Kansas City Chiefs: Matt Cassel Shows Promise In Loss to Texans

Heading into the Kansas City Chiefs' noon showdown with the Houston Texans on Sunday, the media and fans from Kansas City had been all over QB Matt Cassel, and for good reason.

After coming from New England in a surprise trade during the '09 offseason that included veteran linebacker Mike Vrabel, Cassel hasn't shown a lot of promise since taking over as the main signal caller in Kansas City.

Last year, Cassel was expected to come in and become the leader of the Chiefs offense and establish more credibility for himself in the league. Instead, he established more doubters as he finished the season with a record of 4-12 and throwing as many touchdowns as interceptions with 16 a piece.

Going into the 2010 regular season, many have expected Cassel to produce better numbers and play better considering the team upgraded their offensive line with two veteran lineman and drafted two more weapons for Cassel in slot WR Dexter McCluster and TE Tony Moeaki.

This goes without mentioning that the Chiefs and the rest of the league knew that the team would produce a strong rushing attack with the savvy veteran Thomas Jones and the young stud Jamaal Charles holding down the fort.

However, through the Chiefs' first four games of the year, Cassel had under-performed by a wide margin as he only had a completion percentage of around 54 percent, had 650 yards passing and just four touchdowns to go along with three interceptions.

This brings us to yesterday's showdown in Houston, and Cassel was more than ready against a horrid Texans pass defense. He showed calmness and poise in the pocket all day as he completed 69 percent of his passes, while throwing three touchdown passes and 201 yards through the air.

He displayed many of the qualities that general manager Scott Pioli thought he was getting with Cassel when he made the trade for the former USC backup back in 2009.

Even though the game ended in a heart-breaking loss for the Chiefs, Cassel has at least silenced many of his doubters for another week and hopefully he and the offense can build off of this performance for the future.