Cassel Succeeds Despite Chiefs
 

http://kan.scout.com/2/890791.html

Now you know why Scott Pioli decided Matt Cassel was worth a second-round draft choice and $63 million of Hunt money. He can make the best out of a horrible situation and look pretty calm doing it, as if it was business as usual. You saw it Friday night against the Minnesota Vikings.

Honestly, I hate to impugn the 10 other Chiefs who lined up with Cassel for a half. Football is the ultimate team game. But there’s no question about it – Cassel was the driving force. He was the engine that made the offense go, that directed two scoring drives.

The rest of his teammates? They tried to throw a monkey wrench into the machine more often than not.

On the first play from scrimmage, tight end Sean Ryan horribly blew a block on Minnesota’s Ray Edwards while Cassel carried out a play fake. But the Chiefs got a first down because Cassel had both the presence of mind to avoid Edwards and the burst to outrun Chad Greenway to the sticks.

One snap later, Mike Goff let Kevin Williams blow right past him and straight into his quarterback’s face. Not only did Cassel dodge Williams, he ducked under a Fred Evans tackle attempt and managed to ignore Ben Leber sprinting at him, hitting tight end Jake O’Connell for a first down. Oh, why was O’Connell open? Because Leber left coverage to try and stop the scrambling quarterback.

At this point, the Chiefs were past midfield with a promising drive going. After a dive play was stuffed and Jamaal Charles fumbled, any hope of a score was completely snuffed out, of course. Cassel can't do everything.

On the Chiefs’ next drive, Cassel fired a pass down the field towards Dwayne Bowe. It was fairly obvious the ball was thrown right where it needed to be – had it been thrown further to the outside, it was an easy interception for Antoine Winfield. But Bowe slowed his route coming out of the break and the ball sailed through the window, in and out of the hands of a safety backing up the play. Snaps like that may be why Bowe still hasn’t started a game this season.

But that’s OK – on the next play, Cassel was forced to run again, this time because of Edwards (Barry Richardson’s man). The progression of the play was blown, but as he ran, Cassel not only kept his eyes downfield, he sucked up the coverage and hit Bowe in stride for another first down.

There was some issue on this play as to whether or not Cassel was over the line of scrimmage. Perhaps he was. But what’s good enough for John Elway is good enough for another guy wearing #7. A few plays later, after Cassel ran around and completed another pass, the Chiefs got on the board with a field goal.

Later, the Chiefs had a third-and-15 after Devard Darling dropped a pass and Barry Richardson was flagged for a false start (two more monkey wrenches). The Vikings pushed the pocket right into Cassel’s face, but he acted as if he were standing alone in the middle of the Metrodome and hit Charles in stride for a first down. Of course the drive was doomed by a penalty and two sacks on the next series of downs. Cassel can’t do everything.

Alright, I’ll guess I’ll give credit to Larry Johnson for an 18-yard burst and Quinten Lawrence for a 14-yard end around. It’s amazing what happens when the Chiefs run the ball a little – Cassel leads a touchdown drive.

We probably shouldn’t be too hard on the Chiefs’ offensive line and running backs. After all, it was just a week ago that the Vikings got to Peyton Manning and the Colts in the worst way. Manning was sacked three times in five dropbacks. The Colts didn’t crack the end zone and totaled just 142 yards of offense for the entire game.

What the Chiefs did – or rather, what Cassel did, mostly - looks impressive by comparison. Think about this – what happens if Damon Huard, Brodie Croyle or Tyler Thigpen are under center? Most likely, Huard curls up into a little ball as Minnesota’s pass rush crushes him like a tsunami and Croyle leaves the game after something else breaks. Thigpen, while desperately looking for Tony Gonzalez, would likely escape only to chuck the ball into the ground, at a fan or a defensive back.

I could go on, talk about how Cassel was constantly turning his head, going through his progressions like a robot and throwing with consistent accuracy, but you get the idea. It’s nothing new, however. It’s all on tape, 16 games of it, from a year ago in New England. It’s the same player, doing the same things, leading his team down the field and into the end zone.

Oh, and speaking of New England, there was one other monkey wrench in the machine Friday night – the Chiefs placed Randy Moss and Wes Welker on their inactive list. Cassel looked totally helpless without them, didn’t he?


Richardson’s Opportunity

I could probably write an entire column about the disappointing play of right tackle Barry Richardson, but a blurb will do for now. Rarely, if ever, do you actually see an attached blurb in this space, but this is a special situation.

In River Falls this past week, Richardson received extensive snaps with the first-team offensive line. The Chiefs, like most of us, apparently aren’t huge Damion McIntosh fans, and knowing the youth, size and talent Richardson brings to the table, decided to give him an opportunity by starting him against the Vikings.

I’m no offensive line coach, but it’s doubtful Richardson impressed his too much Friday night. The Chiefs were counting on him to be the point man as they ran to the strong side in the first half, but all you really have to do is look at the box score – apart from one burst from Larry Johnson, KC’s running game ran into a brick wall and fell down, dazed.

When the Chiefs ran a stretch play on Johnson’s first carry, Richardson couldn’t seal Ray Edwards to the inside. Guess who dumped LJ for a two-yard loss? Edwards. Later, NFL Network’s Mike Mayock commented on how Richardson’s inability to pin Edwards to the inside made Johnson cut a run back up inside, into pursuit.

In pass protection, it was pretty clear Richardson struggled with Edwards’ speed. Cassel constantly had to step up in the pocket to avoid pressure to his right. But Edwards, who is only 268 pounds, even managed to embarrass Richardson with pure brute strength.

On the play in question, the Chiefs were in third and long, with an empty backfield. After setting up well initially, Richardson went flying and landed on his side after one well-timed shove from Edwards. Fortunately for Richardson, his quarterback was throwing the ball as this happened.

There were other things to dislike – Richardson had a false start, and looked a little slow getting off the ball on certain snaps. Immediately after Richardson was replaced by McIntosh in the second quarter, Johnson ripped off an 18-yard gain and the Chiefs scored a touchdown a few plays later.

Gee, I wonder why?

What happens if Richardson has to block Shawne Merriman? Yikes.

Cassel looked like a starter to me ...

"There was some issue on this play as to whether or not Cassel was over the line of scrimmage. Perhaps he was. But what’s good enough for John Elway is good enough for another guy wearing #7."

ROFL

"Oh, and speaking of New England, there was one other monkey wrench in the machine Friday night – the Chiefs placed Randy Moss and Wes Welker on their inactive list. Cassel looked totally helpless without them, didn’t he?"

:spock: WTF?!? Belichick traded THEM to you guys, too?!? My Pats are f**ked!!1!!!!1

Not good when a blocking specialist can't do the one thing he's getting paid to do.

rest assured, you can bet the Chiesf will be scanning the cuts soon for some RT's.

FYP :thumb:

Nice article Claythan, keep up the good work!

I just finished rewatching the first half of this game, rewinding and replaying every snap, sometimes 7 or 8 times, and I'm here to tell you, Claythan, you don't have a ****ing clue.

Barry Richardson missed a couple of blocks in the run game, ut overal did a pretty good job.

In pass protect, he did his job.
He stayed between his man and Cassel, allowing Cassel to step up and make plays.

Overall, I think his performance rated a continued look at him into practice and the next game.

:clap: ijust did the same thing and agree with milkman. he should get more reps for sure. and larry missed some big holes to the right side. he ran up waters' ass when he could have took one step right and have daylight. Did you catch that play MM?

As far as pass protection goes, I think Richardson was not bad, but he'll defintely need to get more aggressive during run blocking. Otherwise we need someone mean to come in there and mow over some defenses.

The fact is, in rewatching the first half and replaying every snap, over and over again, I came to a couple of inevitable conclusions.

Mike Goff sucks ass, and LJ makes this O-Line look worse than it is because he has no vision, no patience, no power and no burst.

The one good run he made, he had a nice hole, created by a Richardson block, and he simply ran to the spot where the play was designed to run.

Yes I did.

Just an example of LJ's lack of vision.

this for sure. IMO we should cut the guy

i think you quoted the wrong post:D but yeah i agree. he would have SHOULD HAVE been gone

I noticed too he hasn't been playing well lately. Maybe they should give Colin Brown a shot?

Another inevitable conclusion I came to is that even though Brian Waters looks to be in the best shape he's been in in years, he has lost a step (or more), and looks really slow.

One other observation, this on Albert.

He actually played pretty well.

There were two plays that people looked at that have led to unfair criticism.

On one, he was engaged with his man (Robison), pushing hi out and behind the pocket, when Charles came in and hit Robison, spun him out of the block, and turned it into a beeline to the QB.

The other, Albert was setting up to block Robison, with a saftey blitzing, a blitz that Charles shoul have picked up, but he instead ran to the outside shoulder of Albert again, forcing Albert to try and turn inside to pick up the bitz, which he simply didn't have time to pick up.

brown had a couple of good plays last night, his feet looked good on the one that sticks out in my mind the most. but it was of course against 3rd stringers

Thanks for the DETAILED info milkman. I had to watch on Justintv(no rewind capabilities)

Like most of you my Chief brethern we have all experienced the wonderful sacks of DT on John Elway as well as the 'stinging brilliant athletic playmaking ability' and nemisis in John Elway with much awe and respect regardless of how many times he beat us.

I didn't watch MC last year except for the Chiefs game nor did I watch any remaining games of MC the rest of 2008. However, in last week's game against the Texans there was one play in which MC brilliantly scrambled out of the pocket and hit SR on the run only for SR to drop it reminded me so much of what Elway used do to us all the time.

After last nites performance of MC and I don't say this litely;we have found our John Elway. The whole night I caught myself in the "twilight zone" thinking MC is the 2nd coming of Elway. I couldn't "BELIEVE" how much he plays and looks like Elway on the field(regardless of MC wearing No.7 LOL!). Most of all MC's "instinctual feel and playmaking ability" in and out of the pocket was genius 'vintage Elway' of the past.

Fellas, it is our time to return the favor to Denver and the rest of the NFL for at least the next 10yrs. We are in good hands!!!

Another couple of observations, and this reiterates what I saw in the first game.

Alex Boone is not a starter quality DE, and Ron Edwards is about as useful as $10 hooker at a pRon convention.

Tank Tyler has looked stronger, more active, and played smarter, by far.

Even Derek Lokey, at 287 is a better NT than Edwards.

Wow......I think you need to see a shrink.

agreed again, tyler took a blocker and a chip from another ol and still managed to tackle the RB on one of his first plays IIRC

cassel succeeds despite the chiefs? what team does he play for?

Make sure you save this post because my 'sports analysis' as well as 'psychological analysis' is rarely ever wrong:thumb:

We just need to make sure we get Matt an O-line in the near future:rolleyes:

that is an excellent point

....opportunity costs don't show up in the box score....you see poor running stats and assume there were no holes, but in the case of Blind Larry Johnson...

not having watched it closely i'll take your more hopeful (than mine) assessment of richardson's performance...

milky is our resident oline guru, i watched it pretty closly this morning and i see what he saw. richardson looked adequate while goof(not sp. wrong)
looked bad

Let me put it another way.

You are a ****ing idiot.

JFC!

Elway.

Moron.

Dumbaass

Let me think.

I'll come up with more.

Yours posts: hyperbole: Seurat: pointillism

Where did all your CasinoCash go?

Who did Richardson block on that play? Was is the waterboy? I was under the impression that he was out of the game at that point.

Give it some time

Justifying his $63 million dollar contract AND a second round draft choice after a preseason game is ****ing stupid.

At some point in time, his play and the Chiefs success may prove that trading for and signing him was in the best interest of the Chiefs organization. But to make that call after two ****ing preseason games?

WTF?

I was fooling about

I was referring to Claythan's article

It's a good thing we traded him with this o-line. Your boy Sanchez woulda gotten hurt.

Maybe we could fire up the DeLorean and draft Loadholt...

And, holy shit, is Percy Harvin fast.

Wtf??? You watched every play of the first half of a preseason game, sometimes 7 or 8 times??????

Jason, you too? And you aren't on the Kansas City Chiefs coaching staff?

Ok, you people need a ****ing life.
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That's irrelevant at this point because the Chiefs traded for Cassel.

I didn't state that Cassel was a bad QB or has performed poorly.

But to call his $63 million contract and trade an unquantified success after two preseason games is ****ing ridiculous.

What if he's injured next week behind this awful offensive line and never is the same? What if he's injured and doesn't play well again?

There are just far too many variable to make that kind of a statement at this point.

MILKMAN!!! I am proud to announce that I agree with you 100% on this post. Evidence of that can be found in episode 17 of the blog. GOOD STUFF man.

Now even the peeps over at WPI are trying to sell Doom and Gloom as well it seems at times. Monkey see, Monkey do. Hilarious!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV_PDb9CazA

He's a by the book type-back with little to no improvisation skills.

:spock: Is it Monday night yet?

I'm sorry, where are we again? Oh yeah; a hardcore football board. It doesn't matter if this team wins 20 Championships, there will always be analysis and the picking apart of players and coaches because, well, we're football fans and that's what we do.

No go post me a mobile slab o' ribs; I'm hungry.:p

I'm a ****ing milkman.

On my days off I "sleep in" till 4:30AM.

What the hell else am I going to do at 4:30AM on a Saturday morning.

And speaking of getting a life, what the hell are you doing on a football discussion board on Saturday?

Why the hell are you not out there enjoying life, dumbass?

Cassel is horrible. Chiefs are going to be a easy out again this year. Thank god they are in the AFC West. shitiest franchise in the league and a good punching bag for the Broncos.

I agree. You don't live around KC you should hear the bullshit the media was spewing. They were making it sound like there was a QB controversy and Cassel sucked. I undertsand why alot of fans are really excited even if it was just a pre-season game.

nice one

Look; another Donkey wanting to abandon ship! You can become a Chiefs fan, but only if you survive the beat down.

We're gangsta' like that.

The entire right side of the o-line starting from Waters over were not good. I still have the visual of Niswager getting shoved back like a little girl into Cassel's face. Here's to hoping Richardson has a fast learning curve and Goff and Waters are shaking off some old man rust.

And re LJ, someone needs to tell him to take off the diapers or something to piss him off to make him run mad again. It appears we do not have a suitable backup.

When I read your name, all I can think of is Twiki from Buck Rogers.



Oh...


...and you're a moron.

ROFLROFLROFL I wonder if he has a little dick head-looking head like Twiki as well?

As much as I think Mike Castle**** is mediocre, I bust out laughing at the mention of Kyle Orton :)

Damn milk! Did you run out of prozac??? What did you do to yourself start drinking that 'fat free milk';)

Yeah how bout those "hope and change knee pads" you got on for PeeBO? How's that workin for ya?

Cutler. Orton.

You Lose.

Yeah, but 7 or 8 times??? Sheesh. A playoff game maybe.
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You have to know who is what so when the team cuts or demotes the wrong guy, you can properly get your shit-fit on.;)

I have to admit that I thought that Cassel was very cool and made the best out of a collapsing pocket. he made accurate passes and took them down the field.

He's doing what the others before him couldn't; making the Chicken Salad.

It's gonna' be a tough year for him, but he's doing the most important thing so far in not turning the ball over with shit-throws.

Well this first sentence doesn't make any sense. Pioli decided to get Cassel because he saw that he could make the best of a bad situation?

"Cassel- Yeah, I'm 2nd string on one of the top offenses in NFL history and have two pro bowl receivers, I'm going to try to make the bestof this bad situation. Oh, Brady went down. Well I'd rather holeup in the locker room with a bottle of Jack Daniels, but I'll see if I can make it work"

"Pioli- Wow, watch that kid make the best of a bad situation, chucking it up to Randy Moss and Wes Welker. After I sign with the Chiefs, I'm going to have an extra-bad situation, it's good that I've seen Cassel perform under these adverse conditions because I know that he'll do the same in Arrowhead with one of the league's worst offenses."

I don't know that Brodie wouldn't do the same thing with a much stronger, capable arm. But Cassel has a really good touch and throwing on the run and laying it out there smooth is tough. Brodie has a tendency stick it in their throat from 10 yards. I was impressed yesterday. I would still like to see him sling a little more, but smart with the ball is good. I was impressed.

Banyon, with all due respect. Let's look at the flip side of your argument. What you are saying is that any or most QB's could or should have performed 'great' with that supporting cast in NE.

Respectfully, I disagree . E.G. You take the Chiefs of the early to mid 90's-all that supporting talent on both sides of the ball but average QBs in Deberg and Krieg. Montana was great for a time but past his prime with the Chiefs-only to show a glimpse of past brilliance on a Monday night against the Broncos). Deberg and Krieg could not get past their mediocrity and Marty for that matter.

The positive I see with MC is he not only performed well given a great supporting cast but towards the end of last season was performing 'great' IMO. Bottom line: When given the great cast MC took advantage of this great cast and actually got better as the season went along. What you worry about is when a QB stays mediocre with a great cast around him(ala Tavaris Jackson-Vikes). 3 examples(Deberg,Krieg and Jackson) and many more I'm sure if I took the time think about them.

Look how well MC played against the Vikes with at best mediocre O-line and still was able to move the ball and score. This shows you his potential greatness against a top rated D (granted 1 of the Williams boys and Allen didn't play but still you are talking the Vikes D) MC will be a top 3 QB in 2yrs and will be in the top 10 this yr IMO.;)

damn man i think i have a pretty good lfe, i watched the game with my daughters and my wife, they dont know too much about football and watching the plays let them get a feel for the game AND let ME see specific players and how they are doing their jobs. i also have many friends own my own business spent the night last night out of town with the wife and three other couples had a REAL good time. AT LEAST im not hung up on some woman that screwed me over at some point in my life like you. maybe you are the one that needs to GET A LIFE.


EDIT: and you had it wrong it wasnt just the first half, it was the whole game

We pardon the interruption of this thread for a great reason to post a pic of Erin Gray, who initiated many a young-boy fantasy for yours truly. Thanks for the memories, Erin. And the sticky sheets.

http://estebanviso.com/blog/wp-conte...0/eringray.jpg

"BDBDBD"! :clap:

When will people ****ing understand the most important ingrediant of what makes a great QB is not arm strength? Jeff George had arm strength. More than Montana or Brady.
Football smarts, pocket presence, leadership, poise, toughness,determination and a decent arm means more than who can throw the ball through a wall.
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Your wife and friends watched the game 7 or 8 times with you? Because that's what you said.
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I agree, and class is in session tomorrow evening. :D

(take a deep breath, I'm just ****in' with ya')

That's right! Jets on MNF. Jesus riding in on the donkey ;)
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ROFLROFLROFLROFL

Oh, you should see some of the NY Press; they can't WAIT to turn this kid in to a cult of personality. I hope has a good showing tomorrow, he's gonna' need it to sustain the NY hype-machine.

Well at least he doesn't have a tough act to follow. If he has a lot of tipped passes and stupid interceptions they can call him the next Favre.
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LMAO

Favre was intercepted three times.

By the astro-turf.

ASTRO-TURF FTW!!!LMAO

Did you ever see the sack last year Adalius Thomas had in NY when he sacked Favre AND the running back trying to block him? He just threw both of them to the ground. Favre had a terrified look on his face. Hilarious.
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BLJ
ROFL

blues singer

LMAO That's awesome.

Sure. The Patriots had protection problems last year. Cassel frequently had to run.

I am sure the fact that Cassel can make a play when things break down factored into Pioli's decision.

Still too early to tell but Matt is looking good.

huh? we watched specific plays 7-8 times. pretty easy with a DVR.

Thank you. Man, I was arguing with those guys in the game thread. If you had not watched the game and only read that thread, you would think Richardson played like garbage. I thought he did ok.

Richardson sucked ass in the game.