My response might surprise some people but I don’t think they’re really comparable. The Pats were a perfect storm around Brady and with their schedule. The defense was on its last legs, but they still had a good front seven. They feasted on the weak AFC and NFC West divisions as well. They were still a good team, they just couldn’t beat the elite teams in the AFC (Pittsburgh/San Diego/Indy) and of course they got the Wildcat run all over them.
The Colts not only had Manning go down but their weapons and offensive line were also in shambles. They had the AFC North and NFC South as well, two of the best divisions at the time. I wouldn’t have thought Cassel was much better than Orlovsky/Painter/etc. going into 2008, but clearly he was pretty well prepared and the Pats knew how to play to his strengths. Moss/Welker and a veteran offensive line certainly helped too.
I don’t think the Pats’ collapse would’ve been quite as bad as 2-14 in that situation, but take away Welker and a couple of their offensive linemen along with Brady in 2008 and have them play two of the better divisions and they would’ve been a lot closer to .500 than 11-5.
