Patriots quarterback Matt Cassel, who had a better rating than several top-notch QBs around the league last Sunday, now will practice exclusively with the first-team offense.

The Providence Journal / Glenn Osmundson

FOXBORO — Matt Cassel was New England’s backup quarterback for the season-opener. That means that even though he played nearly a full game, he probably had a lot less preparation than quarterbacks starting for other teams.

Yet, he managed to post a 116 quarterback rating, the seventh-best mark among all quarterbacks.

His rating on Sunday was better than Dallas’ two-time Pro Bowl selection Tony Romo (103.6); Indianapolis eight-time Pro Bowler Peyton Manning; his brother, 2007 Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning (61.1); and former Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Carson Palmer (35.3), a two-time Pro Bowler who Cassel backed up at the University of Southern California.

That doesn’t mean Cassel is better than the above mentioned quarterbacks. But to come in, manage the game, and help get the Patriots off to a 1-0 start and post a 116 quarterback rating in the process is an accomplishment that surpassed most people’s expectations.

This week, as the starter, he will get most of the snaps with the first team. He should be better prepared both mentally and physically, and that is something that New England coach Bill Belichick stressed during his conference call yesterday.

“From an overall standpoint, going back to July, and even in the spring, he’s had a lot of reps, and he’ll get the main opportunity this week,” Belichick said.

Audible on backups

The Patriots are expecting Cassel will be able to manage and win games.

It could be the reason New England turned away veteran quarterbacks Chris Simms and Tim Rattay on Monday. They were hoping to try to earn a spot on the Patriots roster but when they arrived they were told that things had changed and that Patriots were no longer interested.

“They visited but we didn’t give them a physical and we didn’t work them out,” Belichick said. “I didn’t even see them while they were here. They did visit. They did come in, but we didn’t end up doing anything with them. We sent them back.”

Belichick has not ruled out signing another quarterback.

“We will look at whatever those options are and do what we feel is best for the team,” Belichick said. “I’m not going to say what we would or wouldn’t do. I will just say that we will try to evaluate everything. We will look at our options and try to make the decisions, when and if we feel like they are advantageous to help our football team.”

Belichick said that if the Patriots do sign a veteran quarterback, it will probably take him a few weeks to learn the playbook so he probably wouldn’t compete with Cassel for the starting job right away.

“The time frame of it would depend on the individual player, his background, how quickly he picks things up, how familiar that is to something else he has done, how many reps you could give him and a lot of other variables,” Belichick said. “It’s a long season. We’ve got 15 regular-season games left, so I don’t think that bringing a player in and him taking — two, three, four or five weeks to be fairly efficient in the system is out of the question.

“That would be a possibility. You would be looking more for a longer-term situation than something this week. I wouldn’t rule that out. I am not saying that we are going to do it either. We will look at our options, as I said, and do what we feel like is best.”

Belichick said that someone who is familiar with the Patriots system, such as recently cut Matt Gutierrez for instance, could have an advantage over someone else who is available if and when the Patriots decide to sign another quarterback.

“A player that has been in our system has an advantage of knowing the system, knowing the terminology and the operation — that may or not be the best player for us,” Belichick said. “That’s, again, a decision that we would have to make. He would probably have an advantage in the short term [but] whether he had an advantage in the long term that would be a point of discussion.”

Belichick said that he would take into consideration one of his player’s knowledge of a quarterback, such as Randy Moss’ knowledge of former teammate Daunte Culpepper, who retired last week because he didn’t get an offer from an NFL team that he liked. Recently retired Kelly Holcomb, who started three games last season for Minnesota, may also be coaxed out of retirement if the Pats call him.

Silence surrounds Brady

Belichick said that he had no updates on Tom Brady, and that he would rather Brady speak for himself than Belichick speak for him.

“Whatever he wants to share and any feelings he wants to express, I think that he can do that and would be better than me trying to speak for him,” Belichick said.

roblee@projo.com