. For sure, Patriots fans yesterday wanted to take their wrath out on the Chiefs No. 49, Bernard Pollard, for what could be considered a borderline hit on Brady.
O’Neal wasn’t about to turn anyone into a villain, but he does know this much: The Bengals were finished as a contender once Palmer went down. They lost the playoff game to the Steelers, 31-17, and they haven’t been the same since.
“We had a lot of turmoil on that team,” said O’Neal. “We had a lot of young guys who didn’t know how to handle things.”
Even though he’s just getting acquainted with his Patriots teammates, he could sense the difference yesterday when Brady went out and it was announced later that he wouldn’t be back against the Chiefs. Granted, they weren’t playing the Steelers in a tense playoff situation, but the Patriots have been through it all.
As unsettling as the injury was, it didn’t kill their momentum, or their chances.
Backup quarterback Matt Cassel, who played poorly in the always over-analyzed preseason, acquitted himself well in yesterday’s emergency, hitting on 13 of 18 passes for 152 yards and a touchdown. Cassel’s highlight play was a 51-yarder to Randy Moss when the Pats were on their own 1-yard line in the first quarter. It was a play that galvanized an entire team and eventually led to a 98-yard scoring drive that was capped by Cassel’s 10-yard touchdown strike to the unstoppable Moss (6 receptions, 116 yards).
“It’s not the same situation here as it was (with the Bengals),” said O’Neal. “There are a lot of veteran guys here who’ve been through the wars. It was a different reaction (after Brady was hurt). Guys kept their cool and kept on playing.
“It was upsetting when No. 12 (went down). It was a shock at first. But I thought No. 16 (Cassel) had one hell of a game. He had the kind of game that a lot of starters would like to have. He played like a starter. As a defense, we just wanted to back him up and keep (the Chiefs) to three points or whatever. We did a pretty good job of keeping them out of the end zone.”
Good luck this week trying to get accurate information on the extent of Brady’s injury. Coach Bill Belichick is hardly enlightening when it comes to matters like this, and rest assured that he will be controlling all of the information. Trying to find out about Cuban leader Fidel Castro’s health will be easier than learning anything worthwhile about Brady.
But some of Brady’s teammates were clearly miffed at the way Brady was hurt and put it all on Pollard. Moss, who didn’t get to see the replay until the game was over, was in that category.
“I really don’t want to get into it,” said Moss.
But then he did.
“For me personally, I think it was dirty. I really didn’t see anything (at the time) because I was running downfield (Moss made a 26-yard reception and fumbled on the play). It looked dirty to me. I have never been a dirty player. I honestly don’t know how to play dirty. I just play the game. Anytime you see something that looks foul and looks dirty, it opens your eyes. To me, it looked dirty.”
O’Neal wouldn’t go that far. He says there’s a lot of crazy stuff that goes on out there. Everyone is looking for an edge and it’s up to the officials to catch the misdeeds.
“I didn’t see No. 12 get hurt,” said O’Neal. “But I know there’s a lot of stuff that can be called. You see defensive backs get hurt on crackback blocks; you see a lot of guys get their legs taken out. You just hope the refs police the game the right way. You don’t want to see guys get hurt on (dirty) plays. I really don’t know what (Pollard) did in this case.”
For O’Neal, it was a memorable debut in a Patriots uniform because of what he was able to contribute with virtually no practice time. He prevented Kansas City’s Devard Darling from scoring the tying touchdown with 1:09 left, taking him down at the Patriots 5-yard line after a 68-yard gain.
“We were in the wrong defense,” said O’Neal, who covered up for an apparent mistake by second-year man Brandon Meriweather, “and the Chiefs took advantage of it. I’m not going to reveal schemes or what went wrong, but we weren’t in the right defense.”
O’Neal’s most significant play came with 40 seconds left with the Chiefs still thinking they would tie the game and send it to overtime. K.C. quarterback Damon Huard threw a fourth-down pass to Dwayne Bowie in the right side of the end zone, but O’Neal disrupted the receiver and that was it.
“I was 99.9 percent sure it was going to No. 82 (Bowie) or No. 88 (the great tight end Tony Gonzalez, who had six catches but no touchdowns),” said O’Neal. “You got talent like those two guys, it’s going to go to one of them. So I slipped underneath (Bowe) and kind of slapped his hands just as he was about to catch the ball. I think Bowe was a little upset that they didn’t call anything, but I thought it was a legal play.”
That’s what the Chiefs are going to say about the hit on Brady; that it was a legal play. But that’s really beside the point right now. Brady is banged up and no one in his right mind can say the Patriots are better off without him.
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