Quotes from Matt Cassel

As long as anybody plays this game, you never master it because there are so many things that are always changing.

There are a lot of things that you learn as a rookie and you grow the most, I would say as a rookie from your first year to your second year.

You can work on routes all day in practice but in the game what it comes down to is if somebody is open or not. You kind of go through your progressions and go through it that way.

There are definitely times when taking a sack is a better play than doing something else and trying to make a play when something is not there.

Any time you can come down and score on your first drive, that's what you're trying to accomplish.

Every week you go in and hope that you have production in the passing game and also in the running game.

Without a lot of college film, a lot of people had written me off already. When the Patriots called, I was pretty happy.

I love the Patriots. I love this organization.

Personally, I always loved the 1 p.m. Sunday games.

The thing about the 2008 season which sticks out for so many people was we were coming off the 18-1 year where we went to the Super Bowl and lost in dramatic fashion with the catch and everything else that happened.

We knew what was going on with Spygate. We were in football mode, and it didn't impact our day-to-day. There's so much noise on the outside - 'You're cheaters, you're this, you're that' - but the easiest way to settle that is to go 18-0 and go to the Super Bowl.

I can't understand for the life of me why people would cheer when somebody gets hurt. I guess that is the sick world that we are sometimes in.

You've probably heard from 100 different people that the Patriots are a game plan offense. Here's what that means: We're going to watch the defense specifically to identify their tendencies, what they do situationally and what their philosophy is.

Anytime we can get the running game going it is a plus for me and it makes my job a lot easier.

Competition brings out the best in everybody.

As a competitor, as a guy that wants to play, of course, it would be great to go out and play.

I was in Minnesota in 2014 when Adrian Peterson was suspended. In that situation, we were about to play the Patriots when his suspension came out the Friday before the game.

In 2005, our starting center, Dan Koppen, went down with a season-ending injury. Russ Hochstein was always our interior 'swing guy' - he played guard and center - and I remember Russ stepping in and playing beautifully.

From one week to the next, everything changes from who you're playing to the defense's scheme. You just try to build on the things that you did well and correct the things that you did poorly in the game; then, move forward from there and hopefully continue to get better and better and better as you move forward.

It's been a childhood dream of mine to be a Cowboy, honestly.

So for me, it's just continue to go out and work hard and do what I've been coached and let the other guys take advantage of what they do successfully and then just let the chips fall where they may.

I am just saying people can be successful even though they might not be well known.

Even if you're in a backup role, you've always got to prepare yourself.

With every look I can get and every defense I play against I get more experience.