Rich man, your man.Yesterday, I wrote how the San Francisco 49ers of the 1980s and the Dallas Cowboys of the 1990s turned from laughstocks into legends in a relatively short period of time. Both squads started off as bad as the contemporary Kansas City Chiefs. The common threads between the two franchises: New management and franchise quarterbacks. The Chiefs have new management. And, after today's signing of Matt Cassel, apparently they think they've found their franchise quarterback.Certainly, Scott Pioli should know Cassel as well as any personnel man knows his quarterback, after having been around him for four years in New England. If Pioli believes in Cassel and you believe in Pioli, then you have to like this news as a Chiefs fan. Quarterback problem solved. No question marks about the most important position on the field.
Of course, we don't know for sure how successful Pioli will be. And, really, we don't know about Cassel. Before last season, he threw a grand total of 22 passes in three NFL seasons. Last season, he replaced the injured Tom Brady and put up some glistening numbers: 63.4% completion rate, 3,693 yards passing, etc. Still, the Patriots went from zero losses to five and the only real difference between the 2007 and 2008 teams was behind the center. Cassel was sacked more than any quarterback in the league, despite playing out of the shotgun a disportionate amount of time. (According to Football Outsiders, the most shotgun-happy teams last season included the Patriots, Todd Haley's Cardinals and the Chiefs, when Tyler Thigpen was under center. Suffice to say, we'll see lots of shotgun formations this season with Cassel.)
According to still more Football Outiders information, the biggest difference between Cassel and Brady was Cassel's inability to throw deep. This despite having a deep threat (Randy Moss) far superior to anyone he has to work with in Kansas City. At the same time, FO notes that Cassel got progressively better as the season went along. After three years of holding a clipboard, perhaps an adjustment period was only natural.
Again, you have to defer to Pioli's evaluation right now. And, from what I understand, there are contractual ramifications in regards to the timing of the extension. The Patriots designated Cassel as a franchise player back in January. I'm not sure what effect the trade had on that status. However, assuming Cassel does carry the franchise tag, the Chiefs only had until July 15 to sign him to an extension. After that, Cassel would have had play under the one-year deal the Patriots offered him in February for $14 million. After the season, he could have become a free agent. There were reports back around the NFL draft that Cassel and the Chiefs had already agreed on an extension, so perhaps the timing of this announcement is not so strange.
Ideally, the Chiefs would have had another season to evaluate Cassel as a starter. But it seems as if that wasn't an option and if they think Cassel is their guy, then the extension had to get done. Now Chiefs fans just have to hope that Cassel really is a franchise player.
Who calls the plays? The coaches - do you really think they were going to have Cassel step in and wing the ball downfield to Moss as much as Brady did the year before? That is asinine. And Moss clearly was taking some plays off...
He also had to deal with losing ALL of his starting RBs right from the start - Maroney, Morris, Jordon, etc - they finished the last several games of the season with BenJarvis somethingorother as his starting RB.
Most of his sacks came in the first half of the season and probably against Pittsburg. Contrary to popular opinion, the Pats line was not impenetrable - I saw it, read it and heard it throughout the year - they had problems at times also - and, again, with a different QB back there, some of that is to be expected.
"His work ethic, his ability and competitive presence is what we expect from our players." - Pioli said this, and it's a big reason WHY he was signed; because he's exactly what you want in a team leader. He leads by example, busts his butt and always says the right thing. KC needs a serious attitude adjustment, and he's got the attitude you want.
By the end of the year last year, about half the fan base in NE and many in the press were calling for the Pats to trade Brady and keep Cassel - that's how good he was playing. Cassels response was the same every time: "this is Tom's team, I'm the backup"
I wish you guys would stop looking for reasons why the guy will fail before he's taken a single snap. You feel the need to explain away anything good the guy did in NE, giving him little or no credit for it, while focusing on negatives and spinning those so he alone is completely responsible for them.
Broker1