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VINTAGE CASSEL
November 4th – 5:39 PM

Chiefs QB Matt Cassel chatted with media members from the Jacksonville area this afternoon and, as the conversation continued to flow, the topic eventually became Cassel’s collegiate career at USC.

As has been well documented throughout Cassel’s NFL career, the Chiefs signal-caller was drafted in the seventh-round by New England despite never starting a collegiate game. Cassel played behind both Carson Palmer and Matt Leinert while at USC. Cassel’s gained his first start at quarterback since his high school days when he opened against the New York Jets last season with New England on September 20th.

Here are some excerpts of Cassel’s collegiate reflection earlier today…

(on not playing much in college at Southern California)  “That’s exactly right.”

(on if he ever regrets going there)  “I’d be lying if I said there weren’t times that I regretted going to USC just because I wanted to play so much.  But in the end it all worked out and I’ll never look back and wish I did something else, especially how it all turned out and worked out for the best.”

(on if he thought about transferring)  “You know going into my redshirt junior year was when the whole competition between myself and Matt Leinart happened and I truly believed I was going to be the starting quarterback.  They really didn’t name it until we got into the season that year, right before the first game.  So it would’ve been just one year to play one year and it wouldn’t have been at a Division I college and also I was one year away from my degree so I was caught in an interesting situation.”

(on if he knows much about Maurice Jones-Drew, or if they crossed paths in high school or college)  “I know of him.  To be completely honest we never played against him or anything like that.”

(on if he thinks he would’ve done all the same things Leinart did while at USC – National Championships, Heisman)  “I’d like to think so.”

JONES-DREW DISAPPOINTED PAGE’S SEASON IS DONE
November 4th – 3:32 PM

Jaguars big-play running back Maurice Jones-Drew called Arrowhead today to talk Chiefs/Jaguars. One of the first things that Jones-Drew addressed was his disappointment in not being able to play against his friend and former UCLA teammate Jarrad Page this weekend.

”I miss my man,” Jones-Drew said of Page. “I thought I was going to be able to play against him, but I heard he hurt his calf. It’s not going to be good. I also went to high school with QB Matt Gutierrez, so it’s going to be good to see him again and hang out with a couple of those guys before and after the game.“

Page was officially placed on injured reserve this morning.

CHAMBERS ADDS BIG PLAY ABILITY
November 4th – 3:13 PM

The Chiefs have lacked a speedy, vertical threat in the passing game this season. The longest pass play of the season has been a 50-yard hookup to WR Mark Bradley in the season opener at Baltimore. There have been a number of nice plays/catches turned in by the Chiefs receiving core, but Kansas City has lacked that consistent deep threat, that consistent burner down the sidelines.

Chiefs head coach Todd Haley is hopeful that WR Chris Chambers can change that. Chambers was awarded to the Chiefs late yesterday afternoon following a waiver claim.

“His speed is pretty good,” Haley said. “I think maybe better than you give him credit for. He was a fast guy coming out (of college) and that was something that we wanted to look at and watch a lot of tape on. He was a vertical threat for San Diego, so I think he does give us some speed and vertical explosion. He’s always been a great leaper and explosive to the football, a big strong guy at 215 pounds. I think he adds a little to the mix.“

At the end of the day, however, Haley simply felt like Chambers can improve the Chiefs overall batch of wide receivers.

“He became available and in our quest to improve our team in every avenue, we felt like he could potentially help us,” Haley said. “We have experience playing against him and preparing for him, so we had a bunch of different opinions of him and felt good about getting him here.“

Chambers recalled his time in San Diego as an up-and-down ride, but he is now ready to go to work for another AFC West team.

“I came in there and did what I had to do,” Chambers said of his time in San Diego. “I had a great year once I got there, made some plays to help us go to the championship game. The next year I started off real hot, didn’t get the ball as much, but I was finding myself in the end zone. Then I got hurt, missed three or four games and tried to get back in the lineup. They kind of moved me around after that. I played good towards the end of the year. Then this year i had a really good training camp and had some opportunities that came up and I wish that I had back, that I didn’t capitalize on.“

Haley wasn’t committal as to whether or not Chambers will be ready to play on Sunday, but both parties seem eager for #11 to hit the game field.

MORE TWISTS TO CHIEFS SECONDARY (UPDATED)
November 4th – 11:45 AM

Another practice at Arrowhead and even more is revealed about the Chiefs safety situation - which seems to be changing by the minute.

S Jon McGraw was held out of work again this afternoon. In his absence, Mike Brown and DaJuan Morgan lined up at strong and free safety. Filling in behind Morgan was CB Maurice Leggett.

Newly acquired DB Travis Daniels, who has NFL experience at safety, worked with the cornerbacks today. Part of that reason might have to do with the absence of CB Mike Richardson, who had been playing the team’s nickel position in recent weeks. There is no news from the team as to whether Richardson is injured, ill or has been released.

Other news - WR Chris Chambers is wearing #11, while Daniels wears #34.

UPDATE - CB Mike Richardson officially missed practice today due to illness.

DANIELS CAN “SWING”
November 4th – 8:50 AM

Travis Daniels has been a cornerback throughout the majority of his professional career. He was a cornerback with Cleveland when the Chiefs originally signed him as an unrestricted free agent from the Browns on March 10th, and he was a cornerback when he competed in training camp with the Chiefs this summer.

But Daniels has always held high value in defensive secondaries, because he’s what teams call a “swing guy.” Although he is a primary corner, Daniels can shift back to the safety position if need-be. He started a game at the safety position in 2007 with the Dolphins (@ NYJ - 9/23) and logged five tackles.

With S Jarrad Page moving to injured reserve and S Jon McGraw sidelined over a week with a leg injury, the Chiefs practiced with no active free safeties on Monday. CB Maurice Leggett took reps as he likely prepared for an emergency role, while the other member of the Chiefs to get snaps was practice squad S Ricky Price. Price was with the team in training camp and signed with the Chiefs practice squad late last week.

The situation the Chiefs face at safety is an interesting one, and it all revolves around the health of McGraw. If McGraw proves healthy, he’ll obviously be the starter, with his likely back-up Daniels. But if McGraw can’t play/practice, the door opens for an entirely different set of scenarios.

Will either Mike Brown or Dajuan Morgan shift over from their strong safety spot to play free safety? Can either one of them handle the shift? Who backs them up if this happens? Will Daniels be the starting free safety on Sunday if McGraw can’t go? Where does Leggett fit in? Is Price still an option? You get the point.

The great thing about Daniels is that he has experience in the NFL as a safety and he’s very familiar with the Chiefs defensive calls after spending an entire offseason training under Todd Haley/Clancy Pendergast.. That’s exactly what the Chiefs need right now - somebody who is ready to play today.

We’ll learn more about all the other details at practice later this morning.

EDUCATION ON LJ
November 4th – 8:23 AM

The NFL can get extremely complicated when it comes to dealing out suspensions, filing grievances and working settlements with clubs, the league, the NFLPA and player agents. The entire process is something that a fan can easily get lost in the middle of.

This morning, former NFL general manger Charlie Casserly gave readers of cbssportsline.com an unbiased look at the Chiefs/RB Larry Johnson situation. Casserly’s take is as accurate as it gets from a process standpoint. He explains the view and line of thinking from both the team and player/agent side of things.

The story is definitely worth a look. I guarantee that you will learn something…I know that i did.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/12467385

PAGE TO INJURED RESERVE
November 4th – 7:19 AM

The Chiefs placed S Jarrad Page on injured reserve this morning and signed defensive back Travis Daniels to the active roster. Daniels was with the club in training camp.

DEFENSIVE MIRAGE?
November 4th – 6:12 AM

The Jacksonville Jaguars just gave up 305 rushing yards last Sunday. Of those 305 yards, 228 came courtesy of RB Chris Johnson – the speedy home run hitter in Nashville. Johnson ran right, ran left and ran up the middle. He turned the corner early and didn’t look back. The Jags missed tackle after tackle, and took pursuit angles that resembled someone trying to throw off a pursuing bear (that’s a zig-zag pattern).

Johnson scored on runs of 52 and 89 yards. His pair of long runs, coupled with Maurice Jones-Drew’s TD bursts of 80 and 79 yards made Sunday’s game the first in NFL history to feature four rushing TDs of 50 yards or more. It wasn’t good defensively for Jacksonville on Sunday and head coach Jack Del Rio, a former NFL linebacker, was left sick to his stomach.

“It comes down to simple things like defeating blocks, leveraging the ball and tackling,” Del Rio said during his press conference earlier this week. ”(Johnson) is a pretty special back and he had some sensational runs, but as a defense we have to be able to get him on the ground. It wasn’t anything schematically that was problematic for us. It was simply leveraging and tackling.”

What was “simply leveraging and tackling,” wasn’t so simple for Jacksonville last weekend. The results have Chiefs fans excited. The Jags defense looked extremely vulnerable when going up against a running back whose attributes match that of the Chiefs starter this weekend, Jamaal Charles.

Chris Johnson is fast. Jamaal Charles is fast.

Chris Johnson is 5-11, 200. Jamaal Charles is 5-11, 199.

Chris Johnson has moves in the open field, so does Charles. Johnson can create off the pass, Charles as well…you get the point. Johnson and Charles resemble each other, except for the fact that Johnson has obviously had far more success up to this point in his young professional career.

Both excel is space, both can break the long run and both have dreadlocks. It’s pretty simple, really. They’re a lot alike. Johnson burned the Jags, so Charles will burn the Jags. Right? It’s a guarantee. No?

Oh, is that Lee Corso over there? I think he has the Jaguars mascot head in his hands. Yep, he does. He’s putting it on top of his head. Great. Here we go…”Not so fast my friends.” Ugh oh.

The Jaguars defensive performance against the run was flat-out ugly on Sunday, but don’t get fooled into thinking that this type of thing is the norm for that football team. As bad as it was, Johnson’s rushing outbreak might be more of an outlier, an exception, a shot in the dark. A mirage, if you will.

Truth is, this Jacksonville front seven is pretty solid. Really, anytime you have DT John Henderson roaming the center of your trenches, you are in pretty good shape. Johnson’s franchise record setting day was the first time that the Jags had given up a 100-yard rusher this season. After the game, Jacksonville’s defensive rank against the run plummeted to 25th in the league at 128.3 rushing yards yielded per contest. Take out those 305 yards, however, and you’ve got a very respectable defensive rushing number.

All you have to do is take a look at the runners who have come and gone against Jacksonville this season without topping the 100-yard mark. The list is filled with some pretty impressive names. Here are the leading rushers against Jacksonville each week of 2009 before Johnson conquered the Cats.

Game 1 – Joseph Addai – 42 rushing yards
Game 2 – Tim Hightower – 72 rushing yards
Game 3 – Steve Slaton – 76 rushing yards
Game 4 – Chris Johnson – 83 rushing yards
Game 5 – Edgerrin James – 46 rushing yards
Game 6 – Steven Jackson – 50 rushing yards

Notice that Johnson, the back most similar to Charles, has the top two rushing performances against the Jaguars this season. That’s certainly reason for optimism, but don’t get fooled into thinking that this Jaguars team is a squad the opposing teams run all over.

Jacksonville is a club that the Chiefs play sporadically, and they’re not an opponent that Midwest football fans are very familiar with. All anyone needs to know is that the Jags are constantly a respected defensive football team. They typically resemble the likes of their fiery head coach and hit opponents in the mouth. This is a team that will come at you.

Don’t get me wrong, Jacksonville’s run defense certainly isn’t world-beating. They’ve consistently found the run harder to stop ever since DT Marcus Stroad was traded to Buffalo in 2008. But they’re not the team that you saw getting torched on highlight shows this week either.

Expect to see a defense ready to play this weekend. Jacksonville has a chip on their shoulder after Johnson shredded through level after level of defenders last Sunday. To Del Rio, tackling is a very simple thing. He’s even hinted that live tackling will be a part of practice today in Jacksonville.

“It’s pretty simple,” Del Rio said. “Keep your head up, see what you’re hitting and run through it.”

We’ll check in with the Jaguars head man later this morning.