If you haven't watched Kansas City Chiefs QB Matt Cassel, and only looked at the box scores, your reaction would be that something is wrong in Kansas City. The perception around the league has been that Cassel is having a miserable season. That's the way Dan Marino has been talking about Cassel on the CBS pregame show throughout the season.
Until now, at least.
"The guy I want to talk about, I made fun of him a little bit throughout the year, Matt Cassel," Marino said on Sunday morning. "He's won games with 100 yards there, or 60 yards there but he's taking care of the football, he's not turning it over and he's a perfect fit for this offense because they want to be conservative and play good defense."
The perception of the Chiefs, and particularly Cassel, is changing around the league. He's no longer holding them back but instead playing "complementary football" as Todd Haley calls it.
The rest of the CBS guys agreed with the overall theme of the 2010 Chiefs -- they don't beat themselves. Running the ball well, not turning it over and and playing solid defense is how you win on the road. We're starting to hear more of these analysts say as the season goes on that the Chiefs style of football is built for the playoffs.
The perception of the Chiefs is changing around the league and, as a fan that's been here since day one, that's a pretty awesome sight to see.