Just as I'm entering my 15th minute of the Red Zone podcast this evening, I check AP (obsessively, religiously) and I see that Zodeman has posted an excellent summary already. Many thanks to him for taking the time to do this. The emphasis on some of the quotes is mine. Also, can we rec this up for the FanPost Rec section based on effort? -Chris

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel, in yellow, listened to Chiefs offensive coordinator Chan Gailey, bottom center in grey, during Sunday morning's team minicamp practice at the Arrowhead indoor practice facility. Photo Credit: DAVID EULITT (via KansasCity.com)

Matt Cassel was interviewed today on the Red Zone podcast (click the play button above to listen to it right here).  Nothing earth shaking here, but he does sound like a very intelligent, well grounded guy.  If I had to guess, I'd say he is going to really become a leader on the team.  His answers sound almost identical in a lot of ways to when Haley answers questions. 

Before the interview, Petro made some observations about what we should expect from Cassel this year. To just sum up some of these:

To begin the year last year, he took a lot of sacks.  As the year went on he got better at tucking the ball and running instead of taking the sack.

A good year would be more touchdowns than ints. A great year would be 2:1 TD ratio. A 16:18 year would be an OK year. Since there is no TG, he probably won’t be able to come up with a lot more TDs than INTs. Maybe someone will step up as a playmaker, but doesn’t look great.  Expecting consistent, steady growth.

Now for the interview:

The encouraging thing during OTAs was the amount of progress that everyone made.

Scheme is really new to him, still a work in progress.  A lot of the overall scheme is much different than what they did in NE.  Feels very comfortable though.

Says you don’t need a whole regular season to get chemistry and timing with receivers.  Just have to work your repetitions and get on the same page as to where and how deep they will be, and we should have plenty of time in camp and the preseason games to get that accomplished. Thinks the timing will be much better as training camp goes along.

Q: How much talent to you see and how much upside is there to D-Bowe?

A: Bowe is a talented guy.  Has all the physical talent in the world. He’s a big body, he’s smart.  There’s a lot of upside to him, and he just has to keep working hard, has to keep pushing himself each and every day, he has to understand that we expect a lot out of him.  With Tony gone that just gives him all that much more opportunity to take his game to the next level.

His reaction to TG being traded: 

I don’t concern myself with personnel matters. Not up to him to make the decisions.  Whoever is out there on Sundays is who we will go with and we’ll just have to go out and do our best.

Q: What have you seen out of LJ, and does he have the opportunity to be and All-Pro caliber running back?

A: I think Larry has done everything he needs to do to be ready for this upcoming season.  He’s been at all the workouts, he’s been working hard, he’s been one of the most diligent guys there.  He’s finishing every single run he has in practice, and there is no doubt that his talent level is among the best in the NFL.  From his attitude and work ethic this offseason you hope we will be able to put together a great season with him and he’ll be able to do what he does best which is run the ball and create plays for us.

Q: Do you set individual goals for the season?

A: Normally I don’t set individual numerical goals for myself. Now things that I always try to set for myself such as taking care of the ball each and every week because that’s the most prized possession of any offense is that football.  If we don’t have the ball in our possession we can’t score points so that’s something I pride myself in. And there are little goals of course that I set, but I couldn’t tell you that I hope to throw 20 touchdowns this year and I hope to throw less than five interceptions. Of course, would that be great? Of course it would. But there are little individual goals that as we go through the season I will set for myself and there’s no doubt that I have to go in and play well, but that is what is expected out of the quarterback position is to go in and make plays and quarterbacks in this league are expected to win a lot of games going in and throwing the football. I know I have a lot of confidence in myself and my ability to throw the football and we have a lot of talented players here and we’re working hard and I think if we are able to get on the same page and do well with the schemes that are being implemented right now that we’ll be able to have some success.

When Belichik called to tell him he was traded he and his wife were in the car and pulled over and started celebrating.

Q: Have you told Josh McDaniels that you are going to sweep them every year?

A: I like that! I like that attitude, that’s what we’re hoping for. There is no doubt about that.

Q: How do you like Kansas City so far?

A: I love Kansas City, it’s been great. The people have been great. The community has really been quite welcoming. In terms of the team, I’m fired up about this team. I really am. We’ve got a lot of young eager guys who are out there working their tail off and we’ve had great attendance this offseason. I’m looking forward to big things this season and I really hope that all the hard work will pay off and we’ll be able to put together a good season not only for us but also for the fans.

About the contract and whether or not this is just a one-year stop:

A:  I’m not planning on being here for one year. That’s not what this whole thing is about. This is not a one-year stop.  Anytime you commit to an organization and a team you make a commitment for not just a one year deal, I want to be here and winning for a long time to come.  I’ve got a lot of confidence in Scott, and I’ve got a great amount of confidence in Todd Haley. I love what I’m seeing from him and his tenacity when he comes out there and gets after us and he’s all about winning and that’s what I’m all about and so I’m really excited about being here and starting to build this organization in the right direction and make wonderful things happen in the future.

Last time he talked to Tom Brady was yesterday.

Thanks again Zodeman!