Cassel’s First Start Is A Nightmare
From Arrowhead Stadium
When you are Matt Cassel you have a lot of dreams.
How else do you think this guy survived seven years of college and pro football without starting a single game? One of his dreams was to play, and he enjoyed that last year with the Patriots. Another dream was to have a team of his own, and he’s been given that as the Chiefs franchise quarterback, the guy with the $63 million contract. He looked forward to his first regular-season start and his first trip running down the Arrowhead Stadium tunnel for a game that counted.
But this dream turned into a nightmare Sunday.
Interceptions, mistakes and a loss, 13-10 to the Raiders was never part of his dreams.
“We had the opportunity to win but today we had things that happened through the day that we hurt ourselves with,” Cassel said in a very quiet Chiefs locker room. “The Raiders did a good job and made the play when it counted; therefore they’re going home with the victory.”
The Chiefs stayed home and collected another defeat in a very familiar fashion – with a chance to win in the fourth quarter, they failed. Cassel was in the middle of a nice offensive effort that produced 401 yards on the day. He was also in the middle of the mental mistakes, turnovers and clock mismanagement that severely hampered any chance the Chiefs had to win the game.
Cassel threw two interceptions, he threw a pass on the last play of the first half that should never have been thrown and ended the second quarter thanks to the fact the Chiefs had to use two timeouts in the first quarter because the play clock was about to expire.
“With the situation where he’s not 100 percent, there were a lot of positives,” Todd Haley said of Cassel’s performance. “At the same time, he’s the quarterback of the team and he can’t give the ball to them at any time. That’s never going to be all right.”
On the afternoon, Cassel was 24 of 39 for 241 yards and a pretty 29-yard TD pass to WR Dwayne Bowe. But there were the two interceptions by Raiders nickel safety Michael Huff, both in Oakland territory that dragged his passer rating down to 66.3.
He also showed great mobility on that injured left knee. Cassel was under a lot of pressure throughout the game. He ran five times for 34 yards and escaped pressure numerous other times to get off a throw. He ended up being sacked twice.
“It felt good today and I was happy to be able to move around,” said Cassel. “I just wish I would have hit a few more throws; some of those I think I was a little rusty on.”
His teammates were happy to have him back on the field and despite the problems, felt he made a difference.
“Their defense respects him as a p layer and as a good quarterback,” said RB Larry Johnson. “As you saw out there, he did a good job scrambling around trying to make plays on his own.”
That scrambling included one play where he took the quarterback slide and did it awkwardly on his left knee. And there was another run where he got smashed by Raiders LB Kirk Morrison.
“It’s clear to everybody out there that the guy’s a fighter,” said Haley. “He’s a competitive son of a gun and I kind of like that.”
After working hard to fight back from the sprained MCL in his left knee that put him out of the season opener, Cassel would have liked a far different finish to his first Kansas City start. He just has to continue dreaming of Chiefs victories.
“We’re optimistic; we know that we can play better football and that’s what we’re going to shoot for,” said Cassel. “We moved the ball consistently on offense, but we hurt ourselves. If we can eliminate those (mistakes) then we will have some more success.
“We just have to keep pushing forward. We’re going to keep our heads high. Like I said, we have 14 more of these so we are going to be ready to go.”
“When you are Matt Cassel you have a lot of dreams.”
- keep dreaming ‘money pit’ mutt – you are to franchise QB’ing as easily as oil slides of a Hunt…
Barry Manilow may have sung about those weekends New England but in here Kaycee it’s 0 for 40 and counting…
Croyle 116.7 QB RATING
ca$$el 66.3 QB RATING
Croyle 2 tds & 0 ints – 24 points ‘on the road’ against perhaps the best defense in the entire NFL.
ca$$el 1 td & 2 ints – 10 points ‘at home’ v one of the worst teams in the entire NFL.
Croyle starts next Sunday in Philly – if the Chiefs want ANY chance of winning…
daddy-o
He is going to be a great qb for this team. We just need to build around him.
Agreed findthedr. Cassell is the team future. He will be alot sharper against PHilly next week. I don’t expect McNabb to play so we really need to steal one on the road. IF we can just play for 60 minutes will start closing out these games for a win.
Cassell looked out of sync with his recieving corps, hoping a full week of pratice with the first team will help.
Like the way he carried himself, hoping he will get better about playing catch with the other team.
[...] MATT CASSEL: His dream start turns ugly. [...]
“Cassell looked out of sync”
- as in he “stink” for the bargain basement price of only $63 mill – only a 66.3 QB rating, 2 ints, and multiple sacks; this = a horrendous game.
They say you get what you pay for; they are wrong…
Matt Cassel is only a third year guy. Second season starting. Just like Jamarcus Russell. Who would you rather have at QB?
Cassel is going to be fine. This was his first game with Haley as the OC. We finally have some WRs that can get us through the season. He just needs to gel with them. The passing threat created some lanes for LJ. The passing and running game will continue to feed off of each other.
The D and ST need to provide opportunities by creating turnovers and giving this Offense a short field once in a while. Not going to be a great season, but this is hope for these guys if they hang in there and play smart.
Cassel looked good to me. Despite the ints and mistakes he proved to me that he can play. I like his presence on the field, he looks like a leader and very competitive guy. I don’t think his physical skills are any better than Brodie’s but his leadership skills are. The problem with our team is not the QB, and Cassel is a guy they can build around.
I liked Haley’s play calling for the most part. He too made far too many rookie mistakes in this game. I think he will make a good head coach. Not the caliber of Sparano, Ryan, Harbaugh, or Smith and some others. But better than a lot of them.
Now we will have to keep our fingers crossed that Cassel survives the season.
I disagree with Bob that he didn’t have much time to throw. He really didn’t have to scramble until he had been in his drop for several seconds. The OL did a good job. His receivers were not helping him much by getting open. His scrambles came late in the play. That’s not on the OL, which is the implication. A new WR off the street and starting is very indicative of the talent level at WR.
Albert did an outstanding job against Seymour. He was a bit jumpy but understandable going up against the ex-Patriot. We didn’t fare quite as well against Ellis but I too thought the line performed well enough to win this game.
Agree with the props to the O-Line. They had some penalties, but blocked well. Having Savage run across the seams helped them open some lanes in the running game. Cassel actually moved into trouble a couple of times in the pocket when the line had control. This too will be worked out with some time playing together.
There’s no excuse for throwing a 2 yard check down from the 10 with no timeouts. Neither is there an excuse for not picking on the substitute for their best corner until he’d been off the field for 10 plays. I know it’s early and the coaching staff/QB are young in their roles, but there’s nothing to call those things except, “dumb.” Who didn’t make Haley aware of Asomougha being out? Since he’s the OC and on the field, somebody in the booth has to get it.
Cassell played a bad game but I can of expected it with it being his first game. He’s still shaking off rust and ran alot when their wasn’t alot of pressure probably still just trying to protect that knee. Either way I don’t expect him to consistently turn the ball over in Eagles territory this Sunday with having a game under his belt. I think this defense is leaps and bounds better than last year expect us to steal one in PHILLY. I think defensively we can slow them down without McNabb. OFfensively I expect LJ and Cassell to pick them apart. Eagles defense just not the same w/o Jim Johnson being defensive coordinator and Dawkins being that emotional leader on defense.
PHIL 38 chiefs 13
“I can take any – ANY – 22 guys from off the street and… go 0-7 after Sunday’s loss in Philly to the Eagles.”
heh heh heh!
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