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.

[DaneMcCloud]

While I can't say I'd have been unhappy if the Chiefs had gone purely defense with 2a and 2b (say, Washington & Lindval Joseph), it's way too early to begin predicting that McCluster and Arenas won't be very productive players for the Chiefs.

Very few rookie cornerbacks make an impact on defense and I expect that Arenas will be no exception. But his abilities in the return game should balance his learning curve as a cornerback. And don't forget, he has one of the best ever as a coach in Emmitt Thomas, so I fully expect him to make a huge defensive leap from year one to year two.

[RedThat]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

This team is ****ed if we're reaching in the 2nd round for ST players....just because our ST sucks.

And I'm not downplaying what Arenas can do when it comes to STs.....but for a 2nd round pick.....he either should be pushing for the #2 CB job....or he should be the one of the best nicklebacks in the league.

I don't think Arenas was a reach.

I don't think he would've lasted past the 2nd round thats how good of a player I think he is. Same can be said for McCluster. Bottomline, you're not going to get talented players like that in later rounds. No way. Not this day and age.

Those picks are solid and great value. That is how you got to look at it.
Sure we could of improved at other positions, but at least we've improved in areas of our team we needed to. The Chiefs went by what was best available that they felt could help their team. And they went by what they felt the market offered them best at the time, that is, Arenas and McCluster.

I think those picks come down to BPA and position of need. They capitalized there. Have to hand it to them.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

Does anybody actually care that the Chiefs just completed another losing preseason? Should anybody? I know I don't. What's the point in making judgments now? This is the kind of discussion that needs to come at about week 8.

It isn't the fact that they completed another losing preseason. It's the fact that they looked, for the most part, completely inept on offense and IMO, the defense rarely looked good going against the opposition's number ones.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

ONE OF US ONE OF US....



Accepting YOU as one of us...

VJ Proto | MySpace Video

I'd say that pretty much complete Claythan's conversion...

Holy shit, a Freaks reference.

[bobbything]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

Does anybody actually care that the Chiefs just completed another losing preseason? Should anybody? I know I don't. What's the point in making judgments now? This is the kind of discussion that needs to come at about week 8.

Yup. This article seems to be 8 weeks premature.

I'm just not going to pile on the McCluster/Arenas picks until I've seen them in real games, and exactly what the coaching staff plans on doing with them. Has McCluster had a "huge" impact in the preseason? Probably not. Has he had a "positive" impact? Absolutely. Wherever they use him, teams will have to account for it. Is he the home run we need? Who knows, it's fucking preseason.

Has Arenas had a "huge" impact in special teams in the preseason? I'd say absolutely yes. On defense? Absolutely not. But, you know what? We have a pretty good secondary as it stands. Again, I think the Chiefs use that to their advantage to develop him into a good corner, rather than shoving him into it all at once. Is he the home run we need at special teams and at corner? Who knows, it's fucking preseason.

All I know is that they appear to make this team better. Will that translate to the regular season? Who knows, it's fucking preseason.

[Titty Meat]

There is no heat on Pioli.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Arenas is going to be a dynamic return man, there's no doubt, but the shelf life of returners is way too short to be spending second round picks on them. He needs to be able to contribute on D.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by RedThat

I don't think Arenas was a reach.

I don't think he would've lasted past the 2nd round thats how good of a player I think he is. Same can be said for McCluster. Bottomline, you're not going to get talented players like that in later rounds. No way. Not this day and age.

Nonsense.

Sproles was a 4th rounder. Breaston was a 5th rounder. Perrish Cox was a 5th rounder.

Need I go on?

Originally Posted by RedThat

Those picks are solid and great value. That is how you got to look at it.

No, I don't "got" to look at like that, at all. While the Chiefs were and are in dire need of playmakers, I don't think the team would be worse if they had taken Lindval Joseph and Daryl Washington instead of Arenas and McCluster.

When the Chiefs are routinely gashed for 200 yards on the ground in 2010 and they only win 5 games tops, maybe THEN you'll understand.

Originally Posted by RedThat

Sure we could of improved at other positions, but at least we've improved in areas of our team we needed to. The Chiefs went by what was best available that they felt could help their team. And they went by what they felt the market offered them best at the time, that is, Arenas and McCluster.

I think those picks come down to BPA and position of need. They capitalized there. Have to hand it to them.

Best Available is a matter of opinion and in my opinion, these guys were NOT the best available. The Chiefs have needs all over the roster and would have benefited more from guys that play every snap, not guys that are role players.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by bobbything

All I know is that they appear to make this team better. Will that translate to the regular season? Who knows, it's fucking preseason.

Look around the league.

How many teams that are projected to be division winners and playoff contenders looked like dogshit on both sides of the ball?

This whole "it's preseason" is a bullshit excuse. These guys have had OTA's, mini-camps and training camp and STILL look like ****ing dogshit.

Preseason shouldn't be an excuse to suck.

[Reaper16]

Good work, Clay (Apart from some little grammatical things that an editor should have caught).

[beer bacon]

McCluster couldn't handle being a full time WR than RB in the SEC. There is no way he can do it in the NFL. Right guys?

[Titty Meat]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Look around the league.

How many teams that are projected to be division winners and playoff contenders looked like dogshit on both sides of the ball?

This whole "it's preseason" is a bullshit excuse. These guys have had OTA's, mini-camps and training camp and STILL look like ****ing dogshit.

Preseason shouldn't be an excuse to suck.

Oh Dane. I remember the 2003 offense looking like shit in pre-season might have scored 1 TD? Preseason is meaningless my friend.

[Hog's Gone Fishin]

Our running game in the 2nd half of ball games is going to dominate when defenses are tired. Hopefully we're not so far behind that we have to rely on Cassel.

[L.A. Chieffan]

Its been so long since the Chiefs have taken any impact player in ANY round it just makes me happy to see it actually happen.

Like a man dying of thirst in the desert, the first water I see might be filled with west nile virus but to me its a goddamn oasis.

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by billay

There is no heat on Pioli.

I agree. Pioli will be here for a decade most likely. Heat is most definately on Haley.