Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 12/13

by NJ Chiefs Fan on Dec 13, 2009 7:45 AM CST in 2009 Kansas City Chiefs Campaign

Good morning AP! Game Day!! We haven't done too well against the Bills over the last few years. Here's hoping that changes today. Go Chiefs!

The Chiefs like to believe they have proof that Matt Cassel is capable of being their next great quarterback. The trouble is that most of that evidence came from last season, when Cassel played for New England instead of Kansas City.

"You’ve got to believe anybody who had the season he had last year is worth working with," said former Chiefs quarterback Rich Gannon, who as a CBS analyst has worked a number of the Chiefs’ games this season. "He played really well. He got better each week. He took care of the football and brought them back to win a lot of games.

"So he proved what he can do under those circumstances. You look at that and you know what can happen if you put some playmakers around him and give him a good offensive line and a running game."

Chiefs’ Cassel has yet to prove he is a future franchise quarterback from KC Star

KC Star Photo Gallery: Matt Cassel | Questions still linger

Football coaches for years have preached: one play at a time. When Marty Schottenheimer was the Chiefs head coach, it seemed he was saying one play at a time in his sleep. The premise is a simple one: live in the present, don’t worry or celebrate what just happened, and don’t get caught up in thinking about what’s coming down the road. Live in the moment.

The 2009 Chiefs have shown no ability to live in the moment or take their Sunday duties one play at a time. They will make another stab at pulling that off on Sunday when they host the Buffalo Bills at Arrowhead Stadium. Kickoff is just moments after 12 noon and TV coverage is on CBS-TV, with no blackout.

One Play At A Time … Game-Day Cup O’Chiefs from Bob Gretz

Jan Stenerud had done this before. But this time, it was for history.

Stenerud made all five of his field-goal attempts — including a game-winning 25-yarder with 1 minute, 59 seconds left — giving the Chiefs a hard-fought 22-19 victory over the Buffalo Bills at Municipal Stadium on Dec. 8, 1969.

The five field goals — from 52, 8, 47, 20 and 25 yards — gave Stenerud an NFL record 16 straight without a miss, breaking the pro football record of 12 set by legendary Lou Groza in 1953.

Chiefs Super Bowl IV season flashback: Game 13 from KC Star

Cassel wanted the chance to be the quarterback of his own team. That was never going to happen in New England with Tom Brady around, so the Patriots accommodated Cassel by trading him to the Chiefs. Under the category of be-careful-what-you-wish-for, Cassel, predictably, is struggling.
Falling stock: Matt Cassel, QB, Kansas City from The Dallas Morning News

In places like Kansas City and St. Louis and Cleveland and Tampa Bay and Detroit, the choice was made to blow up what was standing and start over, making for a difficult 2009. Those five franchises have celebrated a grand total of nine wins among them this year, and the ninth came three days ago.

So what do they all have to play for the rest of the way?

Plenty, actually. This last month of the season, in fact, might tell the new coaches and general managers in those places more about their players than any other part of this year has.

Rebuilding teams aren’t just playing out the string from The Boston Globe

The Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills entered this 2009 season believing they had their franchise quarterbacks in place, but both teams now find themselves concerned about their long-term outlook at the position heading into this Sunday's meeting at Arrowhead Stadium.

The Chiefs acted boldly in the offseason, acquiring Matt Cassel in a trade with the New England Patriots, then locked up Tom Brady's former understudy with an eye-opening six-year, $63-million contract in July. It's an investment the team could be second-guessing in hindsight, with Cassel having struggled so far to live up to his new deal and duplicate the strong numbers he delivered upon replacing an injured Brady last year.

Chiefs And Bills Have QB Problems, Among Others from KOAT.com

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Good luck guys. I’ll be checking in tonight after the game or tomorrow morning to hear what ya’ll have to say for our morning links post.

"Play like hell and win." - Perry Fewell
Your daily source for Buffalo Bills information.

by MattRichWarren on Dec 13, 2009 8:36 AM CST reply actions

this is not good:

Cassel has no dedicated quarterbacks coach to learn from and can’t spend an ideal amount of time during the weekly preparations with head coach Todd Haley, who calls the plays.

"The hard part for (Haley) is that he has to wear a lot of hats," Cassel said. "He can’t be in meetings with us. He can’t be watching the film with us.

"It’s a much different dynamic. There’s a lot more learning on your own sometimes. There’s a lot less meeting time with the guy calling the plays. You want to always be on the same page with him. We’d all like to have more time to meet and do those kinds of things."

I sure hope Haley and Pioli hire AT LEAST a qb coach next year, and an “offensive assistant” if Haley is going to keep calling the plays. Ideally a full-on offensive coordinator, in my opinion.

But if we’re stunting the growth of our players because our Head Coach is also our Offensive Coordinator, is also our Quarterbacks Coach, and I think is also our WR Coach, then that needs to be addressed this off-season. And it kind of pisses me off that its been that way this whole season, cuz it doesn’t take a genius to think that Haley would be spread thin, and the players would suffer (even if its just a bit) by not having all the face time w/ the respective coach they should, when there’s only one person to go around.

Make sure you give The Hoff some love:
Here's to you Steve Hoffman

by thehulk on Dec 13, 2009 10:00 AM CST reply actions

thehulk

I see this as the chiefs biggest problem.Haley’s arrogance to think that a 1st time HC can do all of these jobs & still be a HC.I also blame Pioli for not stepping in & forcing the issue.Haley was his hand picked HC.IF he had done HIS job & “helped” Haley with decisions than this team could be a little better off.It seems as though Pioli is letting Haley sink or swim a little too much.Why?Anyone?

John Soellner

by chiefs63 on Dec 13, 2009 10:47 AM CST up reply actions