Chiefs Cassel Is Failing Chiefs - Page 12

Hammock Parties · 10-25-2009, 07:30 PM

http://kan.scout.com/2/912917.html

It’s easy to blame the Chiefs’ terrible pass defense or rotten, handicapped offensive line play for Sunday’s 37-7 blowout at the hands of the San Diego Chargers. But you can do that every week. At some point you have to call out the highest-paid player, so it’s time to lay it at the feet of Matt Cassel.

There’s no question Cassel shares some of the blame for the Chiefs’ 1-6 start. He blew a game against the Oakland Raiders in Week 2 but it was nothing compared to what transpired inside a soggy Arrowhead Stadium Sunday. The Chiefs had 19 net passing yards and zero passing first downs at halftime against the Chargers, and even that total was “inflated” by a two-minute drill. At one point, Cassel had dropped back to pass eight times and completed one pass for a grand total of two net yards.

When it was all over, Kansas City had only three passing first downs despite Cassel’s 25 attempts. His 25.3 quarterback rating, a horrifying statistic in a vacuum, appears even more revolting when you consider that it was the lowest rating a Chiefs’ starter has posted since Tyler Thigpen melted down in Atlanta a year ago.

Yes, we’re now revisiting a level of incompetence from KC’s passing game that we haven’t seen since Herm Edwards was trying to save his job by throwing Thigpen to the wolves.

Sunday’s game was that bad. The Chiefs appeared to be a team that cannot field even an average passing attack, and this came at home against a San Diego team with a mediocre secondary and a terrible pass rush. I’m not sure Shaw-knee Merriman touched Cassel, but it really didn’t matter.

As soon as his pocket became congested against the Chargers, Cassel looked lost. The play was dead. And when Cassel did throw, the results were less than inspiring. Specifically, his accuracy hit the bottom of the barrel against the Chargers.

In the second quarter, Cassel threw an awful pass that was intended for newly-activated wide receiver Lance Long. It was underthrown and nearly intercepted. On the next play, Long got a step deep on his coverage, but once again the pass was underthrown and Long was forced to reach back awkwardly in a failed attempt to catch it.

Were they difficult throws? Sure. But Cassel is the highest-paid Chief. He’s supposed to be a difference maker. He failed to make a difference. The Chiefs, already down 14-0 at that point, couldn’t really afford to punt again, but had to because they simply couldn’t move the ball through the air. At all.

A few plays later, Cassel badly skipped a ball to a wide-open Dwayne Bowe, who would have picked up a first down. It wasn’t a difficult throw, and Cassel had a perfect pocket to pass from. He just dumped the ball right in the dirt. Is there really any excuse for that from the highest-paid Chief?

But what really stings is, at one point, Kansas City had a chance to get back in the ball game. They were down 13 points, had been out-gained 2-to-1, and Arrowhead Stadium was a drippy, depressing, scene. But on their first possession of the third quarter, the Chiefs had scored, then KC’s defense had stuffed San Diego’s offense, and all the momentum was on Matt Cassel’s side.

It was at that point that he dropped back to throw, stepped up and heaved one of those long, graceful, arcing spirals you always see in slow motion on NFL Films highlights. For a brief second, Chiefs fans may have seen Jamaal Charles breaking open, seen the ball sailing through the air and thought – this is it! Matt Cassel is about to throw a 65-yard touchdown pass, no one can run down Charles, and this place is about to go crazy! We’re back in this game!

And then the pass fluttered off to the right as Charles made a hopeless stab at an over-the-shoulder miracle catch. The ball thumped into the wet grass and slipped away, just like the opportunity.

Cassel blew it, and he blew the next play when he badly overthrew a wide, wide open Bobby Wade streaking down the right sideline for what was, at least, a 20-yard gain and potentially a touchdown. The pass wasn’t even close. Wade would have needed a last-second gust of hurricane-force wind to catch up to it.

And that was it. On third and long, Cassel scrambled for two meaningless yards, the Chiefs punted, the Chargers torched KC’s defense for another long touchdown. Game over.

The Chiefs had missed their window of opportunity to get back in the game. When you’re a 1-6 team, those chances don’t come along that often. The highest-paid player on the team has to seize the moment. Matt Cassel failed to do that, and right now he is failing the Chiefs. His performance Sunday was as bad as anything we saw from Thigpen a year ago, and could have been worse. Cassel’s three interceptions could have easily been five. If Bowe doesn’t make a sensational play on the end-zone boundary, the Chiefs don’t even score.

Chiefs fans love to laugh at Oakland’s JaMarcus Russell, who is completing only 45.6 percent of his passes. But Cassel is now keeping him company, just four spots above at 54.8 percent. Cassel is 34th in the NFL in yards per attempt (note that there are only 32 starting quarterbacks) and the Chiefs have the league’s worst third-down conversion rate.

Are the questions that arose around Cassel last season in New England still an issue? It’s hard to argue otherwise. The Patriots had a woeful deep passing game a year ago and Sunday, Charles might as well have been Randy Moss getting wide open down the field only to watch the ball sail over his head. There are no shortage of plays where Cassel holds onto the ball and takes a sack, and at this rate, after taking 47 sacks with the Patriots and already another 23 this season, he may wind up as the most-sacked quarterback in the league over the last two seasons. These are not trends that should be ignored.

The saddest part may be that at times, Cassel actually shows signs of being the franchise quarterback he’s paid to be. Sunday, he made a spectacular throw to Long that would have gone for a touchdown had it not been dropped. He threw gorgeous passes to Bowe for clutch, game-tying touchdowns against the Raiders and Cowboys. He has protected the ball well, been a good teammate, played with heart and determination and said all the right things.

But the Chiefs are 1-6, have one of the league’s worst passing games, and here we are comparing Cassel to Thigpen and Russell. After Sunday, it’s hard to argue he hasn’t been a giant disappointment. The Chiefs had a chance, if only for the briefest of moments, and Cassel failed them. His contract demands success.

**SAUTO** · 10-26-2009, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Yeah, his whole career.

The same career where he's been the league MVP.

The career that has a Super Bowl trophy attached.

The same career that has his team 6-0 with two unknown receivers.

Yep, he's just awful.

yeah dane i said he's awful

what i actually said was that when he's PRESSURED he folds, and has his whole career. thats pretty well documented. look it up

**DaneMcCloud** · 10-26-2009, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JASONSAUTO

yeah dane i said he's awful

what i actually said was that when he's PRESSURED he folds, and has his whole career. thats pretty well documented. look it up

You are out of your mind.

Seriously.

You're going to tell me that Peyton Manning folds under pressure and THAT'S an established FACT?

Are you joking?

**SAUTO** · 10-26-2009, 12:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Because you're a psychic now?

Cassel won 10 games that he started, not 11. Furthermore, not many teams in the NFL have that line, those receivers, that defense and THAT HEAD COACH.

Cassel is NOT Tom Brady.

dane how many teams have gone undefeated? he also pretty much beat US last year no? brady went out pretty early in that game.

again i never said that cassel is tom brady.never.

and whats the excuse that the pats are on track to have about the same record this year WITH brady.

SDChiefs · 10-26-2009, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WildTurkey

Nobody knows that he is or he isn't he's played 6 games for this franchise with one of the worst rosters ever. I would like to see what he does on this team with some talent if we ever get any

Look what he did last year. All the talent in the world and he couldn't even make the playoffs.

**SAUTO** · 10-26-2009, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

You are out of your mind.

Seriously.

You're going to tell me that Peyton Manning folds under pressure and THAT'S an established FACT?

Are you joking?

dane maybe you should pay more attention. peyton gets happy feet and is no where the same guy when pressured. sorry it's the truth

**DaneMcCloud** · 10-26-2009, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JASONSAUTO

dane how many teams have gone undefeated? he also pretty much beat US last year no? brady went out pretty early in that game.

again i never said that cassel is tom brady.never.

and whats the excuse that the pats are on track to have about the same record this year WITH brady.

First off, if you've watched the Patriots, it wasn't until two weeks ago that Brady looked like "vintage" Tom Brady. They struggled initially with him behind center. It's a miracle the guy is performing as well as he is considering it generally takes most people two years to recover completely from ACL surgery.

Do you really expect the Patriots to lose three more games this year and NOT make the playoffs?

I don't. I'll be surprised if they lose one more game all year.

**BossChief** · 10-26-2009, 01:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigChiefFan

Let's see... we have the worst O-line in football. We have the worst WR core in football. We have the worst TEs in football. We have a below average FB. We have sub-par HBs, who could quite possibly be the worst in the league, at this point. Add to that a 1st year head coach, a below average defense, and he doesn't have much to work with.

so that makes his performance "remarkable"?

We dont have the worst recieving corps in the NFL

they arent hofers, but we have a average, maybe somewhat below average, recieving corps.

Vicks receiving corps were known as horrible until Ryan got there, same thing...you have to find the open receiver and he hasnt done that.

Get some free tickets to the next game on craigslist (there will be plenty) and see how many open receivers he misses all game long. Thats all my friends that went to the game could talk about, said all the people sitting around them were saying the same thing and numerous shouts of WTF were yelled repeatedly.

**SAUTO** · 10-26-2009, 01:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

First off, if you've watched the Patriots, it wasn't until two weeks ago that Brady looked like "vintage" Tom Brady. They struggled initially with him behind center. It's a miracle the guy is performing as well as he is considering it generally takes most people two years to recover completely from ACL surgery.

Do you really expect the Patriots to lose three more games this year and NOT make the playoffs?

I don't. I'll be surprised if they lose one more game all year.

dane how many teams in nfl HISTORY have gone 11-5 and not made the playoffs? thats just bad luck.

**DaneMcCloud** · 10-26-2009, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JASONSAUTO

dane maybe you should pay more attention. peyton gets happy feet and is no where the same guy when pressured. sorry it's the truth

Really?

Then how do you explain the fact that since his first year in the league, his completion percentage has never been below 62% and generally averages around 67%?

Or the fact other than two years when he had 3,700 yards passing, he's had over 4,000 yards each season for 9 out of 10 years?

How do you explain 348 TD's versus only 169 INT's, virtually 2-1 ratio?

If all that was needed was pressure to take Peyton Manning out of his game, I don't think his numbers would be what they are today.

That's a lame argument, Jason.

**DaneMcCloud** · 10-26-2009, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JASONSAUTO

dane how many teams in nfl HISTORY have gone 11-5 and not made the playoffs? thats just bad luck.

You're right.

It was bad luck that Brady had his ACL shredded by Bernard Pollard.

**BossChief** · 10-26-2009, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

The answer is no.

Tait, Waters, Weigman, Shields & Riley.

I'd take that any day of the week over what the Chiefs have right now.

Waters took over half way and wasnt quite the all pro waters quite yet, he was a dlinemen a few short weeks back iirc.

In 2002, we added Roaf and Waters really started to show up and "the line of fame" was built.

wild1 · 10-26-2009, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

You are out of your mind.

Seriously.

You're going to tell me that Peyton Manning folds under pressure and THAT'S an established FACT?

Are you joking?

it's an established fact among idiots that Manning can't win the big one, and he folds under pressure.

**SAUTO** · 10-26-2009, 01:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Really?

Then how do you explain the fact that since his first year in the league, his completion percentage has never been below 62% and generally averages around 67%?

Or the fact other than two years when he had 3,700 yards passing, he's had over 4,000 yards each season for 9 out of 10 years?

How do you explain 348 TD's versus only 169 INT's, virtually 2-1 ratio?

If all that was needed was pressure to take Peyton Manning out of his game, I don't think his numbers would be what they are today.

That's a lame argument, Jason.

dane the guy consistently has one of the best lines in the nfl sorry. he is a great QB but he has problems when pressured

**SAUTO** · 10-26-2009, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

You're right.

It was bad luck that Brady had his ACL shredded by Bernard Pollard.

thats not what i meant and you know it, but keep skirting it man.

Again how many teams have gone 11-5 and NOT made the playoffs?

**SAUTO** · 10-26-2009, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wild1

it's an established fact among idiots that Manning can't win the big one, and he folds under pressure.

how where his stats in that super bowl run?

10-25-2009, 07:30 PM
Hammock Parties I'll be back. Join Date: Nov 2002 Casino cash: $760478	Cassel Is Failing Chiefs http://kan.scout.com/2/912917.html It’s easy to blame the Chiefs’ terrible pass defense or rotten, handicapped offensive line play for Sunday’s 37-7 blowout at the hands of the San Diego Chargers. But you can do that every week. At some point you have to call out the highest-paid player, so it’s time to lay it at the feet of Matt Cassel. There’s no question Cassel shares some of the blame for the Chiefs’ 1-6 start. He blew a game against the Oakland Raiders in Week 2 but it was nothing compared to what transpired inside a soggy Arrowhead Stadium Sunday. The Chiefs had 19 net passing yards and zero passing first downs at halftime against the Chargers, and even that total was “inflated” by a two-minute drill. At one point, Cassel had dropped back to pass eight times and completed one pass for a grand total of two net yards. When it was all over, Kansas City had only three passing first downs despite Cassel’s 25 attempts. His 25.3 quarterback rating, a horrifying statistic in a vacuum, appears even more revolting when you consider that it was the lowest rating a Chiefs’ starter has posted since Tyler Thigpen melted down in Atlanta a year ago. Yes, we’re now revisiting a level of incompetence from KC’s passing game that we haven’t seen since Herm Edwards was trying to save his job by throwing Thigpen to the wolves. Sunday’s game was that bad. The Chiefs appeared to be a team that cannot field even an average passing attack, and this came at home against a San Diego team with a mediocre secondary and a terrible pass rush. I’m not sure Shaw-knee Merriman touched Cassel, but it really didn’t matter. As soon as his pocket became congested against the Chargers, Cassel looked lost. The play was dead. And when Cassel did throw, the results were less than inspiring. Specifically, his accuracy hit the bottom of the barrel against the Chargers. In the second quarter, Cassel threw an awful pass that was intended for newly-activated wide receiver Lance Long. It was underthrown and nearly intercepted. On the next play, Long got a step deep on his coverage, but once again the pass was underthrown and Long was forced to reach back awkwardly in a failed attempt to catch it. Were they difficult throws? Sure. But Cassel is the highest-paid Chief. He’s supposed to be a difference maker. He failed to make a difference. The Chiefs, already down 14-0 at that point, couldn’t really afford to punt again, but had to because they simply couldn’t move the ball through the air. At all. A few plays later, Cassel badly skipped a ball to a wide-open Dwayne Bowe, who would have picked up a first down. It wasn’t a difficult throw, and Cassel had a perfect pocket to pass from. He just dumped the ball right in the dirt. Is there really any excuse for that from the highest-paid Chief? But what really stings is, at one point, Kansas City had a chance to get back in the ball game. They were down 13 points, had been out-gained 2-to-1, and Arrowhead Stadium was a drippy, depressing, scene. But on their first possession of the third quarter, the Chiefs had scored, then KC’s defense had stuffed San Diego’s offense, and all the momentum was on Matt Cassel’s side. It was at that point that he dropped back to throw, stepped up and heaved one of those long, graceful, arcing spirals you always see in slow motion on NFL Films highlights. For a brief second, Chiefs fans may have seen Jamaal Charles breaking open, seen the ball sailing through the air and thought – this is it! Matt Cassel is about to throw a 65-yard touchdown pass, no one can run down Charles, and this place is about to go crazy! We’re back in this game! And then the pass fluttered off to the right as Charles made a hopeless stab at an over-the-shoulder miracle catch. The ball thumped into the wet grass and slipped away, just like the opportunity. Cassel blew it, and he blew the next play when he badly overthrew a wide, wide open Bobby Wade streaking down the right sideline for what was, at least, a 20-yard gain and potentially a touchdown. The pass wasn’t even close. Wade would have needed a last-second gust of hurricane-force wind to catch up to it. And that was it. On third and long, Cassel scrambled for two meaningless yards, the Chiefs punted, the Chargers torched KC’s defense for another long touchdown. Game over. The Chiefs had missed their window of opportunity to get back in the game. When you’re a 1-6 team, those chances don’t come along that often. The highest-paid player on the team has to seize the moment. Matt Cassel failed to do that, and right now he is failing the Chiefs. His performance Sunday was as bad as anything we saw from Thigpen a year ago, and could have been worse. Cassel’s three interceptions could have easily been five. If Bowe doesn’t make a sensational play on the end-zone boundary, the Chiefs don’t even score. Chiefs fans love to laugh at Oakland’s JaMarcus Russell, who is completing only 45.6 percent of his passes. But Cassel is now keeping him company, just four spots above at 54.8 percent. Cassel is 34th in the NFL in yards per attempt (note that there are only 32 starting quarterbacks) and the Chiefs have the league’s worst third-down conversion rate. Are the questions that arose around Cassel last season in New England still an issue? It’s hard to argue otherwise. The Patriots had a woeful deep passing game a year ago and Sunday, Charles might as well have been Randy Moss getting wide open down the field only to watch the ball sail over his head. There are no shortage of plays where Cassel holds onto the ball and takes a sack, and at this rate, after taking 47 sacks with the Patriots and already another 23 this season, he may wind up as the most-sacked quarterback in the league over the last two seasons. These are not trends that should be ignored. The saddest part may be that at times, Cassel actually shows signs of being the franchise quarterback he’s paid to be. Sunday, he made a spectacular throw to Long that would have gone for a touchdown had it not been dropped. He threw gorgeous passes to Bowe for clutch, game-tying touchdowns against the Raiders and Cowboys. He has protected the ball well, been a good teammate, played with heart and determination and said all the right things. But the Chiefs are 1-6, have one of the league’s worst passing games, and here we are comparing Cassel to Thigpen and Russell. After Sunday, it’s hard to argue he hasn’t been a giant disappointment. The Chiefs had a chance, if only for the briefest of moments, and Cassel failed them. His contract demands success.
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