Can Bill Belichick win without Tom Brady? Who is the person most responsible for the Patriots' success? Remember asking those questions after Brady went down in Week One?

Four months later, you have your answers.

Yes, the Pats are out of the playoffs and their defense remains a central concern, but this 11-win season was a success. Not even the worst cynic should feel otherwise. The Patriots as an organization should feel proud today.

And that, I think, brings some closure to those questions we asked back in September.

Recall that for the Belichick haters, the questions were asked with a certain amount of relish.

"Now, we'll see just how good Belichick is," they seemed to say.

And for the Belichick bum-kissers, the questions were rejected out of hand as being unfair. Certainly, they were topics for talk radio and little else -- but that's what we do, right? So we asked. And the toadies whined, "Why does it have to be one or the other?" It sounded like a hedge against a nose dive. After all, these were the same folks who told us in August that if Brady went down the season was over and it didn't matter who the backup quarterback was.

The fact is that no one believed in Cassel. NO ONE. I was worse than most, spending the preseason railing against the team for not building depth at the most important position on the field. Well, wrong again, Felger. But even though I felt that way, I wondered why so many gave up on the season after that Chiefs game. Belichick is pretty good, you know, and the 2008 season turned into a reaffirmation of his ability. (For the record, here is what I wrote the day after Brady went down). 

Another thing that this season reinforced to me is the value of a good backup quarterback. How could anyone have watched the Pats this year and still say having a good No. 2 doesn't matter? It just turns out that Cassel was the guy. Who knew?

I still think Belichick is the story of 2008, though. This season was all about his program and the culture he has created on that team.

The season proved that the Pats are not, in fact, about one guy (Brady). It showed that even though a lot of solid, hard-working players have departed over the years, many still remain. This is still, above all, a selfless, professional, hard-working outfit. And that all comes back to Belichick, his staff (most notably Scott Pioli, who helped procure most of those players) and the key veterans in the locker room.

A lot of folks are saying today that 2008 was Belichick's best coaching job ever. I don't know if I agree with that. In terms of in-game decisions, Belichick had a few hiccups. The Indy game stands out. The overtime loss to the Jets at home was another. I think there are more than a few decisions he'd like back.

To me, the brilliance of Belichick this season wasn't about specific games or specific plays. Again, it was about the program. It's still a model for the league.

There's also this: We may have to start talking about Belichick as one of the great quarterback coaches of all time. If Bill Walsh is credited with creating Joe Montana and Steve Young, and Mike Holmgren gets Brett Favre (work with me) and Matt Hasselbeck on his resume, why shouldn't Belichick get the same consideration for developing Brady and Cassel? No reason I can see.

Make no mistake, by the end of the season Cassel was looking very much like the guy ahead of him on the depth chart. Early on, it felt a little silly to say Cassel looked "Brady-like," but by Week 17 you said it with no shame. He set the offense, called out the mike linebacker, went to the open man and moved the team like old No. 12. He developed pocket presence. He learned to step up and deliver the ball. He stopped trying to run at the first sign of trouble and starting taking off only when it was needed. And he proved to be tough and clutch, making a myriad of game-winning or game-saving plays against the likes of the Rams, Jets, Dolphins and Seahawks.

It turns out Cassel has balls -- and that you can't coach. But on most everything else, you've got to look to Belichick and his staff.

That includes offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who proved himself again this season. He got the offense to move without any receivers in 2006 and with a backup quarterback in 2008. Good stuff. Yes, it helps when you have Wes Welker. And it helps that defenses still respect Randy Moss, even when he's not at his best. But the point is that the offense is not ju st about Brady. It's about the team.

The defense is another matter. Belichick and Pioli still have to shoulder some responsibility for its deterioration through poor draft choices and bad free agency decisions over the last few years. That's on their record, too. Many will point to the presence of a handful of young players -- a list including Jerod Mayo, Brandon Meriweather, Gary Guyton and Jonathan Wilhite -- as evidence that the unit is actually headed in the right direction. But with the exception of Mayo, I think the jury is still out on all of the above. The defensive line will remain intact for at least one more season (Richard Seymour and Vince Wilfork are both up at the end of the 2009 season) and then we'll see what happens from there.

The bottom line is that the defense is still not championship-caliber. And Belichick knows it,  just as he knew it after the 18-1, 2007 season, when he spent virtually the entire draft on that side of the ball. Expect more of the same this spring, and if the Pats can trade Cassel for some draft picks, the odds increase that another guy like Mayo will come through the process.

I'm going to bet that the defense will eventually round into form -- mostly because Belichick is building it.

On my old radio show we used to have this mythical debate: If the NFL did a total reorganization, and every player, coach and executive was thrown into a dispersal draft, who would you take with the first overall pick? You could take any living creature you wanted. Peyton Manning. Brady. Adrian Peterson. DeMarcus Ware. Bob Kraft. Bill Polian. Bill Parcells. You name it.

For me, it wouldn't even be a debate. Belichick would be the selection.

And if I didn't have the first pick, I'd trade up to get it.

On to the grades. Send thoughts to mfelger@weei.com

QUARTERBACKS -- A-

As good of a six-completion, 78-yard game as you'll find. Cassel obviously wasn't called on to do much, but the key to his performance was what he did when the Pats absolutely had to have it. Two runs stick out, the first coming in the second quarter with the Pats facing a fourth-and-five situation. After breaking out of the pocket, Cassel was lined up perfectly by rookie corner Reggie Corner (what a name). But Cassel lowered his shoulder, took contact by Corner the corner and then spun out of the tackle to pick up the first down. The other great scramble came in the third quarter on fourth-and-2. Seeing that Heath Evans was covered in the flat, Cassel tucked the ball and ran it six yards to move the chains and help set up the game's lone touchdown.

Cassel also did it with his arm a few times, most notably on another fourth-and-5 on the Pats touchdown drive when he found Wes Welker in the flat and delivered a perfect strike for a 12-yard gain. An even better ball came on a slant to Welker in the fourth, picking up 14 yards and converting a third-and-7. Cassel just missed Randy Moss in the end zone a few plays later, which was perhaps the only ball that he really missed with all day.

Finally, Cassel showed some toughness as well, taking a knee in the back from defensive lineman Marcus Stroud in the third quarter and remaining in the game. The league should take a look at the play.

RUNNING BACKS -- A-

Donte Whitner, meet Sammy Morris. In a play that fairly well described the afternoon, Morris showed running backs everywhere how to finish a run when he lowered his shoulder into Whitner at the end of the third quarter and flattened the Buffalo safety en route to a 16-yard gain. The play proved to be symbolic of what proved to be a hard-running and poor tackling day on both sides of the ball.

Morris once again led the way for the Pats with 85 yards on 24 carries (3.5-yard average). Most of his damage came inside but on occasion he was able to bounce out at the second level and gain additional yardage. He's been a great find for this team. LaMont Jordan also did the job, particularly on his eight-yard run through the right side on second-and-9 on the Pats' long  touchdown drive into the wind in the third quarter. Jordan also finished that drive with a two-yard plunge, again through the ride side. Jordan finished with 64 yards on 20 carries.

Heath Evans was important getting the passing game going in the first quarter, catching two balls on the second series for 19 and 12 yards, respectively. Kevin Faulk also had a huge play in the passing game, catching a ball a few yards short of the stakes on third-and-7 in the third quarter and squirming through a pair of tacklers to pick up the first down.

Russ Hochstein resumed his role as battering ram fullback/tight end and delivered punishment across the field. The results weren't as dramatic as they were last week against Arizona because the Pats didn't break off any big plays, but he was every bit as effective.

RECEIVERS -- B

The windy conditions cost Wes Welker a shot at the NFL's receiving title (by catches), as his two grabs left him with 111 on the season, four short of Houston's Andre Johnson for the league lead. Welker didn't help his cause with a rare mistake on the second series, as he failed to secure a ball over the middle and allowed Leodis McKelvin to come in and strip it away. The play should have gone for a first down, but instead the Pats had to settle for a field goal.

Randy Moss had the only other catch by a Pats receiver in this one, a 13-yard in-cut in the fourth quarter. It would have taken a real nice play by him to corral an off-the-mark ball in the end zone by Cassel in the fourth quarter.

When everyone knows you're going to run and the defense crowds the line with eight and nine players every snap, there are going to be plays when you can't block them all. And that turned out to be the case for the Pats, as seven running plays (including one nullified by a penalty) went for negative yardage or no gain. But, overall, the men up front more than did their job. The Pats ran for 168 yards as a team on 47 carries (a 3.6-yard average) and won the time of possession battle with 32 minutes of clock time.

The interior run blocking from guards Logan Mankins and Stephen Neal was again terrific, with a typical play coming in the second quarter when Mankins pulled into the hole and blocked linebacker Paul Posluszny 51 to open up the hole for Jordan on a big gain up the middle.

The one sack the Pats allowed came to an unblocked Chris Kelsay early in the third quarter, s ignaling a blown assignment somewhere.

DEFENSIVE LINE -- B-

It's weird. The Patriots did not tackle well in this game, yet they still pitched a shutout. Thank you Dick Jauron.

Jarvis Green saved his best for last, recording his first two sacks of the year and causing the key turnover to set up the Pats' only touchdown drive. The play came in the third quarter, when Green beat guard Derrick Dockery to the outside and stripped Trent Edwards of the ball. Green got another one in the fourth quarter, again dusting Dockery to get to Edwards for the takedown.

Vince Wilfork got run on a bit, but he also made some big plays. On the second Bills' possession, for example, he did a good job getting under the pads of center Duke Preston and getting into the backfield, where he nearly brought Fred Jackson down for a loss. On the next play, Wilfork wrapped up Jackson short of the stakes to force a punt.

Early in the second quarter, there was an inexcusable lack of tackling on Jackson, who had been stopped short of the stakes on third-and-2 yet managed to squirm out of the pile to gain seven yards. There was more bad tackling at the end of the second quarter, as the Bills' drove to the Pats 12 yard line. Again, only the ineptitude of Jauron saved the Pats points on the board (more on that later).

Ty Warren had his best game in a while, stuffing the point on a few occasions and allowing players on the outside of him to come in and make the play. He finished with three solo tackles. Too bad the Pats didn't keep playing. Warren probably would have kept getting better.

Mike Wright led with his head on a late sack attempt of Edwards and paid the price, getting knocked woozy.

LINEBACKERS -- B

The tackling problems up front spread to the linebacking unit as well, as the Bills ran for 161 yards as a team on 35 carries (4.6-yards per carry). On the other hand, Junior Seau did increase his all-time tackle lead with a team-high nine stops. Jerod Mayo also pitched in with seven tackles.

It was nice to see Rosevelt Colvin make a few plays as well, as he beat tight end Derek Fine to the inside and dropped Jackson for no gain on the third series.

Mike Vrabel had a few issues in this one, giving up his cut-back lane on Jackson's long 32-yard run just inside the two-minute warning. Vrabel got run on again a few plays later when Jackson picked up 13 yards over the right side. Vrabel did combine with Colvin for a big play late in the third quarter, collapsing from the outside to hold Jackson behind the line. Vrabel also appeared to draw a holding on right tackle Langston Walker in the fo urth quarter, but the flag, for some reason, was picked up.

Finally, a Mayo hands-to-the-face penalty wiped out a LeKevin Smith sack late in the game. Mayo made up for it a few plays later, though, getting to Edwards just past the line to stuff the Bills on fourth-and-10. Mayo's closing speed was on full display on the play. He broke through the proverbial rookie wall on that one.

SECONDARY -- B

These guys can sure play in ice storms against dome teams from Arizona and when winds reach 55 MPH and the opponent goes entire quarters without throwing the ball. Buffalo threw it just five times in the first half and completed all five. Edwards finished 14-of-25 for 128 yards, with the vast majority of that production coming well after the outcome had been decided. I guess the most encouraging aspect of this group's play is the physicality of Meriweather, who laid a good lick on running back Xavier Omon early in the third quarter and also laid the wood on Edwards in the fourth. James Sanders got away with a late hit on Jackson on the first series.

SPECIAL TEAMS -- A-

Belichick was right to call Chris Hanson's 46-yard punt into wind early in the third quarter the best play of the game. It was a huge momentum-changer, as the Bills were expecting the ball deep in Pats' territory trailing by only a three-point score. Instead, they were driven back to their 36, Green stripped Edwards five plays later, and the Pats were on their way.

The next-best punt was authored by Cassel, who took advantage of Belichick's terrific decision to quick-kick on third down in the fourth quarter and was able to pin the Bills' on their 2-yard line.

Meanwhile, if you want to know why I gave up golfing, see Ryan Lindell's second-quarter field goal attempt, which sliced badly from left to right, sailed wide of the net behi nd the goal posts and nearly beheaded the fans in the first row. That's what many kicks looked like on this day, and Stephen Gostkowski did well to connect on kicks from 33- and 23-yards and muscle his extra point through the uprights.

Finally and unfortunately, Matthew Slater had an easy chance for a touchdown on an early Bills' muff of a Hanson punt, but the star-crossed rookie couldn't come up with the ball. It was a huge missed opportunity. What is it that Slater does well again?

COACHING -- A

Once again, Belichick once again proved his value by simply not doing the moronic things his adversaries do. Only one word can describe Jauron and the way the Bills played out the end of the second quarter: Wow. There were 22 seconds left on the clock, which was stopped on an out-of-bounds play the previous snap, and the Bills' had a third down on the Pats' 12-yard line. That meant a 30-yard field goal attempt with the wind, into the same end where Stephen Gostkowski had earlier connecte d from 33 yards out. The Bills had no timeouts. So what do they do? Take a shot at the end zone before kicking on fourth down? Lining up for the kick on third down? No and no. Instead, they called a dive up the middle and Jackson gained three yards. We all saw what happened next. Preston got into a pushing match, the Bills couldn't get off the field and the clock ran out. Most people blamed Preston, but what was Jauron hoping to get out of that situation? Did he really think the three extra yards were that important? Did he not realize he wouldn't be able to stop the clock following the play? Stupefying.

Meanwhile, Belichick must have loved all the different decisions the wind required him to make in this game, including the calling of a timeout just before a Bills' punt on the second possession. Clearly, Belichick was concerned with preserving clock time to have as many snaps with the wind as possible. And the quick kick was priceless. But what was up with kicking (with Hanson) on third-and-3 later in the quarter. Did the Pats lose track of the downs?

THREE UP

Chris Hanson -- Belichick right to call his 46-yard punt the play of the game.

Sammy Morris -- The guy just runs hard. Poor Donte Whitner.

Jarvis Green -- Best game came in last game.

THREE DOWN

Matthew Slater -- Couldn't come up with easy TD on punt muff.

Dick Jauron -- Beyond bad.

Pats front seven -- Not their best tackling day.

FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH....

On the CBS telecast, Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf had some interesting commentary at the half regarding the Preston skirmish. Gumbel said they were in touch with NFL director of officials Mike Pereira, who said they weren't going to give the Bills a clock stoppage because of the fight. The ruling made sense. But the way the news was delivered, it sounded like Pereira was making that call from New York. If that's the case, did anyone realize he made in-game decisions like that?

Michael Felger can be seen nightly on Comcast Sportsnet and is a regular contributor for WEEI.com. He can be reached at mfelger@weei.com.