After the Patriots 11-5 season without quarterback Tom Brady, high hopes prevail for the 2009 season in New England. The Patriots were just one win away from playing in the playoffs, and the way the playoffs are going, New England may have won the darn thing!
We are excited for next season! Hope to see a healthy Brady and the Pats back and dominating!

Tis the season for treason.You know, switching your NFL allegiance.

That’s what you’re faced with when the National Football League leaves you a lump of coal for the playoffs: your team sitting where you sit — on the couch, watching digital images, a drink in one hand, a sheet of college prospects in the other.

But die-hard fans — the ones who love mouthpiece-jarring tackles and 50-yard flea-flickers, along with reasons to eat, drink and watch sports — know that if you want to make the three remaining NFL weekends worthwhile, you pick a team each week and you go with it.

Sometimes, it’s the underdog. Sometimes, it’s your dad’s team.

Or sometimes, it’s your bartender’s squad.

That’s what New England Patriots fans at Cim’s Tavern have vowed to do since their beloved Patriots failed to make the playoffs for the first time since the 2002 season.

The Bill Belichick-coached squad finished 11-5 this season, becoming the first team with that record to miss the playoffs since the Denver Broncos in 1985.

“We’re supporting our favorite bartender now,” said Mark Kerwood, 67, a retired telephone company employee and a Cim’s regular.

Kerwood said Danny Reddy, Cim’s Sunday bartender, is a fervent Carolina Panthers fan. In the back of his car sits a stuffed Panther. Each week, he sticks a stuffed animal, in the likeness of the Panthers’ opponent,

into the stuffed Panther’s mouth.On Saturday night, it was a Cardinal.

The regulars said they were getting behind Reddy’s team because he’s a good guy, their team is out of it, and “it gets us good service,” Kerwood said.

It helps that most Patriots fans “hate the Giants.”

That’s the Giants, as in New York, the team that beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl last year.

“They can’t lose by enough points,” Kerwood said. “Anyone who plays the Giants is automatically our team. So Philadelphia is also our team this week (today).”

In an informal poll conducted on The Eagle’s Web site last week, 30 percent of respondents said they weren’t interested in the playoffs since the Patriots were out. Nearly 40 percent said they remained interested.

New England missed the playoffs despite winning its final four games behind Matt Cassel, who took over for star quarterback Tom Brady after Brady suffered a season-ending knee injury during the first game of the season.

With the Patriots gone, Rich Asher, 48, owner of the Sideline Saloon, said he noticed that the crowd at his bar last week during Round 1 of the NFL playoffs paid less attention and was quieter than usual.

“If the Pats were on, it would’ve been a lot louder,” Asher said.

Like many in the Berkshires, Sideline patron Pete LaChapelle, 52, a U.S. Postal Service employee, is a fan of both the NFC’s Giants and the AFC’s Patriots. He’s been a Giants fan since 1962 and a Patriots fan from “the early 1980s.”

“The Giants are my NFC team, so I’m definitely rooting for them,” he said. “You gotta pick a team in the playoffs. It’s more football. Who doesn’t like more football?”

That’s the same sentiment uttered by Pierre Mercier, 62, a retired truck mechanic and a Patriots fan.

Is he bummed that the Patriots fell short this season?

“Yes,” he said. “But I’m not going to crawl under my bed and cry. Everybody usually finds a team in the postseason and gets behind them. Maybe it’s because of a player or a good story, or an underdog.

“Hey, you wouldn’t enjoy the playoffs if you didn’t root for somebody.”

Matt Cassell has done just fine filling out for All American STUD Tom Brady. Sure, the Patriots aren’t 14-0, but at 9-5 and tied for the lead in the AFC East, New England is doing JUST fine. The Patriots still have a shot at making the playoffs even without Brady in the lineup. With games left with Arizona and Buffalo – win both and the Patriots are IN! Sure the Jets hold the tiebreaker, and the Dolphins are red hot. But win both games, and playoff bound!!!

Now don’t get us wrong, we want Tom Brady back in 2009, but 2008 hasn’t been THAT bad, has it!?!?

In case you were getting the itch for football, here in late June. Yes, we know- training camps a month away. We thought we’d throw out Tom Brady’s career stats to you. A little something to MUNCH ON.

• 112 games
• 92.9 QB rating
• 2294 completions
• 3642 attempts
• 63.0% success
• 26370 yards
• 235.4 yards per game
• 197 touchdowns
• 86 interceptions
• 276 rushes
• 533 rushing yards
• 5 rushing touchdowns
• 28 fumbles lost

CAN YOU SAY HALL OF FAME?