Summary of the QB Play in the Chiefs Scrimmage

The play of the Kansas City Chiefs quarterbacks has been a hot topic of conversation since, well, since the Bengals' Robert Geathers delivered that hit on Trent Green in September of 2006 to knock him out for half the season.  Since then, Kansas City hasn't landed a stable quarterback to lead the team.

Enter '08 second half surprise Tyler Thigpen and new arrival Matt Cassel.  We're set, right?

Well, if the first inter-squad scrimmage is any indication, it's rough going.  As Adam Teicher of the Kansas City Star noted, the quarterback play was up and down. 

Kent Babb of the Kansas City Star before the scrimmage said Cassel needs to do a few not-so-simple things: Make good decisions, be smart, avoid mistakes and spread around his passes.

The result?  Two interceptions, one fumble and one touchdown pass.

"I moved to my left and didn’t get anything on it," Cassel said. "The good part of this is we have 30-some days before our first game. There’s no doubt it was good for us to get out there, tackle, have the live bullets flying at you. These guys were coming hard."

The player one Kansas City Star reporter thinks may not even make the team, threw two touchdowns.  The player said Star reporter thinks will replace him, Brodie Croyle, didn't have any touchdown drives.  The off-the-street, former New England quarterback, Matt Gutierrez, was one-for-one on touchdown drives.

Bottom line?  Saturday's scrimmage didn't get us any closer to knowing how the quarterback depth chart will pan out and it certainly didn't ease any of our fears about the position.

After the jump, I've summarized as much of the quarterback play as I could.  Using various sources, namely Christy Brusoe of the Post Chronicle, who has documented the last handful of practices and somehow slipped our notice in coverage of the Chiefs training camp.  Here's the link to her story on Saturday's scrimmage.

Matt Cassel - Drive #1

• Five yard slant to Mark Bradley
• LJ run up the middle for 1-2 yards
• On the fifth play, DE Wallace Gilberry got past Damion McIntosh to knock the ball out of Cassel's hand and picked it up and ran it back for a touchdown
• *** Drive re-starts
• Cassel hits Tony Curtis down the middle for a deep gain
• Five yard run by Cassel
• Drive stalls and Succop misses a 30 yard field goal

Matt Cassel - Drive #2

• Two handoffs up the middle for no gain
• Travis Daniels stepped in front of a short pass attempt and picked off the pass
• *** Drive re-starts
• Mike Brown was all alone on the left side of the field and picked off Cassel

Matt Cassel - Drive #3

• First pass attempt was batted down by OLB Andy Studebaker
• Second pass attempt was nearly picked off by LB Derrick Johnson
• Third play was a delay of game
• Fourth play was a deep pass completed to WR Bobby Engram
  

***

Brodie Croyle - Drive #1 

• Five yard pass to Amani Toomer, who fumbled but quickly picked it back up
• Three yard pass to Jamaal Charles, knocked out of bounds "extremely hard" by Tyson Jackson
• Croyle made a nice throw to Bobby Engram
• On 3rd and 3, Dantrell Savage rushed up the middle for the first down
• Three plays later, Succop nails a 58 yard field goal

Brodie Croyle - Drive #2

• Marched the team down to the 20 yard line
• On third down, Jeff Webb dropped his second pass of the day
• Succop hit a 27 yard field goal
  

***

Tyler Thigpen - Drive #1

• Handoff to Javarris Williams up the middle for seven yards
• Within three minutes, Thigpen moved the team down to the 30 yard line
• Thigpen hit Webb down the sidelines for a 20 yard gain to the ten yard line
• Thigpen hit TE Jake O'Connell for a jump ball in the corner of the end zone

Thigpen - Drive #2

• Brandon Carr nearly picked off his first throw
• After another incompletion, Thigpen was "sacked" to end the drive

***

Matt Gutierrez - Drive #1

• Three consecutive handoffs to Javarris Williams for 26 yards
• First pass attempt was complete to FB Jed Collins for six yards
• Second pass attempt was complete to WR Quinten Lawrence for a 20 yard touchdown