QBs Struggling As Pre-Season Ends
From St. Louis, Missouri
If Friday night was an audition to see who would start the season opener at quarterback for the Chiefs, it’s hard to believe either Brodie Croyle or Tyler Thigpen nailed down the job with their performance against St. Louis in the Edwards Jones Dome.
OK, maybe Croyle assured himself the job because he was less bad than Thigpen. But that’s because Thigpen was really bad.
“It is still not where we need to be,” Todd Haley said of his quarterback play.
Oh my, that was the understatement of the evening.
Croyle got the start and could not lead the offense to a touchdown in seven possessions. His numbers were not good: five of 16 for 85 yards. He was sacked twice.
“Brodie Croyle was OK at times and erratic at times,” said Haley. “Again, it’s the quarterback’s job to not get sacked in the red area. He had a couple of chances to make big plays throwing it, but we weren’t able to.”
Here’s how bad things were for Croyle throwing the ball: he tried seven different times in the first half to get the ball to WR Dwayne Bowe. The results of those throws? Bowe did not have a catch.
“We can’t have drives where we start at the one and go all the way down and get no points out of it,” Croyle said. “And then we come right back and have decent field position and go three and out. It’s something you can’t do as an offense.
Croyle’s numbers were positively glowing when compared to Thigpen, who came in for the start of the second half and continued his erratic ways in throwing the ball. He missed fired badly on his first throw, trying to get the ball to WR Ashley Lelie. But he came back two plays later and threw up a floater that Lelie was able to grab for a 43-yard gain.
The rest of his time was just ugly. Whether it’s the cracked ribs he’s playing with, or the fact he’s been pressing all through the pre-season, Thigpen’s accuracy has been terrible. He completed one more pass to a teammate, a six-yarder to WR Quinten Lawrence. He completed two passes to the Rams, including a throw Lawrence that was picked off by CB Quincy Butler and returned 28 yards for a St. Louis touchdown.
“You can’t give up seven points regardless of the situation,” said Haley.
That pick six was an easy one for Butler because all he had to do was follow Thigpen’s eyes. It was a 3rd-and-6 play and Thigpen was in the shotgun. From the moment he pulled in the snap, his head and eyes turned right and locked in on Lawrence, who was the far receiver on that side. That attention drew Butler closer and then all he had to do was jump the route and he was in the end zone.
Early in the fourth quarter, Thigpen threw another INT. This time he was scrambling away from pressure. One of the Rams grabbed his foot and was pulling him down. Still, Thigpen decided to throw the ball and it landed in the hands of Justin King.
“I was trying to get out of the pocket and I had a guy come up field and grabbed my foot as I was throwing it,” said Thigpen. “It was a situation where I was trying to make a play.”
Thigpen wouldn’t talk about his ribs, but he acknowledged that his play in the past two games has not been good.
“I feel like I started off good,” said Thigpen. “I had some ups and downs, but for the most part these last two games I don’t feel like I really moved forward as a player.”
Is he worried about his spot on the roster at this point?
“That’s something that’s out of my control,” Thigpen said. “That’s something I’m not really going to talk about. That’s up to the management. The fight in me is going to make me come to work and work a lot harder this week.”
Croyle understands what must happen with this offense.
“We’re still trying to find our identity,” he said. “But we just have to score touchdowns; that’s the long and short of it. We have to score touchdowns.”
Two touchdowns in four games … that doesn’t work into the same sentence with winning.
Here are the key numbers for the Chiefs quarterbacks over the pre-season. A word of caution: it’s not pretty.
| Passer | Att | Cmp | Yds | % | TD | INT | Rating |
| Matt Cassel |
19 |
11 |
114 |
57.9 |
1 |
0 |
92.9 |
| Brodie Croyle |
44 |
22 |
271 |
50 |
0 |
0 |
69.4 |
| Matt Gutierrez |
40 |
25 |
299 |
62.5 |
0 |
2 |
64.5 |
| Tyler Thigpen |
36 |
17 |
145 |
47.2 |
1 |
3 |
32.8 |
Out of a sense of human decency (if he has any in him), may as well just start Tyler Thigpen instead of Croyle vs BALT.
Croyle is the better QB- in fact he’s better than Ca$$el too – but – seeing as how those Ravens are going to snap the neck of any KC QB anyway, might as well be the more elusive & sturdy Tyler tries to avoid being buried the turf his final resting place.
By the time this season is done, all 3 QBs may be DOA. Ca$$el’$ already proven to be as fine China: as in FRAGILE, Croyle too in the past & Tyler has already gotten his ribs broken.
Hank Stram’s moving pocket used to provide Lenny D some extra time… course, knows better than anyone else what works (heh heh heh i.e., he’s no Stram (in fact ‘check’s looking more Rod Marinelli-ish with each losing game.)
Hey hey now…
We play to win the game remember?
We play to win the game. :p
Prediction: Chiefs pick up a RT this week. They can’t afford not to. Also I think Cassel will start.
Clarification, I think that Cassel will start week one.
@ Rin Tin Tin:
Thats why Ca$$el has a rating of 92.9 and 1 TD
Brodie 69.4 and 0 TD.
Rin Tin Tin sucks!
Brodie was consisdent at 2.5 feet over reciver’s-
I’m 0-4 too just like Todd Haley. We both suck massively.
Don’t forget about me. I suck worse than either of those two guys mentioned.
I can only hope to suck as bad as all those other people. And I do. Or will. Just give me another 4 chances like Todd Haley.
I have diarrhea.
I have diarrhea too. It’s because of my crappy O.
I’m not excusing Croyle’s play – he’s a professional football player – but remember that he didn’t play against Seattle (didn’t take many reps with #1 team that week), didn’t take any reps with #1 team on Monday, and IF he took any snaps on Tuesday with #1’s it was limited. They didn’t practice on Wednesday. Again, no excuses. But, if one of these guys can get some consistent time with the first team for the next several days it might help. Key word – might. Still a fan of the Chiefs. Have been. Will be.
Alas, Todd.
But diarrhea, mine, comes from Rin’s mouth.
Crappy-O
“Croyle is the better QB- in fact he’s better than Ca$$el too”
Hahaha. Rin. My man. Did you not see the table displayed in the blog? Might want to read those numbers again.
Croyle did not play well, but if you break down his play it wasn’t that bad. I think he needs more time with the number one unit. Consistancy can only be achieved if you get the reps, and he hasn’t. He looked rusty to me, and I agree with Scott, he didn’t see enough time in practice. Croyle at least is man enough to admit he did not play as well as he should have, and didn’t make excuses. Haley has to stop messing around with the depth chart at QB. Whoever is going to start, needs to get the reps with the firts unit. Hopefully our D gets healthy and we can put up a good fight in Baltimore. Go Chiefs!
I’m not really concerned if KC 4th stringers can beat Rams 4th stringers.
Alas, diarrhea as I be as well mine team, one that I and my equally great GM hand picked ourselves.
How do you like me now? I’m just getting started.
Ladies and gentleman let me introduce you to my Crappy-O-4 soon to be O-16 Chiefs.
Jody,
You are as daft as a cow!
Crappy-O
Buffalo Jay
You too are as daft as a cow! Brodie is my best QB!
Crappy-O-4 my team as am I
Todd’s retiring tomorrow. And I’m comin’ back! I already have staff members in line as well. They are all cloned copies of yours truly!
Brodie no doubt needs to start. He was rusty last game. IF you evaluate how Brodie’s been playing in the offseason and throughout the first preseason games he was very accurate. He needs to just get more reps. The layoff from previous game and Tyler getting most of the reps last week kind of through Brodie’s rythem off. But no doubt if he gets the reps with the 1st team next week he’ll look sharp on Sunday against the Ravens, if the o-line just gives him time.
As for Tyler he’s just still to raw. He’s too inconsistent and still need more time to learn how to be accurate in a pro-style offense and he also needs to learn how to read defenses and manipulate does defensive backs. He has the athleticism he needs the smarts and accurate arm to go with it in order to be a solid QB.