In the 2009 preseason the Kansas City Chiefs didn't score more than one offensive touchdown in a single game. Matt Cassel didn't exactly light the world on fire.
In week two, his best performance (before being injured in game three), he completed 9-of-14 passes for 99 yards, but also took three sacks.
So what does Matt Cassel need to do in the 2010 preseason, specifically game two against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers?
In week one, he had a less-than-inspiring performance against the Falcons. Sure, he completed 6-of-8 passes but he also lost a fumble and took a sack pushing the Chiefs out of field goal range.
Some folks will argue that he looked good enough last week -- and it's just preseason -- but I think it's time he puts up a performance that makes everyone sit back and say, 'Hey, this guy's pretty good.' Up to this point, there have been a lot of excuses, whether those excuses are legitimate or not.
It appears Cassel will play more this week, likely the entire first half. While it's not a full sample size, it's still enough for us to start to understand which direction he's going on.
His coach isn't making it any easier on him, if you ask me. Todd Haley said this week that Cassel is much improved and running the offense efficiently, among other praise-worthy items.
Now I’ve got a quarterback that appears is running the operation well, efficiently, throwing the ball where it’s supposed to go generally – all those decisions aren’t always going to be correct, there are a lot of factors going on there that and I wouldn’t expect them to all be perfect at this point. Now on top of that the ball is being thrown in the area that it has to be thrown for it to be completed.
Go through and read the entire transcript of Haley's press conference and you can see he has good things to say about Cassel.
I'm sure Haley's intended consequence of saying these things about Cassel wasn't to put pressure on him. Haley spent several minutes talking on Thursday about Cassel, and how improved he is, and how the staff is content with what he's doing.
If it wasn't just lip service, then Cassel will demonstrate that on Saturday.
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