I've just gotten back from a mission trip to Arlington this Spring Break (I did get to see the new Cowboys stadium and all the LSU and Oregon fans there to kick off college football season), and although I was helping the less fortunate, I couldn't help but feel a little less fortunate myself after hearing one tweet of bad news after the other.
First, it was Saturday, when the 53 man roster was released. I figured there would be a few players I was sad to see go, but all-in-all, just another cut-down day in the NFL. In the middle of finding out the released players, however, I was shocked to see that Tony Moeaki was being sent to Injured Reserve. Injured Reserve before the season starts in a death penalty for that season, because it means that he can't play at all. Moeaki as a rookie was second on the team in receiving yards and had great hands. It looked like we were going to start using him even more in our increasingly west-coast offense we showed in preseason (which even caused me to draft him in Fantasy Football). But it is not to be, and I viewed this as a major setback for the Kansas City Chiefs. Gabe Miller, the Chiefs second fifth round pick from this year's draft, was also placed on IR.
And then today, I get a tweet from Nick Wright scooping that Matt Cassel cracked a rib during the final preseason game against Green Bay, and that's why he had to leave the game. Reports were of course coming out after the game that Cassel had just gotten the wind knocked out of him, so hearing that it was actually a much more serious injury doesn't make me feel good at all. And then I got a tweet saying that back up quarterback Tyler Palko was told to be ready Sunday for the season opener against the Bills because Cassel's status had yet to be determined. That is not good for the Chiefs.
This was the risk the Chiefs ran by doing this sort of backwards approach to the preseason. Most teams didn't have their starters play or if they did, it was for a series or two. Our starters played, and some even played until the very last quarter. As a result, our rising tight end is out for the season and our starting quarterback is questionable going into the season.
Hindsight is 20/20, and I never questioned Todd Haley's approach to preparing his players. He knows them better than anyone else, plus Scott Pioli had talked with players from the last NFL shortened season, and he had concluded that this was the best way to conduct business. I trust Pioli and Haley when it comes to this team, but these injuries are hard to swallow going into an already sketchy year where most fans are hearing analysts disappointingly not pick the Chiefs for another playoff appearance.
As much as I like Moeaki, his loss isn't the end of the world, but if Cassel isn't healthy for week one, this season could get off to a slow and maybe even playoff ending start. Only time will tell just how this season turns out, but I'm more nervous now then I've ever been.
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