Matt Cassel Impresses in Spite of Chiefs' Offensive Line

He was harrassed and pressured all night, but Matt Cassel still looked sharp in the Chiefs' preseason loss to the Vikings.

MINNEAPOLIS -- The thinking was that Matt Cassel came into Friday night's preseason game against the Vikings on some kind of hot seat. Thanks to a cryptic interview session in which Chiefs coach Todd Haley refused to describe him as the team's best quarterback, there was some thought in Kansas City that Brodie Croyle might actually have a chance to overtake Cassel as the starter. Nevermind the trade that brought Cassel in, or the big contract extension they just gave him -- gotta play the best guy, right?

Well, Cassel sure looked like the best guy Friday, completing 9-of-14 passes for 99 yards and a touchdown. He was sharp, alert and very mobile all night -- and that mobility was a good thing, because the Chiefs' offensive line was cheesecloth and looks like the kind of unit that might make a quarterback wish for a spot on the bench.

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"You know, sometimes you just get out there and run around," said Cassel, who actually picked up 13 rushing yards on a couple of broken plays.

Cassel was sacked three times for a total of 16 yards, and on several other plays he managed to get away from the Vikings' pressure as it crashed easily through his line. It's possible that the Chiefs' O-line is so bad that it's tough to make a real evaluation of the quarterbacks, but the bright side for Cassel is that he showed an ability to perform under difficult circumstances, and that's got to help if the guy really is on the hot seat.

"I'm getting more and more comfortable," Cassel said, diplomatically, in evaluating a night that looked anything but. "We had a few weeks of training camp and I'm still getting familiar with the offense. It's a new offense with new players around, so it's a process."

Regardless of Haley's coaching technique, Cassel is extremely likely to get every single chance to fail plus one, given the commitment the Chiefs have made to him. Croyle was 5-for-10 for 41 yards in the game, and Matt Gutierrez was 8-for-13 for 68 yards (but unable to punch it in from the 1-yard line on four tries at the end of the game). Cassel was clearly the best of the bunch and will surely, if healthy, be the Chiefs' starter.

Right, Todd?

"I thought the quarterback play across the board was better," Haley said. "All three quarterbacks looked like they had a handle on what was going on."

All right. Be that way. But we're going to keep on assuming there's no quarterback controversy in Kansas City. Until we see otherwise.