Matt Cassel's "Defining Moment"

It is hard not to be impressed with Matt Cassel's performance last Sunday against the St. Louis Rams.  Just eleven days after surgery to remove his appendix, he put together a fearlessly effective performance. The beauty of his must-win game against the other Missouri team that was leading their division was not in the statistics.  He did not have a 300 yard game nor a perfect passer rating.  In fact, he missed a few easy completions he most likely would have made had he been 100%. 

What was magnificent about Cassel's game on Sunday was not his statistics, but his grit.  He courageously led his team to a much needed road win with no-slide scrambles for first downs and standing tall in the pocket until the last second and even though it meant direct hits to his undoubtably sore midsection.  All this "manliness" has caused a stir in the local media. 

Sam Mellinger's article in the Star on Monday prompted Nick Wright of 610 Sports Radio to ask his audience later in the day, "Was Matt Cassel's performance against the Rams his defining moment....?  Obviously, Wright believed it was.  I disagree.  If I have the opportunity to speak to him this Friday during the section of his show when he let's audience members tell him what he got wrong during the week, I will tell him why. What follows is what I intend to argue.

Cassel's perfomance last Sunday is as Mellinger implied the stuff of legend.  If Matt were to suffer a career-ending injury (let's hope not) against the Titans this weekend, this one performance, this one sixty minute game, would have him wistfully remembered in Kansas City for what might have been. 

But, "defining moment", I think not.   The moment that happened in the Edward Jones Dome last Sunday was a moment of acceptance, not definition.  Not acceptance by Matt Cassel of his role with the division leading currently number three AFC playoff seeded 2010 Kansas City Chiefs.  No, the moment of acceptance was reserved for most of those (including myself) who were unsure of Matt Cassel. 

Matt Cassel's defining moment came much earlier in his career.  In fact, Matt Cassel defined himself even before he was a professional athlete.  I would argue one could find the true definition of Cassel the player by returning to his pro day at USC.  Here was a player that during his first three years of college, held the clipboard on game day and did everything he could help Carson Palmer play as well as he could play.  Then, when it should have been Cassel's time, his opportunity to show the world he could make it in the NFL, he was asked to support Matt Lienart instead. 

Who can imagine the devastation he must have felt, his chance apparently gone?  Who would have blamed him for developing a poor attitude or for outright quitting USC and moving to a smaller school where he surely could have played and maybe, just maybe, get noticed by the NFL?  Instead, he honored his commitment, held the clipboard and worked hard to help Lienart play his way into the professional ranks.  Not only did Cassel keep his team-first attitude, he worked hard and prepared himself for the one opportunity he had left for his dream of the NFL, his Pro-day.  Then, during the last minutes of his last chance at USC he did the impossible.  He impressed an NFL scout enough that with no college game tape to speak of he was drafted into the NFL by none other than the New England Patriots. 

For three years he was a nobody once again holding a clipboard behind Tom Brady.  He won rings without even stepping on the field.  He could have been content, satisfied with what he had accomplished.  Imagine if you will, a quarterback with no meaningful playing time in either college or the NFL wearing Superbowl hardware?  It would have made for great stories at cocktail parties.  Instead, Cassel worked hard behind Brady in practice and prepared as if he was going to play each and every week. 

For SEVEN YEARS, he had no reason to believe, but he did.  How fitting is it then, that in the opening game of the 2008 season a Kansas City Chief's player gave Matt Cassel his opportunity to fulfill his dream and step onto a football field and lead an NFL team?  Brodie Croyle's performance two weeks ago shows what could have happened with Cassel.  He could have finished that 2008 game with a couple of completions and a loss.  Instead, he proved the scouts at his Pro-day right by being prepared and leading the Patriots to an opening day victory over the Chiefs.  He followed that by winning ten more games and helping the Patriots to a record that in most years would have guaranteed a playoff spot. 

Matt Cassel defined himself a long time ago as a player without top-tier talent that out-works and out-prepares players whose physical skills surpass his own.  He is a man that makes the most of the few opportunities that are presented to him and is not satisfied with standing on the sidelines during a Superbowl winning run.  He wants to be on the field playing, no winning, the big game for himself.  While some may believe he only showed these colors last Sunday in St. Louis, they would be wrong.  He is an NFL quarteback for the Kansas City Chiefs because he defined himself as such to those who matter in the NFL a long, long time ago. But, because of the way he demonstrated his self-definition against the Rams, for the very first time since his arrival in Kansas City, he has been accepted, even embraced, by those who doubted. 

Because of the way he defines himself in spite of the perception of others, Matt Cassel is Kansas City's new hope for Superbowl glory.