Bodog Beat

Tom Brady may be back, but who's to say his knee won't blow out again? (AP Images)

New England quarterback Tom Brady practiced in front of the media with the Patriots for the first time this week, and all accounts are that Brady is showing no lingering effects from the knee injury and following surgery that cost him all but part of a handful of minutes of the 2008 NFL season.

"I feel as good as I can possibly feel," Brady said to reporters at the Patriots' OTAs.

Most pundits assumed the Pats were finished when Tom Terrific went down in the first quarter of Week 1 against the Chiefs, but backup Matt Cassel turned out to be a revelation in leading New England to an 11-5 record, just missing a return to the playoffs.

But now Cassel is in, ironically enough, Kansas City. The Pats had franchised him to get some potential trade value but couldn't afford to pay two quarterbacks some $29 million combined this season once they believed Brady was healthy. But with Bodog listing the Pats at just 5/1 odds to win Super Bowl XLIV, isn't that putting too much stock in Brady?

After all, his new backup is Kevin O'Connell. No, not the actor who married John Stamos' former supermodel wife, but a second-year player from San Diego State who in two games in mop-up duty as a rookie completed 4-of-6 passes for 23 yards in 2008. Even Cassel had more experience than that.

It's surprising the Patriots didn't bring in a veteran to backup Brady, and guys like Rex Grossman and J.P. Losman are probably the best of what's still out there. But maybe Bill Belichick and Co. believe so much in the Patriot Way that they think O'Connell can become Cassel if called upon.

"I just have to be ready," O'Connell said to reporters. "Matt was a good example of that."

But at an NFL-low 5/1 odds to win the Super Bowl (only the Steelers are also under double digits), that's an awful lot of faith in both Brady's knee and the Patriots possibly striking backup gold again.