Teicher: Lackluster opener doesn't dampen Chiefs' faith in Cassel

[Tribal Warfare]

Lackluster opener doesn't dampen Chiefs' faith in Cassel
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star

With rain coming down in sheets and the wind whipping around Arrowhead Stadium for much of the game, Monday night’s conditions were hardly ideal for a struggling passing game to flourish.

Chiefs coach Todd Haley and offensive coordinator Charlie Weis decided to shift their focus elsewhere. After some early and unsuccessful attempts to throw down the field in the season opener against San Diego, the Chiefs largely gave up on their passing game.

The result was an anemic 62 passing yards, though the Chiefs survived to beat the Chargers 21-14 on the strength of some big plays from the running game, the return game and their defense.

Haley said Tuesday that the conservative game plan was not a sign he or Weis had lost confidence in quarterback Matt Cassel or the capability of the passing game. He warned not to expect a similar plan in Sunday’s game against the 0-1 Browns unless similar weather conditions prevail in Cleveland.

“I hope it’s not,” Haley said. “I was just real clear to everybody involved that we are not turning this ball over. I would rather punt than have something like that happen. Every time either quarterback dropped back to pass, you were taking a fairly significant risk, more than you would in normal conditions.

“The scenario we found ourselves in wasn’t necessarily one we spent a ton of time pondering, being up a couple of scores midway through the game and then the weather situation, which was a real issue. I felt between the wind and the rain, it was as difficult conditions that I’ve been in in a couple of years now as far as rain goes in a regular-season game.

“One of the things I did not want to do was put us in a situation where we were giving anything to (San Diego), especially looking at how we were playing on defense. Most specifically, offensively I chose to play probably as conservative as you’ll see me. I’m somebody who does like to take some educated gambles and be real aggressive.”

Only the Jets, with 60, had fewer passing yards than the Chiefs in the season’s first week. Not surprisingly, New York managed just three field goals in a 10-9 loss to Baltimore.

The Chiefs were one of just four teams in the bottom 10 in passing yardage to win over the weekend. Two of the other winners, Houston and Tennessee, each rushed for more than 200 yards in their respective victories.

The Chiefs received a 56-yard touchdown run from Jamaal Charles but otherwise didn’t have the consistent rushing production that the Texans or Titans did.

The message there is that the Chiefs will need much more from Cassel and the passing game if they are to beat the Browns.

The Chiefs hoped to get that against the Chargers, but like the preseason, it wasn’t there. Cassel completed 10 of his 22 throws, and none of the completions went for more than 16 yards.

Having a functioning passing game would have helped the Chiefs bury the Chargers earlier rather than having to sweat out a San Diego drive in the final moments. The Chiefs had three possessions of three plays and a punt in the second half when they were trying to expand their lead while chewing up as much of the remaining clock as possible.

“We didn’t turn the ball over,” Haley said. “We protected it. We did some good things. We forced the clock to run, so there were some positive effects. We wanted to end the game with the ball in our hands, which we ultimately did, but probably not really where we wanted it to be.

“I would not want to be satisfied with that, and I know the guys aren’t.”

Haley said the Chiefs at times adjusted their pass defense to the extreme conditions, taking away as many routes in the middle of the field as possible.

“We were doing some of the same things on defense, not being conservative but understanding what the difficulty was in throwing and where we wanted the ball to be thrown, which was outside the numbers,” Haley said. “You weren’t seeing a lot of balls being completed out there.”

But the Chargers and quarterback Philip Rivers didn’t have the same issues with the conditions. Rivers threw for almost 300 yards and moved the Chargers downfield on their final drive, putting themselves in range for the tying touchdown, which they failed to get.

@ Go to KansasCity.com and the Red Zone blog for a complete wrap-up of the Chiefs’ opening victory, plus Community Faces photos of the tailgating outside Arrowhead.

No update on Tyson Jackson

Second-year defensive end Tyson Jackson was helped off the field during the Chiefs’ 21-14 win against the Chargers on Monday.

The Chiefs did not practice Tuesday, and coach Todd Haley did not offer any update on Jackson’s condition. Jackson took part in six tackles during the game.

[BossChief]

Rain, sleet, wind or snow....

We will not let Cassel throw!

[Direckshun]

This is like What Would Herm Sound Like If He Spoke Like A Human.

Seriously. This offense reminds me of Solari.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

This is like What Would Herm Sound Like If He Spoke Like A Human.

Seriously. This offense reminds me of Solari.

[grandllamajr]

I know Matt didn't have a great year last season, but did anybody outside of Charles, you cannot use the MNF game to judge the caliber of Matt this year, I am no Matt Cassel fan, but I do believe that he deserves a chance this year. He has a real OC something he didn't have last year. If he doesn't show improvement by week six then I will become negative, but until that time he deserves a chance.

[KCrockaholic]

from nfltouchdown.com

The Chiefs went out and shocked NFL nation when they put the hammer down on San Diego by a score of 21-14.

It’s no surprise to some that have followed the Chiefs off-season and management moves throughout the process.

But with as well as guys like Derrick Johnson, Jamaal Charles, Dexter McCluster and Brandon Carr played, the Chiefs have to find a way to balance the offense, and to churn out yards in the passing game when needed.

Despite the win, the Chiefs offense was only able to convert 1 of 11 3rd down attempts.

Charlie Weis was unable to find a good rhythm was quarterback Matt Cassel and the rest of the Chiefs offense. He proved that he doesn’t trust the ball in Cassel’s hands when it matters most.

Although Weis has plenty of reasons to believe that way, the Chiefs put themselves in a situation after paying Cassel a $63 million dollar contract. If the Chiefs are going to pay somebody that much money, he had better at least be given a chance to make a play.

Another problem was Cassel could not get settled in with the offensive passing game.

When the Chiefs run on first down, run on second down, then leave Cassel in a situation where he is set up to fail by being forced to make a conversion on 3rd and long, It puts your quarterback in a very difficult situation.

Cassel was only able to complete 10 passes on 22 attempts, for a total of 68 yards. Not only was Charlie Weis afraid of letting Cassel release the deep pass, but even Cassel himself didn’t show the confidence to chuck it deep besides the very first play of the game, on a pass intended for Dwayne Bowe.

Weis was inconsistent with his play calling, specifically on 3rd down. He was also uncreative, and had a hard time mixing up the playcalling, pounding the ball eight times in a row, including on 3rd and 9. A situation where the team should at least force Cassel to earn his paycheck, and complete a medium range pass.

In another area where the Chiefs player management came up short, they gave the ball to Jones entirely too many times.

Make no doubt about it. Jamaal Charles is the best player on this team, and when he is only getting 11 touches in a game against a division rival, there seems to be a problem.

Charles made up for his lack of touches by bursting through the Chargers secondary thanks to a great crack back block set up by Dwayne Bowe, and taking it to the house on a 56-yard touchdown.

Watching Jones pound the ball, and only pick up about 3.5 yards per carry was frustrating. Jones would be a terrific change of pace back to pair with Charles, when Charles is worn down after 20 touches or so. But Jones is not the right option to start with, and to take carries away from the lightning fast Charles.

Defensively the addition of Romeo Crennel proved to be a huge factor for Kansas City.

Not only did he put players in a position to make plays, and to shut down their part of the field. But the defense came with an entirely different mind-set than I have seen in about a decade.

After finally earning a starting spot, Derrick Johnson played at a pro bowl level, and had arguably his 2nd best game of his career, dating back to the Broncos game, in Denver of 2009 when Johnson had 2 interceptions returned for touchdowns.

Glenn Dorsey was a monster playing the 2-gap technique, at the defensive end spot in this 3-4. He man handled his opponent on the majority of plays, and had a handful of pressures forced upon Philip Rivers.

Surprisingly enough, the 2009 first round pick Tyson Jackson, actually appeared to make a slight impact as well. He wasn’t bullied to an over-whelming extent, and made a few plays, which is a huge upgrade over what he brought as a rookie last year.

As the Chiefs prepare for the 0-1 Cleveland Browns, I fully expect the Chiefs to come out firing on all cylinders, and even allowing Cassel to attempt a couple of deep passes to his receivers such as Dwayne Bowe and Dexter McCluster.

Jamaal Charles should get the bulk of the carries, but as it stands right now, Thomas Jones is still the #1 HB on the depth chart.

Hopefully Charlie Weis can get in sync with the offense this time, and take advantage of a below average Browns defense.

This would be the perfect game to test out all the toys and options within this Chiefs offense. Such as using the wildcat with Dexter and Charles in the backfield at the same time. Or actually mixing up the playcalling and pressuring Cassel to prove his worth, and to make plays for this offense when necessary.

As it stands right now, Kansas City has potential to not only field a very good defense, but to also have an explosive offense.

Once again. Everything rest in the hands of the quarterback, and in K.C. it just so happens to be Matt Cassel.

[FAX]

Wow. I believe nfltouchdown.com could use an editor. Or an education.

That are hand down one of the worstest and badder areticles I has readed since Nick Athan opinionated about stuff in writings.

FAX

[CoMoChief]

Originally Posted by BossChief

Rain, sleet, wind or snow....

We will not let Cassel throw!

[KCrockaholic]

Originally Posted by FAX

Wow. I believe nfltouchdown.com could use an editor. Or an education.

That are hand down one of the worstest and badder areticles I has readed since Nick "Assclown" Athan opinionated about stuff in writings.

FAX

lol it was promoted on NFL network.

[InChiefsHeaven]

Originally Posted by FAX

Wow. I believe nfltouchdown.com could use an editor. Or an education.

That are hand down one of the worstest and badder areticles I has readed since Nick "Assclown" Athan opinionated about stuff in writings.

FAX

No doubt. I can't even finish reading that, it's giving me a headache...

[TheGuardian]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

This is like What Would Herm Sound Like If He Spoke Like A Human.

Seriously. This offense reminds me of Solari.

It was one game in bad conditions dipshit.

[tmax63]

I, for one, am glad that they went conservative considering the conditions of the 2nd and 3rd quarters. If the Chiefs had even 1 turnover and given SD a short field it would have changed the entire complexion of the game. SD had to go 70-80 yards on every popossesion in tough conditions and they only hit paydirt twice. I expect them to be conservative and to try to win the TO battle this year but monday night was a game called to fit the conditions and I'm glad that Weiss didn't have Cassel chucking the rock in a downpour so that he could toss 2-3 int's and giftwrap the game for the Bolts.

[Chiefnj2]

Originally Posted by tmax63

I, for one, am glad that they went conservative considering the conditions of the 2nd and 3rd quarters. If the Chiefs had even 1 turnover and given SD a short field it would have changed the entire complexion of the game. SD had to go 70-80 yards on every popossesion in tough conditions and they only hit paydirt twice. I expect them to be conservative and to try to win the TO battle this year but monday night was a game called to fit the conditions and I'm glad that Weiss didn't have Cassel chucking the rock in a downpour so that he could toss 2-3 int's and giftwrap the game for the Bolts.

Lets face it, the Chiefs got little lucky. Normally you give a team like the Chargers a 1st down at the 4 yard line, they are going to score.

[Consistent1]

Originally Posted by Chiefnj2

Lets face it, the Chiefs got little lucky. Normally you give a team like the Chargers a 1st down at the 4 yard line, they are going to score.

This is true, but Dallas also laid an egg in the same type of situation. The D may not be perfect, but they did show some toughness and fire in this game. A little credit is due.

[Chiefnj2]

Originally Posted by Consistent1

This is true, but Dallas also laid an egg in the same type of situation. The D may not be perfect, but they did show some toughness and fire in this game. A little credit is due.

I give the D a lot of credit. I don't give much credit to the offensive game plan to play it so conservatively.