Cassel named AFC Offensive Player of the Week

[DaBruinz]

Cassel played a good, solid game despite the sacks, of which only 2 can truly be blamed on him. The other 4 were failures by the TEs and RBs to either hold their blocks or make chips. Its pretty bad when the TE runs AROUND the Pass Rusher and gives him a free shot at the QB.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Pitino nailed it, fellowship of the miserable...

While sacks are troubling the less than half that are Cassel's "fault" are also to be expected for any QB in his first season as an NFL starter let alone one whose running game has been spotty at best prior to this week. Brady, who has progressed to HOF lock in seven starting seasons here, was sacked multiple times and knocked down and harassed to distraction last February behind this same group of OLinemen. The good news is they aren't strip sacks which they easily could be nor are they avoided at the cost of desperation heaves and wobbly tipped attempts to throw it away with a couple of guys already in his kitchen...

Honestly it's as if the frontrunner segment of the fan base lives in a cave absent NFL coverage except when this team this year and this QB take the field... He's obviously being coached to first do no harm, and to Bill harm is turning the ball over. As one of the talking heads observed the other night, punting after a sack is not necessarily always a bad thing given some of the alternatives...

The best thing about Cassel to date is his poise overall which includes the capacity to block out the critics in the peanut gallery and just listen to his professional coaches.

 

[BradyManny]

Good for Cassel, and hopefully this is a confidence booster.

In terms of the sacks, a few things I think should be noted - first, most of these sacks are not coming for huge losses, Cassel is recognizing he has to tuck the ball and trying to get back to the LOS or beyond. Which leads to the second point, that Cassel has not put himself in physical danger with these sacks, he hasn't been hit on his blindside or in a dangerous position while throwing, for instance.

In time, the sacks will lessen as the OL stops sucking (Neal's addition is important) and Cassel develops and can read D's quicker.

 

[tobias funke]

After every sack I find myself saying "at least he held onto the ball".

Take a look around the league. You guys really want a Kurt Warner on a team like this?

Cassel plays like holding onto the rock is the most important thing in the game, and it is. Like others said, it could be SO much worse.

 

[Fencer]

Re: Matt Cassel - AFC Offensive Player of the Week

Hmm. I dunno if I feel like he deserves this. He's still making sloppy throws and got very lucky that horrible pass to Kevin Faulk was ruled an incomplete pass instead of an interception.

THAT SAID.

I think Cassell's three biggest weaknesses (slow decision-making, occasional inaccurate throws, and poor deep ball) are correctable and will improve as he gets comfortable. I expect by the end of the season he'll be a fairly constant 80-90 point QB and the team will make it into the playoffs.

I agree with everything except the bolded part, and I hope you are right about that too. I fear he'll take longer to develop.

Brady's serious improvements in accuracy took several years, not several months. And Cassell is still totally locking onto one receiver.

What he does well is to show the well-rounded athletic ability and personality to still make some plays and keep his teammates' respect, while being a QB who can't usually look past the first receiver.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Re: Matt Cassel - AFC Offensive Player of the Week

Cassel
+ Knows the offense and executes most of it well without requiring a CTRL-ALT-Delete of the team offense
+ Has not made many bad decisions that resulted in picks
+ Has held onto the ball despite being pummeled by sacks
+ Has shown on several occasions that he can check down from his 1st options to a safety outlet
+ Has made a few big plays contributing to wins
+ Has run for several key 1st downs

- Shows lack of pocket sense in failing to anticipate the rush and geting rid of the ball on time
- Not quick enough picking up his alternate receivers in many cases
- Stares at his primary receiver too often, notably on the quick screen plays (could not believe how CLUELESS Denver's D was seeing this)

- Failed to establish himself as a serious threat in the medium to deep parts of the field
- Under pressure goes from pass to run too soon

It's reasonable that with continued coaching and game experience he can improve on several deficiencies

 

[Lloyd_Christmas]

I'm as happy as anyone that he played better this past week, but he doesn't deserve this award. There were others more worthy IMO.

 

[apple strudel]

************, New Englanders would crap on Christmas, given the chance.

 

[emoney_33]

Re: Matt Cassel - AFC Offensive Player of the Week

Cassel
+ Knows the offense and executes most of it well without requiring a CTRL-ALT-Delete of the team offense
+ Has not made many bad decisions that resulted in picks
+ Has held onto the ball despite being pummeled by sacks
+ Has shown on several occasions that he can check down from his 1st options to a safety outlet
+ Has made a few big plays contributing to wins
+ Has run for several key 1st downs

- Shows lack of pocket sense in failing to anticipate the rush and geting rid of the ball on time
- Not quick enough picking up his alternate receivers in many cases
- Stares at his primary receiver too often, notably on the quick screen plays (could not believe how CLUELESS Denver's D was seeing this)

- Failed to establish himself as a serious threat in the medium to deep parts of the field
- Under pressure goes from pass to run too soon

It's reasonable that with continued coaching and game experience he can improve on several deficiencies

Good stuff.

I just want to note that he has been improving, and one key area of improvement we saw in the Denver game was Cassel not tucking the ball and running as much as he has in the past when pressure came. Quite a few times he bought/attempted to buy time by running out of the pocket without tucking the ball, still with his eyes downfield.


Progress my friends, patience and progress.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Any idea who these guys are that vote on this stuff?

Was Tom Brady giving cars away to all of the voters?

Seriously though, Sammy Morris deserves the award...and its not even close

Cassel played decent but Morris was the reason this game was already decided by halftime.

 

[fgssand]

Re: Matt Cassel - AFC Offensive Player of the Week

Cassel
+ Knows the offense and executes most of it well without requiring a CTRL-ALT-Delete of the team offense
+ Has not made many bad decisions that resulted in picks
+ Has held onto the ball despite being pummeled by sacks
+ Has shown on several occasions that he can check down from his 1st options to a safety outlet
+ Has made a few big plays contributing to wins
+ Has run for several key 1st downs

- Shows lack of pocket sense in failing to anticipate the rush and getting rid of the ball on time
- Not quick enough picking up his alternate receivers in many cases
- Stares at his primary receiver too often, notably on the quick screen plays (could not believe how CLUELESS Denver's D was seeing this)

- Failed to establish himself as a serious threat in the medium to deep parts of the field
- Under pressure goes from pass to run too soon

It's reasonable that with continued coaching and game experience he can improve on several deficiencies

I have no complaint about your assessment.......

I congratulate MC for the award and I feel he is developing about as well as anyone could have possibly hoped.

I have supported MC since pre - season, but I have never had any illusions that he is the next Brady or anything close.

He is what he is and that is a developing, young QB getting better every week. Look for his awareness to improve once he believes that what he is seeing is really there.

MC will have bad weeks ahead, but he will also have more weeks like last week and hopefully better weeks to follow. Great confidence booster for the kid.

I am amazed at the lack of comment from certain resident MC haters that were oh so vocal last week - I called them out a number of times and haven't heard a peep. How trollish is it to not congratulate the guy when he does well after having pissed on him so hard after his SD showing. Pathetic losers that love to call me an idiot homer - well they are true haters, through and through, unable to admit when they are wrong.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

As far as people in here that have full confidence in Cassel,those who think he downright sucks and those who think he still is a bit raw and green - There is NO ONE right now who can admit they are right or wrong about anything - This team has been an up and down team so far so no one is right and no one is wrong.

The measuring stick between right and wrong will be decided in the first week of January - I think everyone here would consider Cassel getting this team to the playoffs a huge success in itself -

Very few here expect much more than a 1 and out playoff run and if Cassel does get this team into the playoffs then the doubters are instantly wrong and the people who had confidence in him will be right no matter if this team gets out of round 1 of the playoffs into round 2 or not.

Any playoff game for this team without Brady is a HUGE success no matter if they go any farther than a wild card berth or not,thats the bottom line.

No one is right about Cassel right now...and no one is wrong yet either

Patience my friends to decide who is right and who is wrong till the final game of 2008 or until/if the Pats get eliminated by the end of the regular season.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Re: Matt Cassel - AFC Offensive Player of the Week

I have supported MC since pre - season, but I have never had any illusions that he is the next Brady or anything close.

He is what he is and that is a developing, young QB getting better every week. Look for his awareness to improve once he believes that what he is seeing is really there.

Well, if you mean that he wasn't going to be the 2007 Brady, well, duh. But I think in terms of play, it's not unreasonable to compare him to 2001 Brady--not much flash, perhaps, but no Rosenfels-style meltdowns, either.

 

[signbabybrady]

Re: Matt Cassel - AFC Offensive Player of the Week

I have no complaint about your assessment.......

I congratulate MC for the award and I feel he is developing about as well as anyone could have possibly hoped.

I have supported MC since pre - season, but I have never had any illusions that he is the next Brady or anything close.

He is what he is and that is a developing, young QB getting better every week. Look for his awareness to improve once he believes that what he is seeing is really there.

MC will have bad weeks ahead, but he will also have more weeks like last week and hopefully better weeks to follow. Great confidence booster for the kid.

I am amazed at the lack of comment from certain resident MC haters that were oh so vocal last week - I called them out a number of times and haven't heard a peep. How trollish is it to not congratulate the guy when he does well after having pissed on him so hard after his SD showing. Pathetic losers that love to call me an idiot homer - well they are true haters, through and through, unable to admit when they are wrong.

You tell em FGS.

Where are all the haters now. The least you can do know is come out and credit him for this week because we know you will be back out in a heart beat if the chance arises.

 

[Fanfrom1960]

************, New Englanders would crap on Christmas, given the chance.

We get your point. Mrs. Cassel?

 

[ScottieC]

Re: Matt Cassel - AFC Offensive Player of the Week

It's too early to celebrate. What happens if he plays poorly in the next 2 or 3 weeks?

What does that have to do with getting recognized for good play in week 6?

 

[Fixit]

************, New Englanders would crap on Christmas, given the chance.

Bears repeating.

 

[TheGodInAGreyHoodie]

We get your point. Mrs. Cassel?

Ah, now that the NFL has formally given Cassel an award, those of us who stand by coach BB's assessment of that Matt Cassel gives the Patriots the best chance to win are not merely homers, but must be relativities of Matt.

Wow, the haters are nothing if not persistent.

 

[TheGodInAGreyHoodie]

Bears repeating.

I doubt it. Chicago is not that good.

 

[Nunchucks]

I do believe that any true New Englander would piss on christmas.