The Great Cassel Debate

Yesterday, a lot of fans were surprised when they discovered that Matt Cassel had beaten out Matt Gutierrez for 2nd string quarterback spot, behind Tom Brady.  I got a few emails yesterday, some quite angry with Belichick and Pioli:

what the (explicative) is belidiot doing keeping cassel on the team???  i cant stand to watch cassel in four years here he never score one touchdown.  pathetic, and retarted decision by the coach.  we need to sign someone who can throw the ball like chris simms because if brady get hurt we wont even make the palyoffs

My first reaction was wow.  I couldn’t believe I had gotten such a poorly written email….  On a serious note, I got four or five of these yesterday (you know, you could just leave a comment).  Essentially, they all said how Cassel was a sorry excuse for an NFL quarterback.

Now, may I be the first to say that I disagree with the majority of the opinions of the fan base.  If you want to play a numbers game, we can do just that.  So, after a lot of research, I was able to compile Matt Cassel’s career stats, including the preseason:

Year	G	COMP	ATT	YDS	TD	INT
2005ps	4	27	54	256	1	1
2005rs	2	13	24	183	2	1
2006ps	4	49	82	680	3	1
2006rs	6	5	8	32	0	0
2007ps	4	23	40	230	0	2
2007rs	6	4	7	38	0	1
2008ps	4	19	34	165	0	1
TOTAL	30	140	241	1584	6	7

That equals to a quarterback rating of 74.1 with a total completion percentage of 58.5.

Of course, those numbers aren’t flashy, but they show that he can get the job done if needed.  Yeah, he wasn’t great in the preseason, but he wasn’t all that bad either.  He played relatively mistake free for most of this preseason, as he didn’t have any turnovers that were his fault.  Sometimes he has issues with his mechanics and that can affect his accuracy, but when he’s clicking, he can throw the ball well, with strength, poise, and accuracy.  He can even use his feet to create plays when he’s called upon.

Matt Gutierrez can put more zip on the ball, and has a stronger arm.  However, he lacks mobility as well as experience.  And sometimes, he just lets the ball float, leading to easy interceptions.  Most of all, he doesn’t have the experience in the system that Cassel has.  The big stat up there was games played.  Cassel has 30 games and four years in the Patriots system, and that alone, should give him the edge (and it should also tell people who think the Patriots should bring in a Chris Simms, to shut up).

Keep in mind that this preseason, that Matt Cassel was going against starting defenses…  starting defenses for playoff clubs.  And while he struggled at times, he had control of the team and took care of the ball.  With a strong gameplan, solid running game, and good defense, the Patriots could win games with Cassel under center.