I love how people keep blaming the O-line. I re-watch a lot of the games on NFL Game Rewind's All-22 film, and the problem isn't so much the O-line. It's more centered around the fact that this is a run-first offense. Teams stack the box, send 6-7 attackers at a time. With that kind of pressure, of course the O-line is going to look horrible at times. The opposite is true though, this is one of the best O-lines in the league.
Now, why is this a run-first offense? Because Matt Cassel is not anywhere near a capable passer to run a pass-first offense. He can't put defenses on their heels with his noodle arm and inaccurate tendencies.
I'll duplicate some stats I saw from ProFootballFocus to back up my point about the O-line being good.
1.) Matt Cassel holds on to the ball too long.
It takes Cassel on average 2.84 seconds to get the ball out (7th worst in the league).
On the other hand, it takes an average of 3.84 seconds before Cassel is sacked. This is 5th best in the league. The O-line holds up very well in pass protection.
2.) Matt Cassel cannot read a defense, nor can he progress through is reads.
Re-watch the Pittsburgh game. On the second to last drive it was 3rd and 7. Cassel had Bowe wide open, but stuck w/ his first read, Moeaki, and delivered a terribly underthrown ball. You could read Daboll's lips "BOWE WAS OPEN." Here's the overhead camera:
http://twilton.com/sites/default/files/bowe_pass.jpg
I realize this is one play, but Cassel's tape is littered with this. He misses open receivers because he cannot progress through his reads, and he has not improved on this the last 4 years as a QB, to the point that we see his offensive coordinator yelling at him on the sideline for missing open receivers. If his first read is gone, he gets flustered and sits in the pocket until the O-line breaks down OR he takes off the second his first read isn't covered.
The O-line is one of the Chiefs' bright spots. Jeff Allen has struggled some as a rookie, but overall, the O-line is outstanding. Take a look at ProFootballFocus's O-line rankings after week 10,
the Chiefs are rated the 4th best. And this is coming from the people who watch all 32 teams every week to establish these grades:
Source:
Offensive Line Rankings: Week 10 Update | ProFootballFocus.com
The fact of the matter is the same people who are clamoring that "the O-line is bad, the O-line is bad" are the same people who wanted Albert moved from LT a couple of years ago. Today, Albert is one of the best LTs in the league. ProFootballFocus ranks him as the second best (behind Denver's Ryan Clady) when it comes to pass blocking. Albert has given up 1 sack and 3 QB hits in 9 games. OUTSTANDING.
To rehash, Cassel makes is his own O-line worse. Defenses are not afraid of him as a passer, so why not stack the box and send extra blitzers?
It makes me sick to my stomach that people can still defend him after an 11/26 performance in which he threw a backbreaking interception into triple coverage to lose the game. It's a broken record, Cassel plays awful against good teams, yet it's everyone else's fault.
And you want to talk drops? KC suffers their fair share of drops. But Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers both have higher drop percentages (drops per pass attempt) than Cassel.
They have the two highest QB ratings in the league at 108 and 107.4, respectively.
If you're still making excuses for Cassel and claiming that the offense around him is the cause for this failure, you clearly are delusional. You continue blame other parts of the offense, regardless of the overwhelming evidence that instead points the finger directly at Matt Cassel. This team needs a new quarterback, and they will not go anywhere until that happens.
(Also, if you've never seen it, this thread is brilliant and continues to stack the evidence against Cassel: Chiefs The Declaration Of Independence, MO - The People vs. Matthew Gus Brennan Cassel - ChiefsPlanet
I especially like the "Cassel Makes Offensive Linemen Worse" and the "Winning Teams Beat Cassel at an Alarming Rate.")
Keep defending Matt Cassel though, the guy with 19 turnovers in 9 games. The guy who can't beat winning teams. The guy who is one of the worst quarterbacks in the league. Yeah, that's the guy who's the least of our problems on offense. I digress.