Chiefs' Cassel on Giants: 'They're not scared to come up and hit you'

The Kansas City Chiefs next opponent, New York Giants, have only accumulated 3.5 sacks this season but, as I'll tell you more in our interview with Big Blue View tomorrow, that shouldn't be taken out of context.  Their defensive line is one of the best in football and consistently harasses the quarterback causing opportunities for the entire defense.

The New York media spoke with Chiefs QB Matt Cassel today and he offered up a few of his thoughts on the Giants defense line.  As Cassel notes, there are a handful of players that the Chiefs have to watch out for.

"They just have a number of great players over there from Tuck and Osi and their three-technique as well," Cassel said in a conference call today.  "So they have Cofield – so you have a number of guys up there that can play ball and push the pocket and do such a great job."

More reaction from Cassel on the Giants tough defense after the jump.

The best thing about a solid front seven, as the Chiefs learned last year (or more accurately didn't learn), is that it can help out the secondary.  The Giants are banged up and missed a few of the key guys including Aaron Ross and Kenny Phillips.  Still, though, Cassel noted their physicality when asked what he was looking for from the New York secondary.

"They’re an active group, they are a physical group. And they are not scared to come up and hit you. The corners do a great job of getting into your face and trying to disrupt your pass patterns."

As I was saying above, Cassel recognized how much the front seven helps everyone else on the team.  What Cassel says next I think is an example of what the "right 53" is.

"Obviously a lot of these quarterbacks – when you watch film against the Giants – you know that their front four is the heart and soul of their defense," he said.  "They put a tremendous amount of pressure on the quarterback. You don’t have much time back there. You have to get the ball out quick. And I think the corners do a good job of recognizing that and understanding that they need to do their job. And so they play well together."

While we're talking about the Giants, here's a quick note from Cassel on former Giant and Chief Amani Toomer.

"I don’t make the decisions in terms of personnel or anything like that," he said when asked about Toomer.  "I think Amani is a great player and he has proved that for a long time. And he is a veteran guy who came in, worked hard and did a great job for us and showed some veteran leadership. And for whatever reason sometimes it just doesn’t work out. And they went in a different direction. But I have a lot of respect for Amani and he is a friend of mine and I think he is a great player."

Read the entire conference call here.