The Kansas City Chiefs are loaded at RB, so 27-year old Jackie Battle will need to step up in the Chiefs’ last preseason game if he’s going to make the opening day roster.  Battle has played in all 3 preseason games for the Chiefs and he has carried the ball 34 times for 112 yards (3.3 ypc).  He has also caught 5 passes for 29 yards (5.8 avg) in the preseason.  It will be up to Battle to win a roster spot in the Chiefs’ final preseason game.

28-year old Matt Cassel is going to be the starting QB for the Chiefs again in 2011.  Offensive Co-Ordinator Charlie Weis really coached up Cassel this season so it will be interesting to see how he plays without him in 2011.  After Weis said he was leaving, Cassel’s play went down the toilet.  Cassel played in 15 games for the Chiefs last season and he completed 262 of 450 passes (58.2%) for 3,116 yards with 27 TD passes and 7 INTs (93.0 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 33 times for 125 yards (3.8 ypc) in this game.  Cassel has now played in 60 games in his NFL career and he has completed 882 of 1,498 passes (58.9%) for 9,986 yards with 66 TD passes and 36 INTs (83.6 QB Rating).  Cassel has also carried the ball 168 times for 612 yards (3.6 ypc) with 3 TD runs in his career so far.

27-year old Brodie Croyle is pathetic and the Chiefs should pull the plug on him.  Croyle played in 2 games for the Chiefs last season and he completed 8 of 19 passes (42.1%) for 38 yards with 0 TD passes and 1 INTs (27.7 QB Rating).  Croyle has now played in 18 games in his five years with the Chiefs and he has completed 181 of 319 passes (56.7%) for 1,669 yards with 8 TD passes and 9 INTs (67.8 QB Rating).  Croyle also has carried the ball 10 times for 15 yards (1.5 ypc) in his career.

27-year old lefty Tyler Palko got his first NFL action of his career during the regular season in 2010 for the Chiefs.  Palko played in 2 games for the Chiefs this year and he completed 4 of 6 passes (66.7%) for 35 yards with 0 TD passes and 0 INTs (81.9 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 2 times for 5 yards (2.5 ypc) for the Chiefs this year.

VERDICT:  Cassel is fine as the starting QB for 2011.  But, the Chiefs need a legit veteran backup and they need to draft a QB to groom for the future this April.

27-year old QB Brodie Croyle will likely get the start under center for the Chiefs this weekend.  Croyle has not gotten into any games this season for the Chiefs.  He played in 3 games for the Chiefs last season and he completed 23 of 40 passes (57.5%) for 230 yards with 2 TD passes and 0 INTs (90.6 QB Rating).  Croyle has now played in 16 games in his first five years with the Chiefs and he has completed 173 of 300 passes (57.7%) for 1,631 yards with 8 TD passes and 8 INTs (70.6 QB Rating).  Croyle has also carried the ball 1o times for 15 yards (1.5 ypc) so far in his NFL career.  The Chiefs are 0-9 in Croyle’s starts so they need him to step up and they also need Matt Cassel to get healthy soon.

32-year old WR Chris Chambers needs to get back into gear.  He has played in 4 games this season for the Chiefs and he has only caught 7 passes for 76 yards (10.9 avg).  The Chiefs need Chambers to get back to the player he was last season for them.  In 2009, Chambers played in 9 games for the Chiefs in which he caught 36 passes for 608 yards (16.9 avg) with 4 TD grabs.  That is the version of Chambers that the Chiefs need so they can open the passing game up a little bit.

The Chiefs are running for 160.7 yards rushing and 4.6 yards per carry but they are only passing for 161.3 yards per game so far.  If the Chiefs don’t start throwing the ball better it’s going to start getting much tougher to run the ball.  That means that QB Matt Cassel needs to step up soon.  He has completed 42 of 77 passes (54.5%) for 494 yards with 4 TD passes and 3 INTs (75.4 QB Rating) in his first three games of the year for the Chiefs.  The Chiefs need Cassel to step up because no one on the roster is capable of bumping him from his starting gig.

27-year old Matt Cassel was supposed to be the QB to lead the way to a much improved Chiefs’ offense in 2009 but it didn’t work out that way.  Cassel played in 15 games for the Chiefs this season and he completed 271 of 493 passes (55%) for 2,924 yards with 16 TD passes and 16 INTs (69.9 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 50 times for 189 yards (3.8 ypc) this year.  Cassel has now played in 45 games in his NFL career and he has completed 620 of 1,048 passes (59.2%) for 6,870 yards with 39 TD passes and 29 INTs (79.6 QB Rating).  He also has carried the ball 135 times for 487 yards (3.6 ypc) with 3 TD runs in his career to date.  Hopefully Charlie Weis can get Cassel back on track.

26-year old Brodie Croyle played the best football of his career this year when given the chance to play.  Croyle played in 3 games for the Chiefs last season and he completed 23 of 40 passes (57.5%) for 230 yards with 2 TD passes and 0 INTs (90.6 QB Rating).  Croyle has now played in 16 games in his NFL career and he has completed 173 of 300 passes (57.7%) for 1,631 yards with 8 TD passes and 8 INTs (70.6 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 10 times for 15 yards (1.5 ypc) in his career.  It will be interesting to see if Croyle gets a chance to compete with Matt Cassel for the starting job when next training camp opens.

25-year old Matt Gutierrez is the clipboard holding #3 QB of the Chiefs.  He played in 1 game for the Chiefs last season and he completed his only pass attempt for 3 yards.  Gutierrez has now played in 6 games in his NFL career and he has completed 2 of 2 passes (100%) for 18 yards with 0 TD passes and 0 INTs (104.2 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 5 times for -13 yards (-2.6 ypc) in his career.  Gutierrez will likely have a hard time making the Chiefs next year.

The Chiefs need 25-year old WR Dwayne Bowe to turn into the #1 WR that they think he should be.  He has played in 9 games this season for the Chiefs and he has caught 37 passes for 522 yards (14.1 avg) with 4 TD grabs.  Bowe needs to behave off the field and he needs to produce more on the field.  He has all of the tools to be a elite WR in the NFL but he needs to get motivated to reach that potential.

I think it’s too early to tell if 27-year old Matt Cassel is the long term answer for the Chiefs at QB.  It’s not like he has a lot of weapons to work with on the offense right now.  He has played in 8 games this season and he has completed 144 of 259 passes (55.6%) for 1,472 yards with 10 TD passes and 6 INTs (75.3 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 32 times for 126 yards (3.9 ypc) this year.  Cassel proved last season that he could excel if he had help at the skill positions which he doesn’t have right now in K.C.  Last season Cassel played in all 16 games for the Patriots and he completed 327 of 516 passes (63.4%) for 3,693 yards with 21 TD passes and 11 INTs (89.4 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 73 times for 270 yards (3.7 ypc) with 2 TD runs.  It seems as if Cassel plays as well as he can with the cards that are dealt him.  So if the Chiefs improve at RB, WR and TE in the near future I’m confident that Cassel will do a good job for them.

With Larry Johnson seemingly out of the picture for the time being Dantrell Savage will likely be moving up to the #2 RB role and he might be the starting kickoff returner with Jamaal Charles likely giving up that job to concentrate on offense.  Savage has carried the all 8 times for 41 yards (5.1 ypc) and he has caught 6 passes for 43 yards (7.2 avg) so far this year.  He has also returned 5 kickoffs for 114 yards (22.8 avg) this year.  He will likely be taking Jamaal Charles’ spot on kickoff returns.  Charles has returned 23 kickoffs for 557 yards (24.2 avg) this year.  It will be interesting to see how well Savage handles his bigger workload.

Chiefs’ head coach Todd Haley was supposedly a offensive genius from his time in Arizona.  He thought so much of his own ability that he fired the offensive co-ordinator deciding to do the job himself.  This is too much of a burden on a rookie head coach and it has proven to be a really dumb move by him.  The Chiefs are averaging only 16.8 points per game this season and they are only averaging 258.0 yards per game on offense.  With all of those factors in mind the Chiefs should let Matt Cassel loose.  He has completed 98 of 147 passes (58.5%) for 711 yards with 7 TD passes and 2 INTs (85.1 QB Rating).  Cassel has also carried the ball 15 times for 86 yards (5.7 ypc) this season.  The Chiefs need to get the running game going as it would help slow the pass rush some as they have allowed Cassel to get sacked 14 times already this season.