Jason Whitlock: Cassel is smoke and mirrors

[Absurdly Metro]

Sorry if somebody already posted this but I hadn't seen it until just now. In his column today, NFL Truths: It's All About Character, Fox's Jason Whitlock suggests BB is going to have a good laugh at the expense of some poor GM stupid enough to trade the farm for Matt Cassel. His argument for Matt's success in 2008? It's the system of course!

Hmmm... where have we heard THAT before?

Here's the excerpt:

5. It's funny that Bill Belichick's finest coaching performance didn't even put the three-time Super Bowl winner in the playoffs.

Getting the Patriots to 11-5 without Tom Brady should get Belichick some serious consideration for coach of the year.

Yes, Belichick has every reason to believe in his system. He can afford to stay the course and not panic. But sticking with Matt Cassel — a nonstarter throughout his collegiate and pro career — is one of the gutsy coaching moves of the season. Halfway through the season, Cassel had thrown seven TDs and eight interceptions. Most other organizations would've made a foolish deal for a veteran QB.

Belichick is likely to get a big laugh this offseason when some team overpays for Cassel during the free-agent season. Cassel is all smoke and mirrors. The Patriots won their last four games, beating Seattle, Oakland, Arizona and Buffalo.

Cassel isn't very good.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Sorry if somebody already posted this but I hadn't seen it until just now. In his column today, NFL Truths: It's All About Character, Fox's Jason Whitlock suggests BB is going to have a good laugh at the expense of some poor GM stupid enough to trade the farm for Matt Cassel. His argument for Matt's success in 2008? It's the system of course!

Hmmm... where have we heard THAT before?

Here's the excerpt:

Yeah, smoke and mirrors explain how he had one bad decision in a stretch of over 200 pass attempts, and had as many 10-play drives as anyone in the league.

 

[Rob0729]

Sorry, even against bad teams, Cassel had a phenominal stretch down the end. He may never recreate what he did here on another team, but he clearly is a pretty good QB. Wasn't this the same argument about Drew Brees when he left San Deigo? How is he doing in N'Orleans?

 

[WhiZa]

I do think Cassel will be better on the Patriots then he will on any other team, so for some team to overpay for him is a possibility but not for the reasons Whitlock dreamed up.

 

[Schmo]

If the Pats had done terribly this year, we would hear, "Tom Brady makes Belichick look good." But we were a relative success, so the criticism is against Cassel? It's funny how a lot of people don't understand the team aspect involed in the game of football.

Did they watch the first few of Cassel's starts? I guess the system just got better and better as the season went on. Give me a break.

 

[AzPatsFan]

Sorry if somebody already posted this but I hadn't seen it until just now. In his column today, NFL Truths: It's All About Character, Fox's Jason Whitlock suggests BB is going to have a good laugh at the expense of some poor GM stupid enough to trade the farm for Matt Cassel. His argument for Matt's success in 2008? It's the system of course!

Hmmm... where have we heard THAT before?

Here's the excerpt:

Who the hell is this Jason Whitlock? He obviously isn't a scout. I'll take Jaws opinion over his, any day of the week.

Matt Cassel has the ideal triangle numbers, 6-4 230# and 4.7 speed. The running game shows in his 275 yard rushing, too. He was sought after as a high school recruit by all the top college football programs in the country, and signed with the then college national champions. He then pushed Carson Palmer and Matt Lienart, both Heisman Trophy winners for playing time. That alone establishes his athletic qualifications. It helps that he was drafted by the premier National Football League club, renowned for it draft shrewdness.

Now he has played in the NFL as a starter, and has outdone another very good first year player. His 3600 yards and 21TDs vs 11 Ints and 63% completion average compares favorably to a guy who had 2800 yards, a 63% completion average, and 18 TDs versus 12 Ints.

The other guy? Merely NFL MVP Tom Brady.

I repeat who is this Jason idiot?

 

[jmt57]

So based on Whitlock's logic that since the Patriots "didn't even make the playoffs", then Tarvaris Jackson and Kerry Collins are better QB's than Matt Cassel and Tony Romo?

 

[reflexblue]

Yeah, smoke and mirrors explain how he had one bad decision in a stretch of over 200 pass attempts, and had as many 10-play drives as anyone in the league.

Remember cardinal rule #1 concerning journalists. IT doesn't take much to be one.

 

[TN Patriot]

Who the hell is this Jason Whitlock? He obviously isn't a scout. I'll take Jaws opinion over his, any day of the week.

Matt Cassel has the ideal triangle numbers, 6-4 230# and 4.7 speed. The running game shows in his 275 yard rushing, too. He was sought after as a high school recruit by all the top college football programs in the country, and signed with the then college national champions. He then pushed Carson Palmer and Matt Lienart, both Heisman Trophy winners for playing time. That alone establishes his athletic qualifications. It helps that he was drafted by the premier National Football League club, renowned for it draft shrewdness.

Now he has played in the NFL as a starter, and has outdone another very good first year player. His 3600 yards and 21TDs vs 11 Ints and 63% completion average compares favorably to a guy who had 2800 yards, a 63% completion average, and 18 TDs versus 12 Ints.

The other guy? Merely NFL MVP Tom Brady.

I repeat who is this Jason idiot?

Jason Whitlock - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[HEY BRO! WHAT UP?]

Cassel is so bad that when the Pats were down 24-6, he led an incredible second half comeback to almost beat the Jets. Not that the Jets are great but most QB's in the NFL would probably pack it in when down big. And the Pats won't be laughing when Cassel signs a big deal with another team because their losing a quality backup QB that can start for many teams in the NFL. How does Whitlock not take into account that Cassel hasn't played a real down since high school and still throws for 21 td's and 3,600 yards?

 

[billdog3484]

hey, he may be right and he may be wrong. all i know is that we have to pray tom Brady comes back in 2009 at 100%, because if he does, we arent going to need Cassel.

i think we see the offers out there, if there is one good enough we will take it

 

[QuinielaBox]

Jason $hitlock writes for the Kansas City Star. Therefore, he his had very poor teams to cover since Marty Schottenhiemer left KC. He whips up that Hatriot attitude in KC. I was at the Zone810 sports bar at Leawood, KS along with 10 other Patriot fans hoping for a Jet victory. Needless to say, we understand how a Jets fan feels. The others say that the Patriots deserve to sit home for cheating in the past. When asked what I was gonna do with my time off in January, I said watch the Celtics and Bruins.

 

[Delicate Genius]

Whitlock is a prick. If anyone else heard him this morning when he was filling in for Jim Rome, you'd agree. A caller would make a point and then try to defend it and Whitlock would jump in and say "I'm hosting this, let me respond"... he was burying callers before they could even get two sentences out.

 

[NoCal Patriot]

Jasom Whitlock once again proves the old adage that " Fat,Drunk and Stupid is no way to go through life" .Remember it was Media Scrubs like Him that also said a few years ago that Tom Brady was a product of the system too.
Talent always reaches it's level which unfortunately is also true in Media.

 

[patsfaninpittsburgh]

Az

This dude is a HUGE McNabb/Manning homer. That's all that needs to be said.

 

[Bostonian1962]

I usually like Jason Whitlock, but he must not have even watch Cassel play. I watched every play of every game this year. Flat out - Whitlock is wrong! In fact, if it was not for some perfectly thrown balls THAT WERE DROPPED, Cassel would have had this team at 12 and 4 or 13 and 3, and in the playoffs.

Also, why does Whitlock mention only the lesser teams played. He didn't mention 47 to 7 over playoff bound Arizona, or the win in Miami over the playoff bound Dolphins. He doesn't mention Cassel going head to head with Peyton, a game that was a dropped TD pass away from victory.

 

[mcgraw_wv]

You don't really begin to appreciate Cassel's abilities until you watch another NFL club minus a few liek the Colts.

most notably the Jets... When you watch a QB like Farve, or here in Jax like Garrard, you see just how spoiled we are with solid accurate QB play.

Watching football when a QB is so inaccurate, like some College games, for me is so tough to get through because it seems as though if you make it to that level, you should be able to throw the football to a WR in stride, or ou tin front where it needs to be. Watching bad QB play is the worst part of football now that I have lived through the Amazing Brady/Cassel years...

P.S. Watching Cassel in the early season was tough too for the same reasons...


So, with all that being said, wether or not he has a lot of weapons and a great coach and defense, etc... He makes better Decisions than 90% of NFL QBs, and his throws are usually right on target unlike so many other QBs who for the life of me, perplex me as to how you make it to the NFL and not be accurate... feels like that should be the #1 prerequisite, before you even thikn of the draft... can you throw to a WR in stride 9 out of 10 times reacting to different speeds, and different routes... most can't which boggles my mind.

 

[stcjones]

Sorry, even against bad teams, Cassel had a phenominal stretch down the end. He may never recreate what he did here on another team, but he clearly is a pretty good QB. Wasn't this the same argument about Drew Brees when he left San Deigo? How is he doing in N'Orleans?

Can't put Cassel and Brees in the same category Rob. Cassel has had a good season here......time will tell what he does from here....This guy's article is not fair and insulting....but saying "Let's see what he does next year.....or will he succeed in another team's system?....are fair arguments...saying "He is all smoke and mirrors" is a terrible insult to Cassel and the entire team......OTOH,..Brees was one of the top QB's this year.....and has been near the top for several years now......

 

[JoeSixPat]

When Cassel's OL wasn't protecting him he didn't exactly look good. You could say the same for any QB but if he goes to a team with a bad OL they shouldn't expect 11-5.

Same with WRs. Having Welker and Moss helped Cassel greatly. He won't have that on another team. Same with a decent running game. Cassel also took awhile to develop deep passing skills - though we definately saw major improvement there.

All that being said Cassel's got the poise, leadership and skills to make some very big plays. That alone puts him in a higher category of QBs, even if he's not likely to immediately duplicate what he did with the Pats.

 

[stcjones]

You don't really begin to appreciate Cassel's abilities until you watch another NFL club minus a few liek the Colts.

most notably the Jets... When you watch a QB like Farve, or here in Jax like Garrard, you see just how spoiled we are with solid accurate QB play.

Watching football when a QB is so inaccurate, like some College games, for me is so tough to get through because it seems as though if you make it to that level, you should be able to throw the football to a WR in stride, or ou tin front where it needs to be. Watching bad QB play is the worst part of football now that I have lived through the Amazing Brady/Cassel years...

P.S. Watching Cassel in the early season was tough too for the same reasons...


So, with all that being said, wether or not he has a lot of weapons and a great coach and defense, etc... He makes better Decisions than 90% of NFL QBs, and his throws are usually right on target unlike so many other QBs who for the life of me, perplex me as to how you make it to the NFL and not be accurate... feels like that should be the #1 prerequisite, before you even thikn of the draft... can you throw to a WR in stride 9 out of 10 times reacting to different speeds, and different routes... most can't which boggles my mind.

Good post.....Cassel's decision making has evolved tremendously this season and he is getting more comfortable. He DOES continue to struggle with accuracy occasionally however....not "hitting the WR in stride"......because of underthrowing or throwing behind the receiver....but again he has improved his accuracy and "touch" alot during the season......Still needs to work on the long ball overall...I'm sure that will be a focus for him this offseason........