Here we are.
So far, this Kansas City Chiefs season has been nothing but a total, utter, unmitigated, absolute, complete, redundant (OK, it’s just me that’s being redundant Although the argument could be made that getting the crap kicked out of us and turning the ball over is getting redundant at this point But I digress), piece-of-crap failure.
Honest to God, I’m actually grateful to have 12-14 hours of reading to do every night, because at least I can focus on something other than the sad state of our affairs Spending 6 hours figuring out exactly what constitutes battery (you’d think it’s pretty straightforward: "don’t punch people in the face for no reason." Turns out it’s actually insanely complicated Yay judicial system and gray areas!) doesn’t sound so bad when my only alternatives are t
- A) Spend those 6 hours studying another (equally dense) subject
- B) Watch one of the zillions of crappy movies on Netflix
- C) Stare into space and try to remember why I thought it might be kind of fun to have some time to myself
- D) Watch, read about, or debate about our Chiefs getting off to a historically bad start
- E) Weep openly about our Chiefs getting off to a historically bad start
But I am what I am, and what I am is a fanatic I can’t stop thinking about our boys What’s the problem? What’s the solution? Is it time to blow everything up? Are we all overreacting? Are we as low on talent as we were 2 years ago, and we’ve been kidding ourselves? Have the last two games (and arguably the last 4) been some kind of aberration?
Short answer: I don’t know and I’m not going to try to answer any of those questions Instead, I plan to pose one.
At what point, and for what reasons, is it time to take out Matt Cassel and give someone else a shot?
But first, here’s a prediction for you: at least a half dozen people are going to not bother to read the rest of this an post a comment that sounds like this:
"That’s so stupid Stanzi’s just a rookie We all know Palko is terrible Do we really want to throw the season away by sabotaging the offense with a terrible QB? You just want to Suck for Luck!"
Allow me to respond to all these points (and those who make them) before they’re even made This will have the added bonus of exposing those who don’t read before commenting.
"That’s so stupid"
Consider the source Were you expecting something brilliant and life altering? If so, I need to do a better job of lowering expectations (I’d have thought they were on the floor by now)
"Stanzi’s just a rookie"
To quote Shooter McGavin… So you can count Well good for you Yes, Stanzi is indeed only a rookie Allow me to give the time honored and completely infallible argument
So what?
Yeah, he’s a rookie Not to sound harsh, but big whoop If that is literally the only reason to not give him a shot, I’m not buying Rookies can contribute at the QB position And no, it doesn’t only happen if the guy is a top 3 pick Look at Colt McCoy last year Remember what folks said about him? He wasn’t ready, he’d never operated a pro-style offense, he’d never been under center, he couldn’t read defenses at this level, etc.
Then what happens? McCoy gets tossed into the fire with a one-win team (whose only victory was against a crappy-but-overrated-at-the-time Bengals) because of injuries, and he plays a very good game against A Steelers defense that (if you went by the "all rookies QBs outside the first round suck" rule) should’ve totally destroyed him He then leads them to two huge upset wins (in ugly fashion, but wins nonetheless) against the Saints and the Patriots.
Pre-McCoy the Browns were 1-4 when ol’ Colt took the helm They were 4-7 afterwards That may not be an earth-shattering improvement, but that’s not my point He didn’t look like an All Pro, but that’s not my point either My point is their season didn’t totally go down the drain because they started a rookie QB not taken in the first round
Stanzi may not have McCoy’s college track record when it comes to wins, but he’s also got some stuff going for him that McCoy didn’t: more improvement shown year to year, a stronger arm, and most importantly running a pro-style offense as opposed to constantly being in shotgun and spread (which helps with adjustment time to style and speed with which a QB has to go through progressions)
Am I saying Stanzi would do even as well as McCoy (who, while an upgrade over the turd sandwich that was Cleveland’s QB situation, wasn’t a world-beater)? Nope Again, my only point is it’s not a sure thing that a rookie QB can’t succeed just because he wasn’t a first rounder If he’s got some tools to work with, there’s a shot.
"We all know Tyler Palko is terrible"
OK, I’m less apt to argue with this one All I’ll say is Palko didn’t look totally pathetic at the end of preseason like he did at the beginning And hey, it’s not like the man ever had longer than 1.5 seconds to throw the ball.
Frankly, I’d rather see Stanzi in there than Palko But honestly, I’m not that scared to see Palko play right now Know why? Because of my argument to this last poin
"Do we really want to throw the season away by sabotaging the offense with a terrible QB? You just want to Suck for Luck!"
I want you to take a deep breath and think about what you just said Where am I going to pick this argument apart? C’mon, you can do it… think… what part of those two sentences makes no sense whatsoever?
That’s right! The implication that throwing in a different QB would "sabotage the offense"
What offense? Have we been watching the same games? Our offense is horrible on an epic level We’re dead last in PPG (5 5! For the love of God, 5 points per game!) and passing YPG (110 Ugh) And it’s not like our rushing offense (129 YPG) is exactly lighting the world on fire like it was last year (although I saw signs of hope against the Lions, even after Jamaal Charles got hurt).
How about I put it another way? Through two games, we have only one more point than we do turnovers Yeah, our offense sucks.
And you’re trying to tell me a QB switch might SABOTAGE this ridiculous excuse for an offense? Seriously? Could another QB honestly set our offense back? I just don’t see it The one big thing Matt Cassel had going for him was that he was "smart with the ball" and he "didn’t shoot us in the foot" Well, guess what, he’s shooting us in both feet right now.
Honestly, Cassel has done nothing in the last two games that any QB in the league (starter or backup) couldn’t have done His throws haven’t been accurate, his progressions have been basically nonexistent, and he’s been making bad decisions Tell me again how we could do worse?
Here’s the long and short of it: I’m not ready to write off Cassel just yet After all, it’s only been two games, right? But here’s the question I had to ask myself: if Cassel and our offense are looking pathetic again in Week 3, what’s the harm of throwing Stanzi in there? Or even Palko? What does it hurt? Our offense is already terrible, and the QB play is only contributing with the problem
Maybe it is the line Maybe it is the receivers Maybe it is the play calling Maybe no QB outside of Aaron Rodgers could play at an even average level on this team But how will we ever know if we don’t at least check it out?
Wow, that post just wrote itself! Bottom line is this… IF this week our offense is again failing to do a blasted thing, and more specifically our QUARTERBACK isn’t doing anything to help our offense move the ball... AND the game is another blowout…
What exactly do we have to lose?
