Winner Winner, Cassel Dinner

Mike Ransdell

The love affair between Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel and new Chiefs offensive coordinator Brian Daboll has perhaps reached its climax over the past week. But with every love story, there is a beginning that needs to be told.

It was clear that Bill Muir's time had come. If Muir hadn't retired, he would have been let go from his role of offensive coordinator. Muir was never able to get a grasp of the Chiefs offense to where it was effective or efficient. The fans new change was coming, they just didn't know who.

Then along came Daboll. 

When Daboll was first hired, his mission was not to fix the quarterback like Charlie Weiss. His mission seemed far different from that; it seemed that Daboll was hired for the purpose of praising and defending Cassel.

In the Chiefs press conference after Daboll was hired, the new OC said "I have a lot of confidence in Matt Cassel. I've watched him on tape and I know the player." Cassel responded with "I’m excited. I think it will be a good fit for us. He’s very detailed. He was very meticulous about his work and he expected a lot out of his players. I was always impressed with him as a coach.”

The compliments didn't stop there. Anytime that Cassel's ability at the quarterback position was brought into question - and many times when they weren't - Daboll would come to the rescue and defend his starting quarterback. That's what an offensive coordinator is supposed to do, but Daboll might have officially beat the Cassel drum a little too hard this time. 

The conversation started off as many of Daboll's do concerning Cassel, repeating how he has a lot of confidence in him. What came afterwards is interesting, accurate, slightly manipulative, and downright humorous. 

“He’s been a winner. He’s had two 10-plus win seasons and I did a study just this offseason about 10-plus-win quarterbacks, which is what you’re defined by. There have been nine of them the last four years that have had two or more 10-plus-win seasons. Matt is one of them, the others being (Tom) Brady, (Drew) Brees, (Aaron) Rodgers, Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, Eli (Manning), (Joe) Flacco, (Matt) Ryan."

The rest of the conversation was the usual pro-Cassel rhetoric, but the above paragraph is what has captured the attention of the Chiefs fans community. While the statement above is true, let's tap the breaks a little bit and evaluate.

Cassel had no problem saying he believes to be in the same group as the rival quarterbacks from his division - which includes Peyton Manning, Philip Rivers and Carson Palmer - and frankly, you want that kind of confidence from your quarterback, even if it's faked. But for your offensive coordinator to put you in the same echelon as the best quarterbacks in the NFL is either sweet or stupid.

Brady, Brees, Rodgers, both Mannings and Roethlisberger all have rings. Flacco has more playoff wins then he knows what to do with. Ryan is the only other quarterback on that list besides Cassel to not have a playoff win. But to Cassel's credit, he's only had one chance compared to Ryan's three (yes, that was sarcasm). 

So Cassel has two 10-win seasons over the past four years, but one playoff appearance. This is unthinkable when you associate Cassel's name with the others on the list, but once you see that Cassel has a career 28-26 record, you see that Cassel is almost the exception to the rule. 

In my opinion, it's time to put up or shut up for Cassel. I want to see him succeed, but I don't want to hear about how he is better than how he played last year. Having a new offensive coordinator every season can't be easy, and is surely detrimental to Cassel's development within an annually-changing playbook. But until Cassel shows me something other than what I remember from last season, I, along with all other Chiefs fans, am going to be skeptical. 

As the King once said: a little less conversation, a little more action please.