Last season, Matt Cassel emerged when Tom Brady went down for the New England Patriots. On the season, Cassel threw for 3,693 yards and 21 TD vs. 11 INT. Impressive numbers for a backup in the system for 4 seasons at that point in time but if you dig a little deeper, Chiefs fans should be excited.
Matt Cassel: 156/233 (67.0%) for 1566 yards and 7 TD vs. 7 INT with 30 Sacks
Matt Cassel: 171/283 (60.4%) for 2127 yards and 14 TD vs. 4 INT with 17 Sacks
The first line is Cassel’s numbers from week one to week nine. The second line is his numbers from week ten to week seventeen. While his completion percentage dropped, all of his other numbers greatly improved as he got more familiar with the system and working within it. He increased his yard per attempt from a low 6.72 to an impressive 7.52. He also increased the passes that he threw for TDs from 4.49% up to 8.19% despite completing only 15 more passes than he did in the first half.
He also greatly cut down on the interceptions from 3.00% to an incredible 1.41%. The biggest improvement, however, was his ability to read the defense and get rid of the ball quickly. He dropped his sack per attempt from every 8 pass attempts to every 17 pass attempts, almost a full half of a game.
This also allowed for him to complete the ball farther down field as he improved from 10.04 yards per completion to 12.44, almost two more yards in the second half. Just an increase of five completions would add another first down’s worth (ten) in yard difference between the first half and the second half.
Another bonus was Matt’s ability to recognize an opening and scramble when necessary. He improved with four games over ten yards in the first half to seven games over ten yards in the second half. This allowed him to make smarter decisions by scrambling for four to five yards as opposed to forcing a throw and risking an interception.
Football Outsiders ranked the quarterbacks in 2008. While Matt Cassel’s passing was pedestrian in DYAR at 17th and DVOA at 20th, his scrambling more than made up for it where he ranked 3rd in DYAR and 9th in DVOA.
