R.J. MacReady
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Sturm: What starting QB Matt Cassel brings to the Cowboys
I cut the Cassel history part of this story.
So, can he play?
I gave him the 200-play treatment recently, to see what we could see about Cassel and what you should expect from the Cowboys new QB for the next month (most likely).
He is very different than Brandon Weeden. Weeden was careful and conservative. If Cassel has a weakness (and it appears he does), it is that he often trusts his arm too much. Throwing into coverage is something that he will do. This gives him some wonderful moments that you just love. But, it also sets up some "what is he thinking?" moments as well.
I suppose, that is the the majority of backup QBs in this league who have decided they are not the type to lay-up on a Par 5. They are going to give their WR a chance to make a play. Sometimes, that is great and sometimes it shows that we should probably draft a QB the next chance we get.
Let's look at some clips:
Here is a beauty against Philadelphia. Look at him keep his eyes down the field, duck through some pass rush, and deliver a throw in stride to Greg Jennings. That should get you excited. Weeden had killed that play the second the pocket started collapsing.
How about this one?
Man in his face, rollout to the right and puts a long throw right on the stride of Jennings again. How is this guy available? These throws are magical!
Well, he also throws these:
Play-action, with protection breaking down. He sees an opportunity down the field and takes a hit to deliver a throw. Unfortunately, all of that chaos causes the throw to sail and it hits the safety right in the chest.
Here he sees an opportunity to hit Jennings down the field against the Patriots and throws at Revis. He just misses, but Revis doesn't. Another pick for the bad guys.
But, look at this - Cassel makes a throw that any elite QB would be proud of as he hits Jerome Simpson in the back of the end zone on the post. He can make this throw look pretty easy.
Basically the same throw above. Again, a thing of beauty. Accuracy is spot on and a nice big gain as he attacks the spot in front of the safeties.
And here, he sails his man, throws it into coverage, and gets the accuracy a little wrong. These throws kill drives and often lose games.
3rd and short, run "sticks". Fastball to the sticks and the LB is sitting on it for a Pick-6. Telegraphed and not what we have a veteran QB here to do.
Again, Weeden never even tries this throw. Fantastic. Although you can tell it takes his whole body to make this throw at this point of his career.
Again, there is nothing better than throws like this. This wins games and makes Cassel his money.
=====
There are 10 plays or so from this experiment that I wanted to show you. The bottom line here is basically that he knows what he is doing. He can challenge a defense and he is willing to get hit in the mouth to try to make a play.
However, he also makes some decisions that are not high-probability ideas and often gets his hand burned. He is limited, because he doesn't have a gun and also will get hurt on you.
But, he believes in himself, which is a big part of the battle. He is not here to take repeated check downs and he is not here to play super conservative.
He is a backup QB who is a bit of a gunslinger. I wonder about this because I know Jason Garrett and Scott Linehan usually like backups that know what they are not capable of doing. I almost feel like this idea was somewhat imposed upon them by the front office to give a guy a chance who wants to make a play. Weeden was being too careful and now they will get the opposite.
The realities are pretty clear. Matt Cassel is no longer anyone's savior. He is a backup QB who has real limitations, but the test for a backup is that if you insert him for a month with a good football team, can he get you to 2-2? They think he gives them a better chance than Brandon Weeden.
I agree with them.
But, we are about to find out.
I cut the Cassel history part of this story.
So, can he play?
I gave him the 200-play treatment recently, to see what we could see about Cassel and what you should expect from the Cowboys new QB for the next month (most likely).
He is very different than Brandon Weeden. Weeden was careful and conservative. If Cassel has a weakness (and it appears he does), it is that he often trusts his arm too much. Throwing into coverage is something that he will do. This gives him some wonderful moments that you just love. But, it also sets up some "what is he thinking?" moments as well.
I suppose, that is the the majority of backup QBs in this league who have decided they are not the type to lay-up on a Par 5. They are going to give their WR a chance to make a play. Sometimes, that is great and sometimes it shows that we should probably draft a QB the next chance we get.
Let's look at some clips:
Here is a beauty against Philadelphia. Look at him keep his eyes down the field, duck through some pass rush, and deliver a throw in stride to Greg Jennings. That should get you excited. Weeden had killed that play the second the pocket started collapsing.
How about this one?
Man in his face, rollout to the right and puts a long throw right on the stride of Jennings again. How is this guy available? These throws are magical!
Well, he also throws these:
Play-action, with protection breaking down. He sees an opportunity down the field and takes a hit to deliver a throw. Unfortunately, all of that chaos causes the throw to sail and it hits the safety right in the chest.
Here he sees an opportunity to hit Jennings down the field against the Patriots and throws at Revis. He just misses, but Revis doesn't. Another pick for the bad guys.
But, look at this - Cassel makes a throw that any elite QB would be proud of as he hits Jerome Simpson in the back of the end zone on the post. He can make this throw look pretty easy.
Basically the same throw above. Again, a thing of beauty. Accuracy is spot on and a nice big gain as he attacks the spot in front of the safeties.
And here, he sails his man, throws it into coverage, and gets the accuracy a little wrong. These throws kill drives and often lose games.
3rd and short, run "sticks". Fastball to the sticks and the LB is sitting on it for a Pick-6. Telegraphed and not what we have a veteran QB here to do.
Again, Weeden never even tries this throw. Fantastic. Although you can tell it takes his whole body to make this throw at this point of his career.
Again, there is nothing better than throws like this. This wins games and makes Cassel his money.
=====
There are 10 plays or so from this experiment that I wanted to show you. The bottom line here is basically that he knows what he is doing. He can challenge a defense and he is willing to get hit in the mouth to try to make a play.
However, he also makes some decisions that are not high-probability ideas and often gets his hand burned. He is limited, because he doesn't have a gun and also will get hurt on you.
But, he believes in himself, which is a big part of the battle. He is not here to take repeated check downs and he is not here to play super conservative.
He is a backup QB who is a bit of a gunslinger. I wonder about this because I know Jason Garrett and Scott Linehan usually like backups that know what they are not capable of doing. I almost feel like this idea was somewhat imposed upon them by the front office to give a guy a chance who wants to make a play. Weeden was being too careful and now they will get the opposite.
The realities are pretty clear. Matt Cassel is no longer anyone's savior. He is a backup QB who has real limitations, but the test for a backup is that if you insert him for a month with a good football team, can he get you to 2-2? They think he gives them a better chance than Brandon Weeden.
I agree with them.
But, we are about to find out.
