Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 12/10

by NJ Chiefs Fan on Dec 10, 2009 6:47 AM CST in 2009 Kansas City Chiefs Campaign

Here it is, your daily dose of Chiefs news from across the internet.

Cassel has 26 games as a starting quarterback in the NFL. That’s 15 in New England last season and 11 this year. His record as a starter is 13-13. That’s better than most.

For all those who have already decided Cassel isn’t capable of being the franchise quarterback for the Chiefs, I’m here to tell you that assessment is premature. And, for all those who think Cassel is the man to eventually be the replacement for the long retired Len Dawson, I say not so fast.

Any evaluation of Cassel at this point has to take into account many factors, some of which are out of his control. The hardest part of divining whether a young quarterback is capable of leading a team is the team itself. Who is he playing with? What kind of situations is he asked to handle? What type of game plans is he given? What’s the coaching staff like? How much patience does the organization have?

Problems In Evaluating Cassel … Thursday Cup O’Chiefs from Bob Gretz

Unless Santa Claus shows up by noon today and buys the remaining 3,500 tickets for Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bills, it will be blacked out within a 75-mile radius of Kansas City, including satellite services at sports bars. That would end a streak of 155 consecutive Chiefs games, regular-season and postseason, that have been televised locally.

It’s possible the Chiefs could ask the NFL for a 24-hour extension in an effort to preserve the streak, but it most certainly would end next week when even more tickets will be available for the final home game of the season against the one-win Cleveland Browns.

During the last few years, as the Chiefs’ fortunes on the field have faded and the season-ticket base waned, corporate sponsors and either KCTV-5 or Fox-4, whichever station had the local rights to the game, would pick up the remaining seats to assure a sellout when needed.

Chiefs' streak of sellouts appears doomed from KC Star

Ryan Fitzpatrick will start at quarterback for the Buffalo Bills in Sunday’s game against the Chiefs, but if not for a twist of fate, it could be him and not Matt Cassel playing for Kansas City.

Fitzpatrick played in college at Harvard, near Boston, and spent the days leading up to the 2005 draft thinking the hometown Patriots would draft him.

"I’d just had a tryout with the Patriots," Fitzpatrick said. "I was thinking that the Patriots, they had three seventh-round draft picks and they were going to pick me. Then all of a sudden I see Matt Cassel’s name pop up. I had no idea who he was. That was the clincher that I wasn’t going to get drafted (by New England)."

So it was Cassel and not Fitzpatrick who was with the Patriots last season when Tom Brady was injured. Cassel filled in ably for Brady and was traded to the Chiefs this year.

Chiefs notes: Bills QB Fitzpatrick could have been a Chief from KC Star

Roster overview: The Bills roster is a hodge-podge of draft picks and free agents. There are 25 Bills draft choices on the current active roster, including five first-round picks and nine choices from the second round. Eight of those 15 picks are in the starting lineup. Buffalo has signed plenty of free agents, including nine this year that are still on the roster. Those names include WR Terrell Owens, DT Marcus Stroud, CB Drayton Florence and QB Ryan Fitzpatrick. The Bills have 14 players on the injured-reserve list, including four offensive linemen.

Opponent: Buffalo Bills from Bob Gretz

Fourth-quarter failures have left the Buffalo Bills virtually out of playoff contention. In a matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs last season, they had more than enough breathing room to ease up in the final 15 minutes.

The Bills scored more points against the Chiefs last year than any team ever has, but hardly seem capable of a similar effort Sunday as they try to bounce back from yet another late-game disappointment.

Buffalo beat Kansas City 54-31 on Nov. 23, 2008, taking advantage of five turnovers. The previous high for points scored against the Chiefs was 51 by Seattle on Nov. 27, 1983.

Chiefs vs. Bill from CBS Sports

The lowly Kansas City Chiefs are one of the best in football when it's time to put foot to ball.

Yes, the team that's 5-32 in the last 37 games has discovered something it's good at. Under the direction of first-year special teams coach Steve Hoffman, the Chiefs (3-9) have made giant strides in both punt and kickoff coverage, ranking in the top 10 in both.

They're pretty good in returning kickoffs, too, at ninth in the league with 25 returns of 20 yards or more.

Found: Something the KC Chiefs Do Well from Sports Illustrated

Some of the biggest names in Kansas City football packed the gym Tuesday at Olathe North High School for the 27th annual Simone Awards celebration.

Former Kansas City Chiefs star and 12-time Pro Bowl selection Will Shields was there. Current Chief and three-time Super Bowl champion Mike Vrabel was, too. So were about 20 other former Chiefs, including Tim Grunhard who just led Bishop Miege to a Class 4A state championship, and legendary Olathe North coach Gene Wier who led the Eagles to six state titles before moving to Richland, Texas.

All were there to pay homage to the top high school football players in the Kansas City metro area.

Top ‘Cat among KC’s best from The Basehor Sentinel

The Chiefs have won three AFL titles and one Super Bowl in their 50 years of existence. But they retired their 10th jersey number last weekend, taking 58 out of circulation in tribute to 2009 Hall of Fame enshrinee Derrick Thomas.

The Chiefs now have retired 3 (Jan Stenerud), 16 (Len Dawson), 18 (Emmitt Thomas), 28 (Abner Haynes), 33 (Stone Johnson), 36 (Mack Lee Hill), 58 (Thomas), 63 (Willie Lanier), 78 (Bobby Bell) and 86 (Buck Buchanan).

Retiring types: Championship-to-jersey ratio from The Dallas Morning News

On Tuesday night, the Chiefs announced that 3,500 non-premium seats remain for Sunday's home game against the Bills. Failure to sell those tickets by Thursday at 1:00 p.m. ET would trigger the first local blackout of a Chiefs game since December 1990.

We assumed at the time that the local CBS affiliate, KCTV, would step up and buy a chunk of the seats in order to ensure that the game would be televised locally.

As it turns out, 3,500 remained even after KCTV wrote its check.
Nineteen years later, another Chiefs blackout seems inevitable from Pro Football Talk

It has been a quirky season. Once Oakland got JaMarcus Russell out of the lineup, it began to play much better. He is such a waste. After being in Kansas City last weekend, I can't see how the Chiefs have beaten anybody. Todd Haley is a waste. It hasn't been, in my opinion, that the AFC West is that tough. The other divisions have some lousy teams. Look what's happened to Pittsburgh since the victory in Denver. Even though I think the Giants will win their division (in a tiebreaker), they've been very average, and the Eagles are up and down. The elites are Indianapolis (see above), Minnesota and, of course, those Saints marching in. I haven't seen the AFC West beat any of those teams. Of course, the AFC West doesn't play them, and nobody else is beating them, anyway.

Woody's Mailbag: A 'Barrel' of fun from The Denver Post

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Comments

Denver houses a bunch of idiots.

I can’t believe how uninformed and stupid that Denver writer is. Really, you could say that Haley seems overwhelmed in his first head coaching gig. You can say he’s made some poor decisions like firing Chan Gailey wayyyy too late. But you can’t say he’s a waste (yet).

by EyePod on Dec 10, 2009 7:35 AM CST reply actions

Woody Paige is an idiot.

The AFC West has actually fared much better this year against other divisions. Raiders beat Pitt and Philly. We beat Pitt and played well against Dallas and beat Wash. Denver beat NE and Cincy, SD is still SD so, I would have to say this guy has no clue what the hell he’s talking about.

The AFC is definitely improved a LOT this year. It’s going to be very tough to become the strength of the division with the improvement by Oak and Denver.

by Chiefsfan1970 on Dec 10, 2009 8:50 AM CST reply actions

Everyone who is screaming for Cassel to be benched

should carefully read Gretz’s article…twice.

Predictions:

Kansas City will not win more than four games in 2009
Kansas City will have a new OC and DC in 2010
Kansas City will win at least seven games in 2010

by jmcgoblue on Dec 10, 2009 9:17 AM CST reply actions 1 recs

+1

So you think you are so important that no one can replace you? Put your finger in a bucket of water and pull it out. Does it leave a hole? Nope, just some ripples that eventually calm themselves!

by Fan of the Red And Gold on Dec 10, 2009 9:44 AM CST up reply actions

a good read, and fair

but then too why not turn it aound a bit … patience for Cassel of the weak arm calls for patience with Croyle of a far better arm , younger and possibly better in many, many ways than Cassel

you and others call for “patience” and want to “develop him, give him time, don’t rush to judgement” … yet that’s what you and others seem to have done in dismissing Croyloe – a rush to judgement

I continue to believe that Croyle has more potential upside than Cassel and that means he’s the guy who, in the long run, gives us a btter chance to win … and isn’t that what it’s all about?

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisiton!

by upamtn on Dec 10, 2009 10:07 AM CST up reply actions

I understand your point

I guess my counter argument would be that you don’t need a strong arm to be a good NFL quarterback, but you do have to have the ability to stay healthy. Montana, and to a lesser extent Peyton Manning, are the best proof that a strong arm isn’t necessary…good decision making is the most important skill for a QB. A strong arm would be even better for sure, but it’s not required.

The ONLY reason I’m opposed to given Croyle a chance is the injury history. I think he’s either genetically prone to injuries, or has a lower pain threshold than is required. If it was only a problem he’s had in the pros, then I’d give him the benefit of the doubt, but it’s my understanding that he’s had several injuries in College, and even going back to High School. I mean, how many great QBs have gone to IR twice in their first two seasons as a starter? Maybe there are a couple, but I can’t think of any.

Beyond that, I just don’t think Cassel has played that bad overall. His accuracy hasn’t been as good as I had expected, but he’s (overall) making good decisions. Most of his interceptions have been either tipped passes or apparent miss-communication with the receiver. He’s not getting picked off trying to throw into double coverage.

Predictions:

Kansas City will not win more than four games in 2009
Kansas City will have a new OC and DC in 2010
Kansas City will win at least seven games in 2010

by jmcgoblue on Dec 10, 2009 10:56 AM CST up reply actions

reasonable point on injuries there ... but BEYOND that ... just for grins, let's say you KNEW he could play and stay healthy ...

would you be opposed to Croyle then?

I’m not saying Croyle would be the best thing since sliced bread … then too, if he COULD stay healthy (maybe he’s working out more, who knows) he just MIGHT be that good … and considering that Cassel has been less than stellar in a number of areas (no, I don’t blame him for some of the drops, but SOME are on him and not the WR) …

I just disagree with his decision making … he’s not throwing INTs but he holds the ball far too long most of the time, and that shows lack of decisiveness OR inability to go thru the reads (unless he’s just plain lost out there, in which case he has no business being out there at all)

Croyle just looks crisper, sharper, more decisive, more “in control” … all of which are good qualities … 4 games, what is there to lose? more games? pfffffft, so what … but imagine, just imagine … Croyle goes in and looks GOOD … wouldn’t that be awesome

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisiton!

by upamtn on Dec 10, 2009 11:22 AM CST up reply actions

I'll put it this way

If Cassel gets hurt and Croyle comes in & does noticeably better over several games, I’d say it becomes Croyle’s job to lose. I have no problem with players losing their starting job due to injury…it’s basically what has happened to Croyle. I just don’t think Cassel has done poorly enough (under the circumstances) to lose the starting job based on performance. Now if the offense isn’t any better a year from now, then I’ll probably believe that Cassel is nothing more than a good backup & will be ready to move on.

Predictions:

Kansas City will not win more than four games in 2009
Kansas City will have a new OC and DC in 2010
Kansas City will win at least seven games in 2010

by jmcgoblue on Dec 10, 2009 12:01 PM CST up reply actions

that's fair, mostly

still would just as soon seen Croyle now … see what he has, what spark he can give the team … again, he might not, but it couldn’t hurt to find out at this point

considering the players benched already this year for lackluster performance, it wouldn’t be unreasonable

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisiton!

by upamtn on Dec 10, 2009 3:10 PM CST up reply actions

Indy plays Denver this week.

Of course, the AFC West doesn’t play them, and nobody else is beating them, anyway.

by idahochieffan on Dec 10, 2009 10:08 AM CST reply actions

Look.

When a QB is playing that badly, they need to sit on the bench. That’s all there is to it. I don’t need Bob Gretz to tell me all the horrible circumstances Cassel has had to deal with. I am more than aware and that is fair. however, a little ride on the pine would do Cassel some good at this point. It would give him some time to gather his wits and when he comes back, he can come back fresh, alert, and without happy feet.

Besides, what if Brodie has matured and comes out lighting it up? Wouldn’t you guys like to see some good QB play for once or is it more important to support your negative opinions of him? I personally think he is a much more talented QB than Cassel and has a much better chance to beat teams like Buffalo and Cleveland than cassel at this point. Most of that is simply because Cassel is rattled and is really pretty damn worthless at this point until he get’s his head together.

by Chiefsfan1970 on Dec 10, 2009 10:13 AM CST reply actions 1 recs