Matt Cassel's Second Half Decline

I dont know what everyone was expecting from Cassel this year, was everyone expecting Manning or Brees numbers, I think he had an ok year for having new coaches, system, receivers etc.

Our receivers suck ass and had over 50 dropped passes. How many of them were for first downs that would have extended drives, how many of them were for TDs. Add these drops back in and all of a sudden Cassels numbers wouldnt look too bad considering the lack of talent around him

Cassel looked worse to me in the second half too. I am very concerned by this. I have been and still am a Cassel supporter, but he now has more to prove to me than he did when he stepped into the job. When the season started Cassel had the “look” of a composed, confident field general. His expressions, the way he carried himself and the way he interacted with his teammates on the field all seemed to come from a position of strength.

Somewhere near mid season though, he began to look tattered. My best guess is his confidence took a pounding because of the number of sacks and dropped passes. Once the midway point arrived with only one win in the bank, he knew that the team wasn’t going to the post season and maybe that was the final straw. Remember, this is a guy whose only campaign as a starter ended with 11 wins and a devastating(to him) miss of the playoffs.

Whatever it was, it was pretty evident. Couple that with the fact that he had no QB coach to continually massage his psyche and his lack of a big arm, and Cassel appeared mentally beaten down. Some of his throws in those last few games were really pathetic. I really hope that he can overcome it if this is truly what I was seeing. If he begins to win a few games only to be beat up in a really tough game and he continues to see-saw on the confidence teeter-totter, we could be in for some very heart breaking losses next year. I think we saw only two games(Baltimore, Steelers)where he was able to drive down the field to try and win the game(possibly three if you count the almost vs. the Cowboys). That is the type of QB we must have to win big games.

put a pic of Sgt Schultz here

Rec

maybe we all want a 3 sentence mock draft?
maybe a poorly written What if?

Dammit rec a nice post or we won’t have anything to read!

that we will see drastic improvement in Cassel with the addition of Charlie Weis as OC. He has a reputation for getting the most out of his players and I’m sure he will try and highlight Cassel’s strengths within the offense.

oh, and Rec’d

The year starts off with him injured right when Chan was fired and Haley was putting in his system. Then his o-line gets the poor guy pounded into the ground during the first 8 games while the front office plays musical chairs with his WRs. By the time the line and running game together we had a pile of losses racked up and he was starting to force things to make a play. The guy had a coach that was pretty demanding and fans that were at times less then supportive. I think the fact that he survived physically and mentally is a good sign. Like others have said, a stable off season, better WRs, and Weis as his OC/QB coach should do wonders.

not that i think he feels “uncomfortable”, but i’ve heard a number of times, from haley himself as well as matt, that he was sort of left to fend for himself alot, and most of the time answer his own questions too. now, there were reasons for this i think. i think haley was testing cassel’s mental resolve. wanted to see what he was made of… what he would do if he was pushed into a corner. and we saw that this year, a number of times. saw matt get frustrated about the boos at arrowhead, when we probably had no clue how difficult his situation was. we also saw how excited he got when they were able to extend drives at key times and the such.

this may have more to do with scheming than we think. maybe cassel just didnt have the correct environment to flourish last year? with arguably no QB coach or OC to turn to? he might this year with weis

Drink your kool aid and what not….but Cassel looked like a very mediocre QB at best. Yes there were way too many drops, but he did pull off some J-Hut like perfotmances and overall looked average or below average most of the year. Is there still hope? I think there is hope Cassel will end up being a decent QB, but he’ll never be an elite QB IMO…..Charlie Weiss prove me wronge, please.

get rid of him. He’s inaccurate and just doesn’t have the awareness or pocket presence, makes poor decisions, not enough street ball in him to be great. The only good thing about him is, he can take a beating, but that’s not enough.

During his good year in NE he had a QB coach to help point out when he was doing things wrong and when he missed things. This last year he had a head coach/offensive co-ordinator/QB coach. How much time do you think Haley was able to spend with his QB to help him with his game?

Ankle , Knee & concussions can have a negative affect on your accuracy ! 2010 season has every indication the offensive supporting cast will improve ;so will The Kansas City Chiefs footbal team ! Matt Cassel will improve in 2010 ! Ask { The broncos } ?

He had no reason to trust his line OR his receivers. Even WHEN the line provided better protection, he played as if he fully expected to get smashed by being hesitant and reacting to pressure that wasn’t there.

There really is no reason to rehash the OLine woes. A complete lack of protection can even break down the confidence of the greatest of QBs. It turned Cassel into a nervous wreck in the “pocket”.

The hesitance and uncertainty is more a product of not being able to trust his receivers and/or not being on the same page as his receivers. Don’t have the numbers, but there were plenty of times I saw him pump-fake to a receiver while he was being pressured, but the receiver wasn’t reading the same hot read that he was. Couple that with the dropsies and that’s the product you get.

As I’m sure it has been said countless times (I haven’t read the comments), there’s been zero continuity with receivers, linemen, playbooks… it’s been a revolving door and nothing has been consistent.

Oh, did I mention that we didn’t even have a QB coach? Yea, Cassel suffered through a lot of shit.

Kinda like more money more problems. Just more opportunities to mess up for Cassel. Trust me, I’d be the first one to bash Matt, in fact I think I was. But if I were a betting man I’d put money on the fact that we had more offensive plays when JC was picking up first downs and our running game was actually gaining yards.

How many times are receivers hit perfectly in stride over the top/ over theshoulder. There is a reason those tend to be top 10 highlight videos.

Larry Fitzgerald, Randy Moss, Calvin Johnson,Steve Smith, Anquan Boldin, Wes Welker, Marques Colston etc. All of the top receivers in the NFL are masters at creating seperation. When there is none, then the truly great ones get in position ie stop and come back to the ball and catch it at its highest point. How many replays of that did we see of that this year?

The Miles Austins and Sidney Rice’s make there money by yards after the catch. Typically catching it in space and then making a move for those extra yards.

Now against the Chiefs this year, maybe we saw more than our fair share of over the top plays(thanks Mike Brown & Co). But in my belief for the majority of the league it is not where the real offensive production is made. If it was then guys like perenial disappointing underachievers Devery Henderson would be the all stars.

Cassel appeared to have a new target every week. Therefore, it is hard to justify no Bowe as the reason for Cassel’s declining second half

’

That is exactly why you can blame no Bowe, Cassel never got into a good rhythm with his revolving door at the receiver position… And I could be wrong but I think the drops sky rocketed when Bowe was out.

there was a reason he was a backup for the last 8 years, in the pros its understandable because he was behind Brady but in college he had a couple opportunities to start if i remember correctly and the guys that he backed up in college are mediocre pros at best

Looks like I started a tidal wave! I do believe in Cassel’s ability. I was only stating the fact that he looked like he was struggling mentally during the last half of the season. He had a lot of reasons to do that so my hope is that he will overcome that problem as the team improves. He made some GREAT throws to Bowe in the early part of the season and then he made some really bad throws later on. I guess the consistency was the problem. I am still a supporter, I just hope he proves that he really is ’the guy".

This has been alluded to already, but look at the total sacks this year. Cassel took a licking and kept on ticking. He is obviously durable and determined. Croyle has the best arm, but you hit him a couple of times, and he is out for 4 weeks with something. Cassel’s durability alone is worth its weight in diamonds. Plus he is a leader. But keep changing offensive philosophies on him all season, keep changing receivers, take away his OC right before the season starts, and what can anyone expect. When you get hit and go down enough times, and your team has no shot at the playoffs, the mentality unconsciously starts shifting to self-preservation. You start taking less time with your reads and throwing the ball away more often to avoid sacks. Would his sacks total really have declined that much if he hadn’t thrown it away so much? Those things are coached, but they kill your QB rating. Perhaps he got rid of it faster than he needed to out of unconscious fear of pain or injury. Perhaps he got rid of it faster consciously to avoid a sack and the lost yards and was coached to do so. The success of a potentially successful QB depends on his line more than anything else. Give him a solid line, and OC, some timing with consistent receivers, and a scheme that is successful, and less need to play catch up, and then we can evaluate Cassel – not one minute before.

I like it.

I think Cassel is one tough, smart SOB. He’s a guy with the talent to be an effective starter but never quite had the pedigre. He had a great audition behind an incredible team in New England and he’s making the most of it here in KC. We’re a team that’s going in the right direction and he’s going to be the right man in the right place and I think he knows it. When it’s all said and done, for the money, we’re all likely to think he was a good deal. We’ll be proud to call him a Chief.