Matt Cassel's Freedom At The Line Of Scrimmage

The voice of the Kansas City Chiefs Mitch Holthus talked on the Border Patrol yesterday morning and had some interesting points on Matt Cassel's play. Cassel was in the game for two drives -- a total of 16 plays -- and the Chiefs scored touchdowns on both drives.

As Holthus explains, it was how they got it done that's interesting.

"We counted, between Kendall [Gammon], Lenny [Dawson] and I, in those 16 snaps between those two drives, we're thinking Matt changed the play probably seven of the 16 games," Holthus said.

Interesting. I hadn't picked up on that, although I should have. Cassel's freedom at the line of scrimmage is something that's been talked about before, the "check with me" offense.

This works because, as Steven St. John noted, Cassel has time before and after the play. On the front end, the Chiefs got the play call in efficiently all night long so they looked like they were on top of their game, moving in and out of the huddle. That gives Cassel enough time to analyze the defense and determine what the best play call is. On the back side, the Chiefs offensive line was good enough on Friday night to give Cassel plenty of time to make a throw.

This is something I'll keep an eye out for next week.