Rate Cassel today

[MoLewisrocks]

There was one play that gave me the chills. Can't recall the exact specifics but he stepped up in the pocket and threw a strike for a first down, much like number 12 would have. If you were in a cave for a few months and just came back to see that play you would have thought it was Tom. Overall I'd give him a B+, maybe A-. In my mind it was his best game. As others have noted his two picks weren't really his fault, Moss could have caught that ball in the endzone. His worst throw was the one where Fakhir Brown should have picked it. This kid looks better and better by the week, and I'm really starting to get excited, considering the state of the NFL this yr (wide open).

It was on the 23 yard strike to Moss - eerily similar.

Today he was better than his teamates for the most part. If they catch back up and he doesn't regress we'll be fine.

Poise in the pocket is critical, but so is poise between snaps and series that don't go your way. He really showed tons of that today too.

 

[mgcolby]

Both are much better defenses at home than on the road and this is where we have and will play these teams. Matt has to prove it at Lucas Oil with a real pass rush and noise, similar to SD where he failed. If he passes the test and plays well, I'm sold. I still have to see it first.

I'm sold on him irregardless of the defense's he plays. He has improved since week one and has made some major strides over the past two weeks. Hell he moved the ball well against SD but the red zone failures changed the momentum of the game.

But I don't get how you feel SD is better at home? They allowed 26 and 29 in their first two games and then 10 to us, but again we got in our own way a few times.

Indy is 1 - 2 at Lucas oil. The stadium is no where near as loud as RCA was. They allowed 29 and 23 to the Bears and Jags. And the Ravens played terrible, they gave up some big plays early on D and their offense isn't good enough to make a comeback through the air. I will give Indy credit for the way they played on D, but the Ravens made a lot of mistakes.

Neither D is good and I have no idea what you are basing your comment on.

 

[BradyToMoss]

I'm sold on him irregardless of the defense's he plays. He has improved since week one and has made some major strides over the past two weeks. Hell he moved the ball well against SD but the red zone failures changed the momentum of the game.

But I don't get how you feel SD is better at home? They allowed 26 and 29 in their first two games and then 10 to us, but again we got in our own way a few times.

Indy is 1 - 2 at Lucas oil. The stadium is no where near as loud as RCA was. They allowed 29 and 23 to the Bears and Jags. And the Ravens played terrible, they gave up some big plays early on D and their offense isn't good enough to make a comeback through the air. I will give Indy credit for the way they played on D, but the Ravens made a lot of mistakes.

Neither D is good and I have no idea what you are basing your comment on.

So what you are trying to say, is that (Denver, St. Louis, SF and KC) are better defenses than SD and Indy? We are talking about the defenses that Matt Cassel has gone up against.

SD gave up 29 to the Jets at home because they dropped off the gas pedal after having a 30pt lead and laid back in a prevent defense. If their defense is that bad, then why couldn't Cassel muster more than 10pts against it? Indy is ranked defensively ahead of all of these teams. Denver, St. Louis and KC are statistically ranked as 3 of the 4 worst ranked overall defenses in football. Again, it's not tough to understand, Matt has to score in the 20's in INdy to beat that team, if he does, I'm sold, if he doesn't then I have to tie alot of the recent success that he has had to the quality of competition he has faced or lack thereof.

 

[mgcolby]

So what you are trying to say, is that (Denver, St. Louis, SF and KC) are better defenses than SD and Indy? We are talking about the defenses that Matt Cassel has gone up against.

SD gave up 29 to the Jets at home because they dropped off the gas pedal after having a 30pt lead and laid back in a prevent defense. If their defense is that bad, then why couldn't Cassel muster more than 10pts against it? Indy is ranked defensively ahead of all of these teams. Denver, St. Louis and KC are statistically ranked as 3 of the 4 worst ranked overall defenses in football. Again, it's not tough to understand, Matt has to score in the 20's in INdy to beat that team, if he does, I'm sold, if he doesn't then I have to tie alot of the recent success that he has had to the quality of competition he has faced or lack thereof.

I am trying to say that SD defense is bad and Indy's isn't much better than the rest of them. We only scored 10 points because Cassel didn't see some wide open folks in the End Zone and Moss didn't hold onto a couple of potential game changing plays.You are all over the place, I responded to your comment that SD and Indy are good defenses and they are not. I then responded to your comment that they are better at home, which they are not. Yet you have to toss out a comment "it's not tough to understand, Matt has to score in the 20's in Indy". I understand that is most likely the case, but that was not the point you articulated and the subtle jab was not necessary.

By the way, I'm sure it will be a relief for BB to know that you will be sold on Matt if he puts up 20+ on the Colts. At what point do you folks realize that BB and Pioli have a much better grasp on things than you?

The guy is 5-2. End of story. And remember that another team with a ton of offensive talent and an "experienced vet" only managed 14 points against this same crappy Rams defense last week.

 

[signbabybrady]

A

Neither pick was his fault. One the reciever fell and the other was tipped up.

Lead the team on a game tying and game winning drive.

nice drive to end the half too but only 3.

I even think when he did tuck and run he was more controlled. A few were in panic but a few times there was just grass in front of him and he did as he should take the safe play.

But I think the big key is he made manny throws down field some dropped some caught but he looked good making some 10+ yard throws.

Keep it up Cassel.

 

[OhExaulted1]

Why isn't O'Connell in there yet? BB and Pioli are just irresponsible.

Seriously though, Cassel looked poised and in control today. When it wasn't there he took off and he's 10x the runner Brady is. I guess the best thing for me was his escapability under pressure and his toughness on those runs. He's a load and runs guys over. He could have had another 1st down in the first half with a good stiff-arm like he did in the 2nd half.

He is seriously a tough kid. Gotta love it.

He ain't Steve Grogan yet, but he's getting there.

Gutz would be IR'ed for the rest of the year today, he's nowhere near as tough as Cassel.

 

[LoganMankinsPancakeBlocks]

I'd give him an A-. I thought he was excellent yesterday. The INT on the pass to Welker should've been a 15 yard completion instead of an INT but he slipped, Moss dropped a 30 yard touchdown, Moss had another touchdown ripped out of his hands (can't give Moss too much crap for this since it was just a fantastic play by the Rams DB, but some WR's are able to outmuscle the DB for the ball there) on a perfect pass by Cassel and Welker dropped a pass where he was wide open and would've had huge yardage, if not break it for a TD. The INT intended for Moss didn't look like a bad pass to me either, but I missed the replay and it's pretty difficult to tell live what happened. Only pass I had a real problem with was the dropped INT by the Rams in the end zone. Can't try and throw a laser through the defenders there...if he had lobbed it up high, Moss probably has a TD there. He also looked far more comfortable throwing with pressure today.

This was his best game as a pro as far as I'm concerned and he would've had some pretty huge stats if not for some unfortunate play by the WR's at times.

 

[ctsports]

Indy is 1 - 2 at Lucas oil. The stadium is no where near as loud as RCA was.

Don't worry. The additional speaker mounts are being installed today.

As for Cassel he gets an A because I had to pick up my kids and missed the two interceptions.

 

[Brady'sButtBoy]

B+

Drastic improvements in looking downfield and moving around the pocket.

 

[Nunchucks]

I give Cassel a B+, he played very well today. If not for a couple drops from his receivers and the two interceptions that weren't really his fault, Cassel would have played an almost flawless game.

I really liked how he felt the pressure, moved around and kept his eyes downfield He did a great job improving an building on his play from the previous week. I definitly think this was by far the best game he has played.

The play of Cassel yesterday validates the coaches decisions to stick with him and gives the team a lot of confidence going into the next week. I am sure that we will be watching a rollercoaster ride the new few weeks, but yesterday was definitly a Cassel coming out party.

 

[Leave No Doubt]

A- yesterday! It's tempting to give him a solid A but I'm banking on seeing steady improvement every week so my A will have to wait

He's becoming so poised and cool back there too; seriously there were a lot of plays in which you could've sworn that was #12

Cassel's presser was impressive as well-this kid can handle way more than so many gave him credit for.

Great job yesterday:rocker: Not perfect but it's exciting to see him progress and to see the team begin to adjust and improve around him too. I'm psyched about what we saw.

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

I'll give him a B. You can't get an A when you turn the ball over twice. .

I've always thought that there ought to be a stat for ints. like baseball has for earned runs and unearned runs...
As it is now,if an int hits the receiver in the numbers and bounces up in the air and is picked off, it stillcounts against the QB versus a badly thrown ball or one that is chucked up there ( see Favre,B.) On the two ints yesterday, it appeared that the first one bounced off Moss and the second one he anticipated Welker being at a spot but he fell down.....It's still better than throwing into triple coverage....

 

[chris_in_sunnyvale]

A-

This was his BEST game of the year so far. SF was his second best, and he had a good running game to help him in that. The running game was spotty at best yesterday and I'm being kind. Really, the offense was on his shoulders yesterday against a team that has had a resurgence under Haslett and he shined.

Instead of executing an abundance of WR screens that require no major reading of the D (although he had his share of those yesterday), he found WRs across the middle repeatedly. Throws like that prove to me he's getting better at reading defenses while facing the rush in his face. He did a good job stepping into the pocket for several throws. His poise was much better all around.

He also had several beautiful throws with touch that we've rarely seen from him. Moss should have had that long TD. He could have had a 2nd right before the half, but the defender did a good job getting his hand in there to break up an otherwise decent throw; Yeah, we can nitpick and say he should have put the ball up higher so only Moss had a chance, but that would have simply bumped a good throw into an outstanding throw. The TD to Faulk was both the exact right read (the TV telegraphed that play perfectly...Faulk going wide and a LB hurrying out to cover him, blatantly exposing the 1-on-1 Cassel was looking for) and a great throw.

He got jobbed on both picks, the 1st bouncing off Moss and the 2nd because Welker fell down. In addition to the Moss TD drop, Welker had a drop on a wide open deep cross. Then there was the throw to a wide open Faulk where the ball hit the ref; Nine times out of 10 the ref ducks in that case, but this was the one time the ref stood there like a doofus and let the ball hit him.

His worst throw was the should-have-been-pick on the slant to Moss in the endzone at a time when the Pats were trying to stay in the game (before their D came on strong). This is the main reason I'm withholding the straight A grade. Otherwise, this was a great performance by a guy who needed to carry the load on a day the running game wasn't going to do it for him and he did so beautifully.

Regards,
Chris

 

[N.Eman]

I'd give casell a B+ and improving on not turning the ball over. Sure a couple of INT here and there .

 

[signbabybrady]

Cassel's presser was impressive as well-this kid can handle way more than so many gave him credit for.

hahaha thats funny I said the same thing to my brother while we were listening to his presser. His poise showed in front of the mic as well as behind center.

 

[JAYHAWKS34]

I’d give him a B/B+, he was very efficient with the short passes to Welker and Moss

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Give him a 'B' - When INTs equal more than passing TDs regardless of how they occured is no reason for an A

A 'B' grade is correct here - A decent job by Matt,not great but decent

 

[Deus Irae]

Give him a 'B' - When INTs equal more than passing TDs regardless of how they occured is no reason for an A

A 'B' grade is correct here - A decent job by Matt,not great but decent

Absolutely ridiculous logic.

 

[LoganMankinsPancakeBlocks]

Give him a 'B' - When INTs equal more than passing TDs regardless of how they occured is no reason for an A

A 'B' grade is correct here - A decent job by Matt,not great but decent

Great point. What was Cassel thinking throwing the ball right on target to Welker when he was open? He really should've known that Welker was going to fall down and it would lead to an interception. Hitting Moss' hands in 2 situations (one leading to an INT, one dropped touchdown) with the football was not an intelligent play at all, either.

Brady would've known better than that, I can assure you of this.

Oh, and how did I forget him handing the ball off to Benjarvus Green-Ellis at the 1? He should've audibled into a pass knowing that he couldn't get an A on PATRIOTSFANINPA's "Matt Cassel report card" on patsfans.com by having more INT's than TD's.

 

[patsfan55]

It was on the 23 yard strike to Moss - eerily similar.

Today he was better than his teamates for the most part. If they catch back up and he doesn't regress we'll be fine.

Poise in the pocket is critical, but so is poise between snaps and series that don't go your way. He really showed tons of that today too.

just saw the replay, it was in fact on the 23 yard play WOW GREAT MEMORY!
you know what's crazy, that was all with four minutes left, for some reason this game felt like the Pats wins of old, when we'd be down a little, or tied late, and it just felt like no matter what we were gonna eek out the win. I LOVED this win!