Week 9 QB projections • KC Stats
QB Matt Cassel, Kansas City Chiefs
HT: 6-5, WT: 230, Born: 5-17-1982, College: USC, Drafted: Round 7
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Stats and Week 9 Projection
| WK | OPP | RES | CMP | ATT | PYD | Y/A | PTD | INT | RSH | YD | Y/R | TD | FPT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | at WAS | W, 14-6 | 17 | 32 | 186 | 5.8 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 16 | 2.7 | 0 | 11 |
| 7 | vs SD | L, 7-37 | 10 | 25 | 97 | 3.9 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 24 | 4.0 | 0 | 6 |
| SEASON TOTAL | 103 | 187 | 994 | 5.3 | 8 | 5 | 27 | 126 | 4.7 | 0 | 92 | ||
| 9 | at JAX | PROJ | 19 | 31 | 191 | 6.2 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 5 | 18 | 3.6 | 0.1 | 17 |
Week 9 Injury Status and Other News
He was not listed on Friday's official injury report. Opinion (from Bob Henry's sleeper report): Like the Rams and Lions last week at Ford Field, the Chiefs and Jaguars game this week in Jacksonville pits two of the league's worst teams against each other. The Jags pass defense struggled badly in Tennessee last week without Rashean Mathis out and FS Reggie Nelson attempting to fill his shoes in the starting lineup. Opponents are completing 70.2% of their passes against the Jags, averaging 247 yards per game and they've thrown 13 TDs to just five INTs. Cassel's last start was utterly forgettable with 3 picks, just 1 TD and only 10 completions in 25 attempts for just 97 yards against the Chargers. With a bye week to regroup, Cassel and the Chiefs should have more success against the Jags. Without Mathis, look for Cassel and Dwayne Bowe to both produce nice games. Cassel could very well produce his third game this season (out of six so far) with 200+ yards and at least 2 TDs.
Week 9 Matchup Info
at Jacksonville Jaguars (Good matchup) - Matt Cassel went into the Chiefs' bye week with a sour taste in his mouth after crawling to 10/25 for 97 passing yards, one TD and three interceptions during a 37-7 loss to the Chargers. Over the past two games, he's thrown one TD and three interceptions, with 26/56 for 283 yards passing - it's fair to say that Cassel is in a bad slump entering this contest. Dwayne Bowe did catch the only TD thrown in the last two weeks, but he's converted only 42% of the throws that come his way in that time span (19 targets for 8/120/1) - Bobby Wade (12 for 7/91/0) and Mark Bradley (7 for 2/22/0) haven't been much help to Cassel in recent weeks, either.Vince Young put up a workmanlike 15/18 for 125 yards, one TD and zero interceptions vs. Jacksonville last week - over the past four weeks (three games), the Jaguars have handed over 568 passing yards, with just one interception and only two sacks generated. To date this year, Jacksonville is 26th in the NFL averaging 242.4 net passing yards allowed per game, with 13 pass TDs given up and only five interceptions generated (tied for 24th in the NFL in this category). The Jaguars are dead last in sacks generated, with a mere five through seven games. When you don't rush the passer well and you don't generate turnovers in the secondary, your team is in trouble - the Jaguars are 3-4 as of week nine.
Two struggling units clash in this matchup - we give a slight edge to the Chiefs due to the horrid pass D of the Jaguars, but we can't get too excited about the Kansas City pass attack right now. They may be able to get back on track this week - we'll see.
Game Summaries
Week 1 at BAL - Cassel was deactivated for Week 1 against Baltimore, allowing for Brodie Croyle to step into the starting role to open the season. Look for Cassel to bounce back from his knee injury and start Week 2.Week 2 vs OAK - The Good: Cassel was not affected by knee, at least not that we could tell. He scrambled and gain great yardage as a runner, and wasn't afraid of contact. Cassel threw the ball with great zip and confidence, and he was decisive about finding his checkdowns in Todd Haley's offense. Cassel also threw a very nice deep pass to give Dwayne Bowe a chance to make an athletic play, and he did just that to give the Chiefs the lead late in the game. The Bad: Cassel was victimized twice by Michael Huff on interceptions in Oakland territory, even though he looked him off on one of them. The other was an overthrow of Dantrell Savage that Huff made a nice diving catch to convert. Cassel also cost the Chiefs a scoring opportunity by completing a pass inbounds inside the 10 in the last seconds of the first half, even though the Chiefs had no timeouts. He didn't look bad in his return, against a defense that got in Philip Rivers face last week, but Cassel was still a bit out of sync running the offense, and it's clear that his numbers will suffer from a lack of quality targets.
Week 3 at PHI - Matt Cassel was under pressure often in Week 3 as Philadelphia's pressure defense was in his face early and often. Without his top receiver (Dwayne Bowe) in the game and the ground game not working, the Eagles pinned their ears back and went after Cassel. He was able to pad his stats a little in the fourth quarter with a meaningless late touchdown pass to Bobby Wade with under two minutes to play. Cassel should be on fantasy benches at this point.
Week 4 vs NYG - The New York Giants were all over Matt Cassel in Week 4, putting constant pressure and forcing him to step up or out of the pocket whenever he could. The Giants secondary played well even when he could get passes off and none of his receiving options could get open consistently. His first half numbers tell a better story (6-11 passing for 36 yards) of how ineffective the Kansas City passing game was against the Giants up until the final quarter after the game was decided. Better matchups do lie ahead (Dallas, at Washington, San Diego) so the ship may get righted soon, but for now Cassel is not a startable fantasy quarterback.
Week 5 vs DAL - Cassel had a wild game, but made some big plays when it counted. He was under pressure all day, but used his legs to create yardage when nothing came open. He had trouble putting the right touch on the ball, often putting too much heat on short passes. Cassel did have a good feel for eluding pressure when it came, and he settled down in the second half when the Chiefs called more quick passes to offset the Cowboys pass rush. He made the game-tying TD pass on 4th and seven in the red zone, and his other TD pass was on a third and goal throw to Mike Vrabel at the one. He generally was more accurate on throws over the middle of the field than throws to the outside, and looked as good as he has in his short career with the Chiefs.
Week 6 at WAS - Matt Cassel did not look bad against Washington as a passer, which is a double-edged sword. The fact that he completed over half his attempts and looked average is actually an improvement, but the other side of the argument is that this was the Redskins and Kansas City should have looked good or better against a struggling team. Cassel had just one pass completion over 20 yards, a 32-yard catch and run by Dwayne Bowe very late in the game where Bowe really helped him out on the play. Cassel does not have enough playmakers outside of Dwayne Bowe, who had well over half of the passing yards in Week 6. You should be able to do better for your fantasy quarterback, even in bye weeks.
Week 7 vs SD - Cassel had by far his worst game of the season. He entered with the third-most passes in a row without an interception, then spent most of the afternoon either getting picked off or coming close to it. In fact, he completed nearly as many passes to San Diego defenders (3) as his own receivers (7). He was nearly picked on the opening drive third down pass off a deflection, and was later bailed out of an interception when LB Shawne Merriman lined up in the neutral zone. But rather than taking advantage of his second chances, Cassel proceeded to make sure he was picked off later on. He was under a lot of duress in the second half, which was when all of the turnovers happened. Each of the last two interceptions came on overthrows as he tried forcing it into coverage while being hit. He came into the game with only two interceptions all season and then threw three in about fifteen minutes of real life time.
Not ALL of Cassel's passes were awful, mind you, just most of them. He did toss a perfect touch pass to Dwayne Bowe for a score along the sideline of the end zone, and made a perfect pass to Long in the end zone for what should have been a score but the wideout couldn't hang on. But those nice throws were far outnumbered by the overthrows on what should have been touchdowns and the near-interceptions that were just dropped by Charger defenders.
