Haley thinks Cassel's problem was the players around him

[DeezNutz]

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By

Mentally damaged is over the top. However, players can develop bad habits over the course of time. Cassel wasn't a great QB in the first half of the season, by any stretch, and I'm not making any such claim. However, he was better in the first half than the second, and it's likely that much of that was because of the toll the games took on him. Once a QB starts looking for the rush and stops trusting his receivers, all sorts of bad habits will set in. As a Chiefs fan, you should be hoping that those habits will be dealt with during the offseason, because Cassel's apparently going to be the starter again, whether you like it or not.

The same sort of thing happened in New England, though at a different level. Brady's knee made him more skittish in the pocket, caused his drops to be different, and made him less willing to take a hit. The fact that the team's 3rd wideout was a special teams player who was horrible as a receiver meant that Brady stopped looking his way and began staring down his #1 and #2 receivers, with the resulting bad plays that you'd expect. The results were stark: once the Welker binky was gone and the team had to face the Ravens without him, Brady had one of the worst games of his career. Brady's season numbers were the second best in his career, yet it was clear that he wasn't the Brady he'd been pre-injury, and that impacted the offense and the team.

I don't dispute the fact that poor play around him is going to affect the QB negatively. My biggest complaint with Cassel, and why I think he'll ultimately continue to struggle, is that he's inaccurate and lacks the arm the arm strength that might help him compensate, in certain situations, for his inaccuracy.