Poor Preseason Puts Heat on Pioli, Cassel

[Hammock Parties]

Poor Preseason Puts Heat on Pioli, Cassel


Did the Chiefs seriously just complete another losing preseason?

If you’re keeping score at home, that’s 1-7 in the preseason for the Scott Pioli era. Over the last four years, the Chiefs are a woeful 3-13 in preseason. While it would be foolish to assign too much relevance to exhibition wins and losses, when they come in tandem with 10 Chiefs regular season wins in three years, the correlation is a concern.

When you factor in the performance of the Chiefs’ key starters and draft picks this preseason, there’s even more reason for concern.

Aside from the shocking revelation that Todd Haley can control his previously nuclear sideline temper for an entire month, the most important thing we learned from August is that Pioli and his highly-paid quarterback, Matt Cassel, still have a lot to prove. Preseason provided no legitimate answers to the questions that have surrounded the pair since last season.

In Pioli’s case, the question is simple – can he effectively identify and cultivate game-changing, impact players?

Most of his initial draft class appears to have been written off already. Jake O’Connell, Javarris Williams, Quinten Lawrence, Colin Brown and Donald Washington have been pushed down the depth chart by 2010 rookies.

The three who don’t appear to have been written off - Alex Magee, Tyson Jackson and Ryan Succop – are a mixed bag. Magee actually showed up this preseason, recording a sack, which makes the crown jewel of Pioli’s 2009 rookie class, Tyson Jackson, look like a lump of cubic zirconia. After a disastrous rookie year, Jackson didn’t show much progress over the last month. He was invisible. If he made an impact play, I missed it.

Clearly, the Chiefs don’t consider Jackson much of a threat as a pass rusher. He comes off the field frequently on third down. It’s not hard to see why – Magee and Wallace Gilberry are far more athletic and explosive, not to mention cheaper. Considering his price tag, Jackson’s impact should be more noticeable.

Has Pioli picked the right players? Getty Images

After missing four field goals all of last year, Succop missed three this preseason. Sure, they were long kicks. Is that supposed to make Chiefs fans feel better when a game is on the line this season and Succop needs to make another long kick?

Conclusion: there are no signs from the 2009 draft class of a game-changing, impact player. How about Pioli’s 2010 draft class? Any signs there?

Pencil in safety Eric Berry as a legit possibility. After seeing Berry blast through a fullback to upend a ball carrier against the Buccaneers two weeks ago, I began speaking in tongues. The Chiefs shut down starting quarterbacks this preseason (apart from one busted play against Tampa) and Berry was definitely part of it.

The problem is Pioli’s second-round picks, wide receiver Dexter McCluster and cornerback Javier Arenas, and his third-round pick, tight end Tony Moeaki. Carl Peterson is no longer hanging around Arrowhead Stadium, which means second-round picks should be having a huge impact, even as rookies.

Are McCluster and Arenas having a huge impact? Based on preseason, the answer is no. While they’ve both proven to be exciting, athletic players who can change a game on special teams, they have to be more.

Arenas has to make an impact on defense. In a perfect world, he’d challenge for Brandon Carr’s starting job by season’s end. If he’s Allen Rossum, a great “cornerback” who has elite return skills but never plays defense, Pioli reached on the pick.

McCluster’s preseason receiving numbers – seven catches, 40 yards, no touchdowns, two or three drops – are disappointing. While it’s great that McCluster can make explosive plays as a running back, he needs 600 receiving yards and three or four touchdowns to justify the pick Pioli spent, and that’s setting the bar low. Kenny Britt and Hakeem Nicks, selected in 2009 in roughly the same draft slot as McCluster, both went over 700 yards as rookies.

And let’s go ahead and set the bar a little higher for Moeaki, who finally caught a pass Thursday night. Third-round picks, especially on teams lacking viable starting tight ends, have to make more of an impact.

But maybe we should temper the expectations for any of KC’s pass catchers. Because based on Cassel’s preseason, the Chiefs will again struggle to throw the ball.

Will Cassel chuck it down the field? Getty Images

I’m honestly flabbergasted that Cassel managed to complete 64 percent of his passes this preseason, throw more touchdowns than interceptions, and finish with a lousy 79.3 rating. Previously, football scientists believed such a feat was impossible, because the NFL weights completion percentage and touchdown-to-interception ratio so heavily in their passer rating formula.

But Cassel pulled it off by quickly dumping the ball short on almost every snap this preseason, averaging a shockingly low five yards per pass attempt. In some cases, Cassel was dumping the ball to running backs behind the line of scrimmage before receivers running down the field had even completed their patterns.

Either the approach was Cassel’s diabolical plan to avoid looking too inept, or KC’s new offensive coordinator, Charlie Weis, watched film of Cassel taking too many sacks and missing too many throws down the field the last two seasons. After sweating profusely for a moment, Weis yanked his 1983 Morristown High School Football playbook out of mothballs, fired up a Xerox machine, and voila! He produced the 2010 Kansas City Chiefs playbook and hatched a plot to turn Cassel into a mistake-free, accurate passer.

Humor aside, here are the facts: had Dwayne Bowe not caught a short pass from Cassel and rumbled for a 30-yard gain Thursday night, every one of Kansas City’s starting receivers and tight ends would have averaged fewer than 10 yards per catch this preseason. Quite literally, in four exhibition games, Cassel did not complete a pass that traveled 15 yards or more from the line of scrimmage.

All of this happened in the midst of an improved offensive line that barely resembled the unit responsible for Cassel’s knee injury last year. Cassel handed the ball to three dynamite running backs this preseason, threw it to a receiver (Bowe) who appears to have made a quantum leap in maturity, and had not one, but two former Super Bowl offensive coordinators talking inside his helmet between plays.

Chan Gailey, Bobby Wade, Larry Johnson and Mike Goff are gone. The excuses are drying up.

Is preseason a mirage, or will Cassel continue to play quarterback as if he were coached by Herm Edwards and Dick Curl? We’re talking about a player who will make more money this year than Donovan McNabb, Tony Romo, Ben Roethlisberger, Drew Brees and Tom Brady.

That means he has something to prove. So does Pioli. The heat is on.

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by Marcellus

You are making yourself sound dumber by the post. Chris Wilson? Was Chris Wilson also a return guy and a RB as well as a receiver?

Did Chris Wilson avg 6.9 yards per carry on 12 carries in any preseason?

I'll say it again - McCluster's work as a running back and returner will be a bonus.

But they won't justify his draft position if he winds up with 300 receiving yards.

[Titty Meat]

Originally Posted by GoChiefs

Why should you? You don't have half a leg to stand on.

McCluster is a lot closer to Kris Wilson 2.0 than Percy Harvin right now in terms of actual offensive production.

Wow this might be the dumbest thing I've seen you post and thats saying alot. You compared Dantrelle Savage to Priest Holmes.

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by billay

Wow this might be the dumbest thing I've seen you post and thats saying alot.

It's the truth.

McCluster looks like a gimmick player on offense right. Lets get him a carry here and there and watch him pick up a first down! Let's throw him a screen pass and let him gain 12 yards!

How about something like this?

[Mr. Flopnuts]

Not happening with Matt Cassel.

[Marcellus]

[QUOTE=GoChiefs;6976384]It's the truth.

McCluster looks like a gimmick player on offense right. Lets get him a carry here and there and watch him pick up a first down! Let's throw him a screen pass and let him gain 12 yards!

How about something like this?

Only Chiefs fans can label a guy a bust because he hasn't scored a 50 yard TD in preseason.

You are and idiot.

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by Marcellus

Only Chiefs fans can label a guy a bust because he hasn't scored a 50 yard TD in preseason.

You are and idiot.

Where did I label him a bust?

The only commentary is that he had a disappointing preseason.

Kenny Britt had 5 catches for 89 yards and a TD in his first preseason game.

If McCluster had done that, wow...

[-King-]

So you post pictures proving that our players don't go deep on plays because cassel sucks....and now you're blaming mccluster for not making plays down the field? You can't have it both ways.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by KcChiefsKing

now you're blaming mccluster for not making plays down the field?

Where did I say that?

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by GoChiefs

It's the truth.

McCluster looks like a gimmick player on offense right. Lets get him a carry here and there and watch him pick up a first down! Let's throw him a screen pass and let him gain 12 yards!

How about something like this?

The problem is when people get so hung up on one-size-fits-all scouting of players, and not on how the player fits in a coach's offense.

Anyone who knows Charlie Weis knows that the role McCluster would play is anything but a gimmick. Just like I railed on people for criticizing the Chiefs because Jimmy Graham was supposed to somehow be better for them because he puts up a sexier stat line. In most years, Kevin Faulk averaged about 500-600 all purpose yards, but most Pats fans will tell you he was a critical piece to their offense. Faulk, like McCluster, isn't a perfect fit for a lot of offenses, but they're both great fits for a Weis-style offense.

[tonyetony]

Originally Posted by GoChiefs

Where did I label him a bust?

The only commentary is that he had a disappointing preseason.

Kenny Britt had 5 catches for 89 yards and a TD in his first preseason game.

If McCluster had done that, wow...

Look regardless of fact that many including yourself didn't like where we took McCluster in the draft it is evident that opposing ST coaches and D coordinators will have to account for him every time he steps on the field and that my friend will help improve every other skill position on the field.

Like it or not that's progress and we're better at the start of this season than we were a year ago.

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

In most years, Kevin Faulk averaged about 500-600 all purpose yards, but most Pats fans will tell you he was a critical piece to their offense. Faulk, like McCluster, isn't a perfect fit for a lot of offenses, but they're both great fits for a Weis-style offense.

So when McCluster was picked half this board was screaming about Wes Welker.

Now he's Kevin Faulk?

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by GoChiefs

So when McCluster was picked half this board was screaming about Wes Welker.

Now he's Kevin Faulk?

I'm talking about the idea that you keep putting receivers in a box. That the only way they can produce is to solely run regular routes and gain 700+ yards, and that's our measure of success.

Charlie Weis doesn't work that way. When he was in New England, Troy Brown put up 1,000+ yards once. That's it. Weis is a guy who likes to spread the field, he LOVES the screen game, and he loves guys with versatility a lot more than he likes guys without. That's why two players he really loved were Daniel Graham and Kevin Faulk, two guys who were anything but spectacular on the stat sheet. It's because Weis likes to run multiple types of plays from the same exact formation and a guy like Graham, for example, can be extremely productive as a blocker in the run game or as a receiver in the passing game.

McCluster isn't Kevin Faulk. But when you're talking Charlie Weis, you get why he's important. And by the way, even if he was Kevin Faulk, you're a moron if you think that's a low expectation to set and most Pats fans would tell you the same.

[tonyetony]

Originally Posted by GoChiefs

So when McCluster was picked half this board was screaming about Wes Welker.

Now he's Kevin Faulk?

Now you're arguing just for the sake of arguing. If you can't see the potential match up problems McCluster presents the opposing D's your just being ignorant. What's your next argument? That he's too slow? The only question marks have been his size and being able to take a hit in the NFL and from what I've seen in the preseason he's going to be just fine.

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by tonyetony

If you can't see the potential match up problems McCluster presents the opposing D's your just being ignorant.

His longest play was 17 yards this preseason.

17 yards.

Of course that's as far as our quarterback can throw it.

[tonyetony]

I guess you missed hiss kick returns and the plays that got called back for stupid penalties.

Yeah I suppose you're right Clay because a rookies longest play in preseason is only 17 yards we know he won't have anything longer than that in the regular season!!!!!!

Would you care to place a wager on that?