One football expert's analysis of Matt Cassel

[Rob0729]

Re: One football experts analysis of Matt Cassel

The mob needs someone to beat with their sticks.

I am not one to overract to a players. I don't trash Chad Jackson or Josh McDaniels or any other Pats fan whipping boys. I just don't think Cassel is an NFL QB. He has a lot of the tools, but the fact that he hasn't played any serious football since high school has hinder him in bad habits like making poor decisions and staring down WRs. It is no coincidence since preseason 2006, Cassel has 5 INTs and zero TDs other than the one he threw to Jason Taylor.

Seriously. Does anyone feel comfortable if say Brady goes out in a game and the Pats are down by 2 points with three minutes left that Cassel could come in and mount a game winning drive? Anyone feel comfortable in a game where it is close enough that one screw up could be the difference for him to come in and do anything than hand off the ball even if the opposing team had a great rushing defense?

 

[Deus Irae]

Re: One football experts analysis of Matt Cassel

Well, other than the fact that Cassel stares down receivers and makes poor decisions, I do have no basis for my argument that he makes poor decisions and stares down. He stares down receivers on almost every play including this past preseason game.

1.) Your statement of opinion is not fact in the sense of it being a general occurrence. Frankly, I've not seen it to be true.

2.) The question was about poor decisions in the last game, of which you found none besides the throw to the Bucs defender. That was either an absolutely horrendous read or an absolutely blown route. Looking at it, my impression was that Cassel just missed the defender sitting on the route and the screw up was his, but I don't know what the play actually called for.

3.) You made an assumption about Brady's speech which is both self-serving and counter to its most likely interpretation.

As I said, you have no basis for your argument and you're usually better than this. You have no idea what the Patriots have been doing with Cassel under center and that patchwork offensive line, whereas Brady does. Brady may, or may not, be lying in this case, but he certainly has far more insight into the situation than you or I do, and your comment about him does you no credit, especially since he has, on many an occasion, talked about poor play by the team (albeit in generally gentle terms).

 

[RussFrancis]

Re: One football experts analysis of Matt Cassel

Im not gonna get into pinpointing Cassell's throw the other night. But what he does do on virtually every single throw is stare down his intended target. You rarely see the guy look someone else, and come back to his secondary target with a purpose and make a quick read and throw.

Brady's ability to analyse and his actual analysis in this case need to be clearly seperated. He has little capacity for objectivity on the radio delivering a breakdown of Cassell's performance.

 

[nashvillepatsfan]

Re: One football experts analysis of Matt Cassel

Seriously. Does anyone feel comfortable if say Brady goes out in a game and the Pats are down by 2 points with three minutes left that Cassel could come in and mount a game winning drive?

ummm, well,,,,not comfortable, no. All I'm saying, is I think he's done an ok job, not great, just ok. I just don't see him doing anything that warrants the things that are said about him on this board. He is afterall, the backup. I havent seen anything out of the other Matt the makes me think he's the future # 2, atleast not this preseason. As for staring down receivers, o'connell has been holding the ball, and staring alot more than Cassel, imho.

 

[RussFrancis]

Re: One football experts analysis of Matt Cassel

ummm, well,,,,not comfortable, no. All I'm saying, is I think he's done an ok job, not great, just ok. I just don't see him doing anything that warrants the things that are said about him on this board. He is afterall, the backup. I havent seen anything out of the other Matt the makes me think he's the future # 2, atleast not this preseason. As for staring down receivers, o'connell has been holding the ball, and staring alot more than Cassel, imho.

I wouldnt argue your point about O'C. But he's also a rookie. Not a 4th year veteran with several years of studying the same system. If O'C is still doing that in his 4th year, then he wont be amounting to much either. Poise is something that I dont think can be taught. O'C seems to have it, and his obvious rookie flaws will be ironed out in time. Cassell looks like he lives with his finger on the panic button.

 

[Rob0729]

Re: One football experts analysis of Matt Cassel

1.) Your statement of opinion is not fact in the sense of it being a general occurrence. Frankly, I've not seen it to be true.

2.) The question was about poor decisions in the last game, of which you found none besides the throw to the Bucs defender. That was either an absolutely horrendous read or an absolutely blown route. Looking at it, my impression was that Cassel just missed the defender sitting on the route and the screw up was his, but I don't know what the play actually called for.

3.) You made an assumption about Brady's speech which is both self-serving and counter to its most likely interpretation.

As I said, you have no basis for your argument and you're usually better than this. You have no idea what the Patriots have been doing with Cassel under center and that patchwork offensive line, whereas Brady does. Brady may, or may not, be lying in this case, but he certainly has far more insight into the situation than you or I do, and your comment about him does you no credit, especially since he has, on many an occasion, talked about poor play by the team (albeit in generally gentle terms).

Brady has never, ever singled out a player and has lied through his teeth on many occasion about players performances. I didn't listen to Brady's interview other than the very end which was well after these comments so I don't know the context.

My original point stands though. I do not believe Brady's public assessment on any player on the roster. I do not think he gives his real opinions on players on the radio and talks them up like any good leader would. My opinion on his decision making is a side issue anyway because just because I don't agree with his assessment of Cassel the particulars of what he said is not at issue, it is whether I believe any player assessment he says publically.

As for the poor decision in the Bucs game, it was 100% a poor decision. Now Moss is running wrong routes for Cassel too? Last week it was Chad Jackson. But then again, it was one play in one preseason game.

Again, I am basing my opinion on Cassel on two years worth of work, not just one preseason game. I don't make decisions on players lightly. My frustration with him dates back to two years worth of play. If he had a horrible game this past Sunday and he hadn't thrown 5 INTs to no TDs in the two years prior to it, I would brush it off as no big deal.

Sorry, but Cassel has been annointed the #2 QB for a while now. His play has regressed for a while now. He has yet to show me anything this preseason that has proved to me that he has rebounded from his slump. Making excuses about the o-line which did a pretty good job protecting him on passing plays. If we are going to play games about believing Patriots people who say things on the radio, Belichick praised the o-line for protecting Cassel in his interview on WEEI.

 

[Spiral]

Re: One football experts analysis of Matt Cassel

Seriously. Does anyone feel comfortable if say Brady goes out in a game and the Pats are down by 2 points with three minutes left that Cassel could come in and mount a game winning drive?

If Brady and the Patriots were ever involved in a game in which they were losing after 57 minutes, I don't think there is a QB alive that could replace Brady and win the game. Let's face it--Belichick has decided (at least for the time being) that he'd rather have two developmental-type QBs behind Brady than a veteran and a kid. That may be based on what he sees in the 3 young QBs, or on the quality of veterans that are available. I'm inclined to trust his judgment on this one.

 

[sieglo]

Re: One football experts analysis of Matt Cassel

Put yourself in Brady's shoes.

If you have Matt Cassel playing behind me, it makes you feel very secure in your job. So you say good things about him so they don't bring in someone who would might someday take your job.

 

[nashvillepatsfan]

Re: One football experts analysis of Matt Cassel

We all know that B.B. is always full of surprises. He might already know of a vet that will be coming available. Maybe he's waiting, who knows. I just know that B.B. knows more about football than me, so If he wants Cassel at #2, I'll buy into it. In Bill we trust :woohoo:

 

[Rob0729]

Re: One football experts analysis of Matt Cassel

If Brady and the Patriots were ever involved in a game in which they were losing after 57 minutes, I don't think there is a QB alive that could replace Brady and win the game. Let's face it--Belichick has decided (at least for the time being) that he'd rather have two developmental-type QBs behind Brady than a veteran and a kid. That may be based on what he sees in the 3 young QBs, or on the quality of veterans that are available. I'm inclined to trust his judgment on this one.

No offense, but how does that make sense? What if it is a 45-43 game and Brady has six TD passes? Are you going to tell me that no QB on the planet could come in and score a TD when Brady has scored six already? Just because the Pats are losing a game, it doesn't mean the offense has stalled.

Belichick has another option. Bring in a veteran QB. I think that would be the route I would go.

 

[jays52]

Re: One football experts analysis of Matt Cassel

I think the problem with Cassel is well known. He stares down his recievers. In fact, he sells out his pre-snap reads right away. He get's locked into the coverage's primary before the snap and telegraphs the throw. This problem is derived from lack of playing time and experience.

At any level higher than high school, quarterbacks read the coverage and anticipate the route. They shouldn't be looking at recievers, they should know where their recievers are going to be on whatever the timing is. For example, an inside slant should be timed to where the quarterback hits his hitch step coming out of a three step, placing the reciever just in back of the hook to flat before the linebacker has dropped far enough. If the quarterback reads the linebacker and anticipates the void in coverage, the ball is released. Another very common, very basic example of coverage reads is the basic out and up combination. Your slot and split end are lined up, slot runs a basic 7 or 10 yard out, the split end runs a fly. The quarterback reads the safety and makes the decision to pull the trigger on the out or the fly based upon where the safety is going to be. No need to look at the recievers.

Cassel's problem is he is focusing on the micro, not taking a holistic view of the defense like Brady does. If he learns how to truely make reads, not focusing on his coverage-based primary, I think he can get it done.

 

[Rob0729]

Re: One football experts analysis of Matt Cassel

Put yourself in Brady's shoes.

If you have Matt Cassel playing behind me, it makes you feel very secure in your job. So you say good things about him so they don't bring in someone who would might someday take your job.

If Brady is spending time worrying about his job security, he has too much time on his hands.

 

[patchick]

Re: One football experts analysis of Matt Cassel

There is plenty of room for analysis, interpretation and disagreement on Matt Cassel's potential. But Brady's supportive public patter is absolutely, 100% meaningless.

Brady is a master of bland, smiling media professionalism. Has he ever made a negative public comment about a teammate's performance in his entire career?

 

[Clonamery]

Re: One football experts analysis of Matt Cassel

There is plenty of room for analysis, interpretation and disagreement on Matt Cassel's potential. But Brady's supportive public patter is absolutely, 100% meaningless.

Brady is a master of bland, smiling media professionalism. Has he ever made a negative public comment about a teammate's performance in his entire career?

He's a consummate professional.

 

[JSn]

Re: One football experts analysis of Matt Cassel

Seriously. Does anyone feel comfortable if say Brady goes out in a game and the Pats are down by 2 points with three minutes left that Cassel could come in and mount a game winning drive? Anyone feel comfortable in a game where it is close enough that one screw up could be the difference for him to come in and do anything than hand off the ball even if the opposing team had a great rushing defense?

To be fair there are like THREE QB's in the league I would have majority confidence in to pull this off.

 

[JSn]

Re: One football experts analysis of Matt Cassel

ICassel's problem is he is focusing on the micro, not taking a holistic view of the defense like Brady does.

Yeah, he needs to eat more raw foods and focus his chi.

 

[TheGodInAGreyHoodie]

Re: One football experts analysis of Matt Cassel

To be fair there are like THREE QB's in the league I would have majority confidence in to pull this off.

I would put it slightly higher

Manning (2), Rivers, Ben R, Romo, Brees, Anderson and a few others...but all of them have jobs.

 

[Rob0729]

Re: One football experts analysis of Matt Cassel

Here is another expert's opinion. From Mike Reiss' mail bag:

Mike, I am thinking Gutierrez and Cassel have played themselves off of the team and the Pats will keep O'Connell and sign an experienced player as a back up after he is cut by another team. Maybe a Chris Simms? They have too much talent to go into the season risking it all if Brady goes down. What are your thoughts and who do you think might be available?
Griff

A: Griff, the main thing I took from Cassel’s performance is that the offense doesn’t seem to respond to him. The quarterback is the primary catalyst to an offense, and I just don’t see the spark when Cassel is in the huddle. I thought Cassel had two plays that really hurt – the initial third-down pass that was almost intercepted by Barrett Ruud, and on the second drive, the Nick Kaczur false start as Cassel was trying to get the offense into the right play. The reason I felt Cassel played a part in Kaczur’s penalty is that it’s the quarterback’s job to get the other 10 players on the same page before the snap, and as the play-clock neared 6 seconds, that hadn’t happened and Kaczur ended up jumping. On top of Cassel, I felt a lot of the offense’s problems were the result of ineffectiveness of other players (for example, it’s hard to blame Cassel for drops by Marcus Pollard and Heath Evans, or the negative plays in the running game). So I’m balancing two thoughts here -- I think it’s easy to pile on just Cassel, but I’d point out that he hasn’t always received help from those around him. The other thought is that at the end of the day it is the quarterback’s job to move the offense and score points, to provide that spark, and it just hasn’t happened for Cassel -- and so I do think that puts his roster spot in jeopardy. I wouldn’t count out Gutierrez just yet. I think the reason he didn’t play Sunday night was that he had missed practice time during the week with what Bill Belichick described as a bruise. As for acquiring someone like Chris Simms, I think that he’d be an upgrade. Otherwise, I just don’t see any names out there that are that appealing.

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/extras/askreiss/08_19_08/?page=full

 

[Rob0729]

Re: One football experts analysis of Matt Cassel

To be fair there are like THREE QB's in the league I would have majority confidence in to pull this off.

There are plenty of QBs I would have enough confidence that there was a chance that it would happen except in certain situations. I don't think I would have any confidence in Cassel taking control of the offense and leading a drive.

 

[JSn]

Re: One football experts analysis of Matt Cassel

There are plenty of QBs I would have enough confidence that there was a chance that it would happen except in certain situations. I don't think I would have any confidence in Cassel taking control of the offense and leading a drive.

Right. Not quite what I was saying though. Majority confidence. Romo is bollocks in High Pressure situations, in general. And did someone say Eli? He did it one time. I don't think we'll see his regular season play be much above "solid".

I'm just saying that I think Cassel needs to grow some balls, make the offense FOLLOW him. Then he could get somewhere. Add to that watching coverage instead of his IR, which he could learn with more game-time. Just trying to brush away some negativity.

That said, I like O'Connell. He's raw alright, and he looks like Favre on the field (in the sense of general randomness, not long bombs). Put him in a few games and he could be #2 by next season, imo.