With Sunday start for Chiefs, Quinn could reclaim his career. (KC Star)

[Marcellus]

By ADAM TEICHER

The Kansas City Star








By all rights, it shouldn’t be this way for Brady Quinn. He’s 27 and in his sixth NFL season, so as a former first-round draft pick he should not only have a team to call his own but be comfortably rooted as its starting quarterback.
It hasn’t worked that way for Quinn. But he will get a chance, perhaps a last chance, to resurrect his long-stalled career on Sunday when he will make his first start in almost three years, this one for the Chiefs against the Buccaneers in Tampa.
Quarterback Matt Cassel has not been medically cleared to participate and did not practice Wednesday. Coach Romeo Crennel didn’t rule Cassel out of Sunday’s game, but given that the NFL demands caution with players who have suffered a concussion, as Cassel did last week, that appears to be a formality.
So the Chiefs will go with Quinn, who played for a handful of snaps in relief of the injured Cassel toward the end of last week’s game against Baltimore.
“This is his opportunity to reclaim his career,” said Shawn Zobel, who runs a draft website at DraftHeadquarters.com. Zobel thought enough of Quinn when he came out of Notre Dame in 2007 that he could have been the overall No. 1 pick.
“He’s only 27. So he’s got that going for him. When you think about it from that perspective, he’s younger than (Cleveland rookie quarterback) Brandon Weeden.”
Cassel was at the practice facility Wednesday, but only briefly. He did not attend practice.
“He came into the building today,” Crennel said. “He was not here long. Concussions, they want you to rest, take your time with it.
“He’s been getting a series of tests as it relates to the concussion and he’s been seeing the doctors. I think he’s getting better but you know the league is very serious and cautious about concussions and how about how to handle them so we have to follow procedures on that as we go forward.”
So the Chiefs will go with Quinn on Sunday. While that prospect doesn’t sound exciting to at least some NFL teams — in the past three years, Quinn has been discarded by the Browns, couldn’t get off the bench for the Broncos and not good enough to replace a struggling Cassel for the Chiefs — at one time it would have been.
He was a first-round pick in 2007 of the Browns, then coached by Crennel. He spent two seasons with Cleveland under Crennel, making only three starts, and one year after Crennel was fired, making nine starts.
He was then traded to Denver, where he spent two years buried on the bench behind Kyle Orton and Tim Tebow. He joined the Chiefs as a free agent this year. That’s hardly the career predicted for Quinn when he left Notre Dame.
“I know when I went into Notre Dame, they’d had a couple .500 seasons, or right about that, and I know that we went to two BCS games in the first two years that I was at Notre Dame and one of the main reasons was Brady Quinn,” said Kansas’ Charlie Weis, Quinn’s coach at the end of his Irish career. “And when he left, I told the people, the fans and everyone that you’re really going to miss this kid when he’s gone. And we went 3-9 the next year. So there’s a lot to say for what that kid did for Notre Dame when I was there. We won a lot of football games and he carried the torch. He was clearly the leader.”
Sunday’s game gives Quinn a chance to reestablish his career. Cassel left the lineup because of injury, but was playing so poorly that the Chiefs couldn’t afford to yank Quinn if he plays well during his trial as the starter.
But Quinn wouldn’t acknowledge that on Wednesday.
“There is no bigger picture,” he said. “Tampa is a good team. We’ve got a big challenge ahead of us. There’s no need for me or anyone else to be looking further than this week or even tomorrow’s preparation.”
Yet Quinn also admitted his emotions stirred when he replaced Cassel last week, the first time he’s played in the regular season since December 2009. He said he expected them to do so on Sunday as well.
Since he was Cleveland’s coach when Quinn was drafted, it’s reasonable to believe the quarterback is a favorite of Crennel’s. He didn’t sound on Wednesday as if he had a lot of confidence in Quinn.
“I hope the fact that he understands the offense and understands the system (means) he will be able to step in and be productive,” Crennel said. “He’s got some height, he’s got experience, he can throw the ball down the field, he can throw it intermediate. He has a good command of the offense. He knows what’s expected. He knows the calls and can get us into plays, out of plays.
“Now he has to go execute.” (Unlike CAssel?)

Quinn didn’t play at all as a rookie and started only three games the next season. He lost the rest of that season with a finger injury.
“He was a good talent coming out,” Crennel said. “There’s no doubt about it. He was a productive quarterback and had command of the offense that he ran up at Notre Dame and the weapons he had with him.
“When he got to us, we didn’t have quite as many weapons as he had there at Notre Dame and he was learning a new system and so he wasn’t quite as effective as he had been at Notre Dame. Then he got hurt also. That impacted his development. That made it tough to make a solid evaluation of him.”
Quinn remained with the Browns for one more year after Crennel was fired. His coordinator that season was Brian Daboll, now with the Chiefs. Daboll was unavailable for comment Wednesday but Crennel said, remarkably, that he never asked Daboll what he thought of Quinn before the Chiefs signed him.
The Chiefs are hopeful the Browns were wrong on giving up on Quinn so quickly.
“He was only there for three years,” Zobel said. “To me, when a guy gets drafted in the first round and didn’t play a down his first year and starts only three games his second year and then nine the next year, there’s no way to make a good evaluation on him. It just wasn’t a good mix of talent there. That wasn’t a great situation there.
“He never got a fair shake with the Browns. It never got off on the right foot. That’s not how a team should allow a young guy to develop. You should put him out there and let him take his lumps and learn from them. He never had that opportunity.”

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/10/10...#storylink=cpy



The 2 bold parts just make you go WTF.

I know this has been discussed but considering how little time Quinn has had on the field why do so many people think he sucks?

[O.city]

Clays now a cassel lover

[MMXcalibur]

Originally Posted by Cassel's Reckoning

His upside is Kyle Boller.

Cassel hits the bench, and you are still negative Nancy.
When was the last time you were optimistic about anything on this team?

[NJChiefsFan]

Originally Posted by Cassel's Reckoning

So Cassel has never thrown to his 2nd read?

Come on.

Quinn did nothing Cassel hasn't done.

I don't know how often Quinn does/will but lets not pretend like Cassel is anywhere near pro level at going through reads. Relative to even average QBs, Cassel never goes to a 2nd guy. Unless you want to count the check down as the second guy.

[Hammock Parties]

Best QB ever, guys?



Everything else was garbage. A checkdown, a horribly thrown screen pass, a 5-yard dump to a wide open Bowe that got called back.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by Cassel's Reckoning

So Cassel has never thrown to his 2nd read?

Come on.

Quinn did nothing Cassel hasn't done.

Quinn threw to a second read that wasn't a check down. Twice. And within the first few seconds of his progression.

Those are two unimpressive accomplishments. Yet something Cassel has done a handful of times. You're really reaching to undermine Quinn by trying to pretend Cassel does things he never did before.

[The Bad Guy]

Originally Posted by Coogs

Yeah. If he plays well Sunday I would start him after the BYE week. I'd see how the rest of the season plays out before I would commit to him long term though.

Hell, I hope he is great. Nothing wrong with that. That solves a lot of problems.

Nothing wrong with it except it basically keeps things status quo for another year.

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by KCtotheSB

Cassel hits the bench, and you are still negative Nancy.
When was the last time you were optimistic about anything on this team?

Why the **** should I be?

We have been fail for 21 games.

[O.city]

Yeah Matt's got the ability to make that throw

[MeatRock]

Originally Posted by Cassel's Reckoning

Best QB ever, guys?



Everything else was garbage. A checkdown, a horribly thrown screen pass, a 5-yard dump to a wide open Bowe that got called back.

Your forgetting the throw he had to Bowe for the called back TD. It was a decent throw.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by Cassel's Reckoning

Best QB ever, guys?



Everything else was garbage. A checkdown, a horribly thrown screen pass, a 5-yard dump to a wide open Bowe that got called back.

The check down and screen pass looked like conservative play calls to me.

The other two passes were very good. Stop trying to undermine them. In the play you posted there in particular, he looks right, sees an open check down, and yet still decides to go for Bowe downfield. It was a very good play that Cassel would have never completed because he would have thrown to the check down every single time.

[O.city]

So now any pass a qb completes to an open we doesn't count? Man Freeman's gonna have it really tough

[Sorter]

Originally Posted by O.city

So now any pass a qb completes to an open we doesn't count? Man Freeman's gonna have it really tough

[MeatRock]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

The check down and screen pass looked like conservative play calls to me.

The other two passes were very good. Stop trying to undermine them. In the play you posted there in particular, he looks right, sees an open check down, and yet still decides to go for Bowe downfield. It was a very good play that Cassel would have never completed because he would have thrown to the check down every single time.

Not all true, i have seen Cassel hit Bowe like that before, and yes on the rare occasion Cassel has went through progressions before.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by MeatRock

Not all true, i have seen Cassel hit Bowe like that before, and yes on the rare occasion Cassel has went through progressions before.

Within 3 seconds, Brady went through 3 reads. And he ignored a wide open check down -- Cyrus Gray was wide open for a quick 3 yard pass that could have been extended to a first down.

Cassel has gone through progressions. But he will always take a check down when it's open. And his progressions tend to be him looking at his primary read for a few seconds, then shifting to his second target.

Quinn twice did something in 4 passes that Cassel usually did not do in 4 years.

[Titty Meat]

Originally Posted by KCtotheSB

Cassel hits the bench, and you are still negative Nancy.
When was the last time you were optimistic about anything on this team?

Wow.