Cassel could find time to throw against Jaguars

By MARK LONG
AP Sports Writer

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.(AP) — This could be the week Matt Cassel keeps
his jersey clean.

Cassel has been sacked 24 times in six starts, including 19 the
last four games, and has been hurried and knocked down even more
often.

The Jacksonville Jaguars (3-4) could offer him some relief when
they host Kansas City (1-6) on Sunday.

The Jaguars have a league-low five sacks in seven games,
struggling to get any consistent pressure on opposing
quarterbacks. Peyton Manning, Kurt Warner, Matt Schaub and Matt
Hasselbeck all torched Jacksonville’s secondary. Even Vince
Young looked comfortable in the pocket last week against the
Jags.

Could Cassel be next?

“I don’t really know what the Jags’ stats are, but teams have
had some success throwing the ball,” Cassel said. “Any time
you’re a quarterback you hope that you can get out there and
have the ability to throw the ball. That’s an area where we’ve
struggled a bit and hopefully looking to get better in this
week.”

The Chiefs are coming off a bye week, which provided first-year
coach Todd Haley and his staff extra time to retool an offense
that hasn’t found a rhythm since Haley fired Chan Gailey as
offensive coordinator. Haley took over play-calling duties at
that time, two weeks before the season opener.

“The bye week was great for us because we never had a real
training camp with the terminology and the system, so we needed
that time to really kind of just fine-tune some of those finer
points that in a normal week you don’t get to,” Haley said. “It
was like a mini-training camp for us these last two weeks.”

Haley said his top priority last week was to eliminate negative
plays, including sacks. Facing Jacksonville should help.

Defensive end Reggie Hayward, on injured reserve since the
opener because of a broken left leg, limped through the locker
room the other day and jokingly lifted his arms above his head
and said, “Still in the lead.”

Indeed, Hayward is tied for the team lead with one sack – and he
hasn’t played the last six games. Starting defensive linemen
John Henderson, Terrance Knighton and Derrick Harvey are still
looking for their first sacks of the season. So are linebackers
Daryl Smith and Justin Durant.

The lack of pressure has become a huge concern for the Jaguars,
who are a bit baffled by the results. Sure, they were forced to
switch to a 3-4 defensive scheme following some early injuries,
but they expected to improve on last year’s 29 sacks. Instead,
they’re on pace to set the franchise record (17 in 2005) for
fewest sacks in a season.

“The thing that has been pinpointed is we’re not playing
consistent football,” cornerback Rashean Mathis said. “Being
consistent is the key to good football. It’s going to allow you
to stay in ballgames and it’s going to allow you to win
ballgames. When you’re consistent, you make the extra tackle,
you make the extra block, you make the extra read. But when
you’re not consistent, you leave yourself vulnerable to big
plays.”

So how do the Jaguars become more consistent?

“Focusing and knowing your job and really trusting the person
next to you,” Mathis said. “You have to trust your counterpart
and trust that he’s going to make his play and he’s not going to
try to do your job. This league is tough enough with you just
trying to do your job alone.”

The lack of pressure was compounded last week at Tennessee when
defenders missed tackles all over the field, allowing the Titans
to run for 305 yards in a 30-13 victory.

Coach Jack Del Rio considered having his guys go through live
tackling drills this week, but he reconsidered because of injury
concerns. He settled on putting them in full pads, a rare
occurrence during Del Rio’s tenure in Jacksonville.

“Obviously, it’s got to be an emphasis,” Del Rio said. “You’ve
got to tackle to play good defense. We understand that. It’s not
going to be an issue for us. It can’t be. We’ll find a way.”

The Jaguars would like to find a way to get to Cassel, too. Only
Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers has been sacked (31) more times this
season. The Chiefs, though, could get a boost if left tackle
Branden Albert and center Rudy Niswanger return to the lineup.
Albert missed the last two games with an ankle injury, and
Niswanger injured a knee against San Diego.

With running back Larry Johnson serving a one-game suspension
for conduct detrimental to the team, more of the workload could
fall to Cassel.

“Hopefully I’ll have some time to throw and we’ll be able to do
some good things,” he said.

It wouldn’t be out of the question against Jacksonville.

“We’ve had opportunities where we’ve been around the quarterback
quite a bit and we haven’t finished,” Jaguars defensive
coordinator Mel Tucker said. “I think going forward, when we
play faster, we emphasize finishing more, and guys play with
more confidence, I think that we’ll make those plays.”

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