Grade Cassel

[JoePats]

Grade Matt Cassel's performance yesterday.

I thought it was an easy A. He underthrew Moss and threw a dangerous pass to Welker at 16-10, but those were the only two bad throws he made. He didn't force anything when he was under pressure, which was often. No turnovers, no fumbles.

And after the Jets scored for 16-10, we get the ball at the 20. Cassel to Moss, Cassel to Thomas, two first downs, crowd quiets down immediately. Huge plays right there.

 

[rusH1023]

I think there were times where he looked a little uneasy, but he kept it together on the whole. A solid 'B' in my opinion. I was impressed with how crisp he throws the short stuff over the middle. Those aren't easy.

 

[DefenseRules]

I think there were times where he looked a little uneasy, but he kept it together on the whole. A solid 'B' in my opinion. I was impressed with how crisp he throws the short stuff over the middle. Those aren't easy.

I agree. The kid did a good job. He was a little shakey once or twice, but overall he kept his composure.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

They say one of the first big tests of a QB is how he performs under adverse conditions. He faced those yesterday after the hit on his knee and the spate of sacks. And he collected himself, came back focused and continued to function at a high level.

If you watched the Cleveland game last night, you saw a full blown meltdown. That's a QB who hasn't rebounded from his last tough outing in 2007...

 

[kbbluepits]

B+!! Great job Matt!

 

[old 55]

I'd give him a B. He played well enough to make some plays, but missed 2-3 TDs with the misses/deflections to Thomas in 2 different end zone attempts and the underthrow/late throw to Moss.

We are so used to Brady's decisiveness and pocket awareness that Cassel looks uncertain and unaware at times.

I do think he needs to improve for us to step up our offense. He has the tools to do it and the weapons to do it. He needs to stop locking in on his primary target. It makes him easier to defend.

I'm sure this will come with playing time and confidence.

 

[pwes]

I say a B. He did good but has to get more accurate on those throws.

 

[sieglo]

A-. I've seen worse games from Brady.

To get the A, red zone performance needs to improve. But Cassel is not wholly to blame for that.

 

[Funktopus]

Other than the last possession of the first half and the first possession of the second half, I thought he was fine.

And to my completely uneducated eye, the problems he had with those possessions were related to organizing the offense pre-snap.

here's a link to the play by play: NFL Game Center: Play-by-Play - New England Patriots at New York Jets - 2008 2

I'd be curious to see what the football savvy folks here on the boards think about Cassel's play relating to setting up the blocking and getting the offense organized to run the plays piped into his helmet.

 

[Nunchucks]

I think Cassell showed some positives as well as some negatives. He still is obviously a little too slow reading defenses and making the correct decisions. He will have to throw more deep passes to keep defenses honest, he will have to get on the same page as Moss and the other receivers for passes over 8 yards down field.

He also needs a tad better pocket presence, know when to throw the ball away and realize that he isnt fast compared to the guys who are trying to knock him down. Cassell you cannot run the option in the NFL.

However, Cassell did a great job on in the short passing game, did enough to get his guys in position and take advantage of the RB and Welker. His throws were crisp and accurate for the most part and of course the most important thing was he didn't turn the ball over.

Overall I give Cassel a B-, he did enough to help his team win and gave us fans a little confidence in his ability. He seems like a work in progress and hopefully as he becomes more comfortable in a starting role, he will begin to stretch the field.

Moss is a serious offensive weapon and we will need him in the games to come, Cassell has to show he is confident in thowing those deeper passes, until he does that, teams will crowd the line, take away the short stuff and stuff the run.

 

[ctpatsfan1]

Solid B

needs to hit WR's in stride, needs fewer mental mistakes and needs to score TD's to get the A from me.

 

[JoePats]

I thought McDaniels went conservative a few too many times in the red zone, which contributed to the 1-5 TDs down there. I can understand why though. The bar does get raised as we move forward but yesterday I thought Cassel did everything he was supposed to do.

The only thing, how much blame does he get on all those timeouts that had to be used vs the play getting in late? I'm guessing most of that is on Cassel, so that's one thing that will need to improve.

 

[patchick]

The national epidemic of grade inflation hits PatsFans.com!

Cassel was absolutely fine. He did his job -- no less, no more. That's the definition of "B" in my book.

If you give him an "A" then what room do you leave for a performance that actually includes a couple of long completions and touchdown passes?

 

[Fixit]

B+ to A-. He did everything that he was supposed to do and made no real mistakes. The standard will be higher as the season goes on, but he'll also get used to his receivers. We might see a whole lot of A games.

Man, I've never been so happy to be so wrong about an athlete.

 

[czech54]

It's really hard to grade on an ABCDF scale.

You really have to look at it like how they score the gymnastics at the Olympics. Two part score, one for degree of difficulty and one for execution.

He gets a really good score for execution, but starts with a really low difficulty level.

Combine the two and he gets an average score.

 

[JoePats]

The national epidemic of grade inflation hits PatsFans.com!

Cassel was absolutely fine. He did his job -- no less, no more. That's the definition of "B" in my book.

If you give him an "A" then what room do you leave for a performance that actually includes a couple of long completions and touchdown passes?

I just think you do have to factor in what he was asked to do. As I said, the bar goes up a little bit each week.

 

[mgteich]

Yup! An "A" would be a Brady equivalent performance on one of Brady's good days. Many of Brady's performances were B or worse.

Cassell did what I would expect from about 1/2 of the starting QB's in the league. That used to be called a "C". Someone gave him a bit more because of the situation, a B-. that seems about right. There was lots and lots of room for improvement. However, he did fine. I'll an average QB performance from him any day. The rest of the offense will make him look better, as will the defense.

The national epidemic of grade inflation hits PatsFans.com!

Cassel was absolutely fine. He did his job -- no less, no more. That's the definition of "B" in my book.

If you give him an "A" then what room do you leave for a performance that actually includes a couple of long completions and touchdown passes?

 

[patchick]

It's really hard to grade on an ABCDF scale.

You really have to look at it like how they score the gymnastics at the Olympics. Two part score, one for degree of difficulty and one for execution.

He gets a really good score for execution, but starts with a really low difficulty level.

Combine the two and he gets an average score.

Good way of looking at it. It seems like a lot of posters have been grading his performance relative to their own personal expectations, which doesn't make any sense to me. The less you as a fan happen to think of the guy, the better his performance is?

 

[JoePats]

The less you as a fan happen to think of the guy, the better his performance is?

Actually to me, yes that's exactly the way you look at it. You can't evaluate Peyton Manning the same way you evaluate Kyle Orton. They have completely different responsibilities beyond winning.

 

[Seels]

C+. Nothing special, but made no mistakes.