Are you surprised? I'm not. Following the Kansas City Chiefs 14-10 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday, Todd Haley started off his post-game press conference with these words:
"First of all, all injured guys are being evaluated. I don’t have any real information on any of those guys that I'm sure you want to talk about. We’ll talk about them at a later date."
He's not one to stray from what he normally does(n't) say.
So, for those of you who hadn't heard or missed the game. Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel dropped back to pass on the third play from scrimmage and, with a collapse on the offensive line, was wrapped up by a defender. When he fell, however, is when the trouble started.
He spilled to the ground awkwardly and quickly clutched his knee. He made it back to the huddle and called another play. But, as he walked to the line of scrimmage, a timeout was called and trainers helped him off the field.
Per the telecast, he had trouble making it down the stairs by himself. Likely a bit of drama spiced in there because the same telecast later said they thought he would be out for about a week and questionable to play in the preseason finale on Thursday.
Who's to blame? Well, it's a little difficult to tell but, if you check out this video courtesy of the NFL, then it appears a Seahawks defensive tackle simply got off the snap quicker than right guard Mike Goff and, with center Rudy Niswanger unable to contain him, the line began to collapse.
It was a play action fake but the defense wasn't biting because Cassel had nowhere to go after faking the run to Larry Johnson. The center of the line quickly caved, and the left side wasn't far behind.
Either way, Cassel's injury left a gaping hole at quarterback, a position which many of us thought was finally beginning to gain some depth.
"Disappointing across the board tonight for me as a team," Haley told reporters following the game. "I feel like, after making some progress in week two, I felt like we went backwards. Offensively...very disappointed. Very disappointed in how we played offensively. It was a real struggle out there."
The disappointment likely stems largely from the poor play of Tyler Thigpen. Amidst all the trade rumors and thought that this was an audition of sorts for quarterback-needy teams across the NFL, Thigpen rose up and...fell. Hard.
Thigpen did lead the team to scoring position on the Chiefs second drive. This didn't really help (or hurt) him because he completed zero passes on the drive.
This game generated more questions for Thigpen when we thought this was a game where many would be answered.
One question was answered, though: The Chiefs may not have near the depth at quarterback I once thought they did.
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Haley was also asked about another surprise - Jarrad Page didn't play tonight. He practiced on Thursday and was present at Friday's walkthrough.
Haley was asked if Page was part of the group of injured players he's not going to talk about. Here is what he said:
"Yeah, we got a lot of guys dinged up. We've got some guys that are playing through things and are trying to play through things. All injuries will be evaluated and at some point we'll be able to talk about it."