Chiefs Players, Coach React to Tim Castille's First Touchdown Catch

Late in the game against the Cincinnati Bengals, the Kansas City Chiefs trailed by seven points and were finally threatening inside the redzone. The eventual touchdown was made by a guy by the name of Tim Castille. Heard of him? Possibly not. 

That was his first NFL reception.

Let me set the scene....

With the Chiefs trailing 10-3 and in need of something, anything, Todd Haley called a play that was designed to hit RB Castille up the middle.

"Tim Castille is a guy that hurt us last week," Haley said referring to last week's fumble, "and we have talked a lot about guys bouncing back and showing us something."

The Chiefs had the ball on the 20 yard line and the situation was the Chiefs offensive nemesis - Third down and long (10).  

Cassel gets the playcall from Haley and lines up the offense. He hikes the ball and quickly tries to get the defense to bite on the playaction, which was a risky call considering the down and distance.

"I didn’t know if they’d bite on the play-action on a third-and-10," Castille said.

He follows his first read the entire time finding Castille darting up the middle of the field. Cassel threw a pretty ball right into the outstretched hands of Castille, just between the linebacker and safety on the edge of the goal line.

"That was a great call on the sideline," Cassel said after the game. "We’d been getting some split coverage down there and that play was designed to hit him up the middle. He was the primary read and he did a great job of beating the mike (linebacker) and I just tried to give him an opportunity to hold on to the ball with three guys converging on him."

Castille made the most of the opportunity. He caught the ball in traffic just a split second before he was nailed by the defenders. He knew the hit was coming and still held onto the ball showing some guts.

“When I got my hands on that I was just thinking ‘don’t let that thing go,’” Castille told reporters after the game. “I don’t get many opportunities, so when I do I try and make the most of them. That’s coach’s motto and it was running through the back of my head.”

"We are trying to find the nucleus of this team," Haley continued, "and I thought the kid went in there and made a heck of a play for a touchdown on third-and-long."