Matt Cassel, Brady Quinn splitting reps; 'That's part of the deal,' Cassel says

The Kansas City Chiefs are in an unusual situation right now because the starting quarterback isn't known. Matt Cassel has struggled this season and he's coming back from a concussion, cleared for non-contact practice. Brady Quinn didn't look much better than Cassel last weekend but he's healthy and ready to play.

So one of those two will be starting for the Chiefs in Week 8 against the Oakland Raiders. KC is on the bye this upcoming weekend.

For Cassel and the Chiefs, this is new territory. Not until the past few weeks with Crennel has a member of the Chiefs questioned Cassel's status as the starter. These past few weeks are the first time anyone has ever come close to suggesting a (real) competition with Cassel.

Cassel, though, is taking it in stride. He returned to practice on Tuesday and when asked about now splitting reps he said, "That's part of the deal."

"Coach Crennel said that yesterday in the team meeting. He spoke to everybody, that everybody is going to get reps this week and everybody is going to get out there. This is a time to evaluate everybody on the bye week, try some different things and see where we're at. That's kind of part of what happens. I'm going out there to get better each and every day and do what I need to do to get better."

Cassel still isn't cleared to play, which wouldn't make this a very good competition. But he's expected to reach that point by next week.

"They will give him another test next week," Crennel said of Cassel, "game week, to finalize it and make it official. I imagine that during these couple days here if he does good and there is nothing different on his baseline test that he'll be cleared for contact."

So the quarterback competition is on.