Cassel Succeeds Despite Chiefs

[Hammock Parties]

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.

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Originally Posted by Sully

Wilie Davis/JJ Birden=average NFL players, at best
Christian Okoye/Barry Word= Good for VERY short periods of time, but very good for what they did, I'll concede these two.
Marcus Allen=Old when he got here. Almost exclusively a goal line/short yardage player. Not a great player by any means.

[Sully]

Originally Posted by GoChiefs

Allen had 700+ rushing yards in multiple seasons.

ANYWAY YOU WRONG!

Are you trying to argue 700+yards is anything but average?

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by Sully

Are you trying to argue 700+yards is anything but average?

Marcus was a good player. It's not like he was out there running like Donnell Bennett.

The Chiefs had talent on offense. Maybe not ELITE talent, but talented players for sure.

[Reerun_KC]

We have our own modern day Donnell Bennett now...

[Sully]

Originally Posted by GoChiefs

Marcus was a good player. It's not like he was out there running like Donnell Bennett.

The Chiefs had talent on offense. Maybe not ELITE talent, but talented players for sure.

Okay, I'll say it was an overstatement that they had ZERO talent.

They had average NFL talent. Very average.
Nothing about our offense scared anyone, other than running into those big backs a few times a game.


I was a sophomore in high school when Christian and Barry were doing their thing, and our football coach was trying to instill in our minds the importance of running the ball. So he talks to us for a few minutes and explains how average DeBerg was, but he won, because he would walk up to the line and be able to say to the defense, "**** you...here Christian."

That coach was fun. Colorful, and busted our asses, but fun.

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Originally Posted by Reerun_KC

We have our own modern day Donnell Bennett now...

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by Reerun_KC

We have our own modern day Donnell Bennett now...

[Titty Meat]

Whos the Chiefs modern day Donnell Bennett?

[StcChief]

LJ can't improvise... that has been evident for along time. if it's not there he's funked....
wish he would have become the player of promise instead the hole hitter.

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Originally Posted by billay

Whos the Chiefs modern day Donnell Bennett?

Bernard Pollard's favorite chew-toy.

[aturnis]

Originally Posted by billay

Whos the Chiefs modern day Donnell Bennett?

Who the **** do you think. Who else, Larry ****ing worthless Johnson.

[Titty Meat]

Originally Posted by aturnis

Who the **** do you think. Who else, Larry ****ing worthless Johnson.

And he's still the best RB on the roster.

[salame]

ladies and gentleman
BAM MORRIS

[milkman]

Originally Posted by billay

And he's still the best RB on the roster.

Which is nothing more than a sad commentary on the talent we have at RB.

[Reerun_KC]

Originally Posted by milkman

Which is nothing more than a sad commentary on the talent we have at RB.

agreed, we are short of talent at RB.... Charles is a decent change of pace back, but other than that, we are very thin... IF and YES IF it wasnt for LJ's shitty stupid ass contract that only a reeruned moron would of offered him. His Donnell Bennett wanna be ass would be gone, long gone from Arrowhead by now...