Charlie Weis has his hands full in KC

When you take a look at Matt Cassel's 2008 stats and you factor in the appointment of Charlie Weis as Chiefs' OC, you realize that Kansas City is faced with a paradox: Charlie Weis loves to employ the spread offense which frequently has at least 3, but often 4 or 5 receivers on the field at a time. But Cassel struggles in multiple receiver sets where its tougher to read defenses and throw the ball downfield. (With the stats above, receivers are counted as anyone who lines up out wide or in the slot; thus, running backs and tight ends flexed out are counted as receivers).

So what should the Chiefs do? Forcing Cassel into the spread could be like fitting a square peg into a round hole. I thought about the Chiefs possibly utilizing Cassel more in the shotgun which would give him a little more time to avoid the rush and a better look at the defensive alignment. However, that idea was put to rest once I saw these stats:

This is why half of Philly wants McNabb gone

I guess it wasn't just the Super Bowl in which Donovan McNabb got tired in the second half. Here is a look at how his passer rating dips from the first half to the second half-both in 2009 and for his career.



This chart doesn't exactly scream "clutch" which is what every fan wants from his team's starting QB. This stat doesn't help McNabb's case either in terms of getting in the good graces of Philadelphia: In 2009 when the Eagles were within 7 points (in either direction) during the 4th quarter, McNabb did not throw a single TD pass (48 pass attempts). BTW just for comparison's sake, JaMarcus Russell threw 2 TDs in these situations in 15 fewer pass attempts. Ouch!!!

Random Notes from 2009 NFL Season

• What do Matt Schaub and JaMarcus Russell have in common? Not much besides being QBs but they were also the only starting quarterbacks that did not commit a penalty all year. Now whether Russell can be considered a starting QB (or a legit NFL player in general), that's debatable. Schaub was penalty-free in 1066 snaps and Russell was the same in 560 snaps.
  
• Despite being 3rd in the NFL in passer rating, Aaron Rodgers had more dropped passes (45) by his receivers than any other QB had. But JaMarcus Russell had the highest percentage of his pass attempts dropped (10.5%) than any other player. Not surprisingly, Darrius Heyward-Bey led the NFL in lowest catch % as he caught only 23.7% of passes thrown to him.
• Robert Meachem, Greg Camarillo, and Jason Avant, and Reggie Bush were the only players to catch at least 40 passes without having a single drop.
  
• If you only counted rushing yards after contact then Chris Johnson would still be a 1,000 yard rusher. CJ had 1071 yards after contact to lead the NFL but Jamaal Charles' 3.6 yards after contact per rushing attempt was the highest average.
• Who was the worst at gaining yards after contact? BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Mewelde Moore, Lousaka Polite, and Brandon Jackson were the only players who had at least 25 carries but failed to break a single tackle.
• How does Josh Cribbs score so often on punt returns? He takes the most chances as indicated by his league-low 3 fair catches (on 40 punts in play). By comparison Antwaan Randle El had 36 punts in play and returned only 17 while fair catching 19 times.
• Donovan McNabb had 18 passes batted at the line of scrimmage which was the most in the NFL. Who had the fewest? Surprisingly it was Philip Rivers who only had 2 passes batted at the LOS despite his funky, three-quarters delivery.

Thanks to Neil Hornsby and the entire ProFootballFocus.com team for tracking these stats. I enjoyed working with you all last year.