Cassel: Kansas City Is A Great Place To Play

Denny Medley-US PRESSWIRE

Kansas City Chiefs QB spoke to the media yesterday for the first time since suffering a concussion at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens a couple of weeks ago.

A whole lot has happened since we heard from Cassel.

By now you know the story. A few jerks booed when they saw Cassel was injured, RT Eric Winston over-reacted and called out all Chiefs fans in a rant in front of the media. The national media, as they are wont to do, jumped all over the story like a pack of rabid dogs fighting over some roadkill. Media members who so often take the low road used the incident as an opportunity jump up onto the high road, soapbox in hand, so they could bash the good people of Kansas City. After the fans pushed back, Chiefs owner Clark Hunt released a statement defense of Chiefs fans, though by then it was too late.

Through it all, Cassel was silent.

Until now.

“I’m not really going to speak to what happened last week,” said Cassel, via the KC Star. “All I’ll say is, look, I live here year round. I’ve had nothing but support from the people in Kansas City, from the people we’ve met, my wife has met and my children go to school with. The fact of the matter is, Kansas City is a great place to play. We have a passionate fan base. I’m sure that they’re frustrated. We’re frustrated as well. But we’re working and doing everything in our power to get it corrected and moving in the right direction.”

Everyone involved in this situation, from the fans to Winston and the media, should take a page out of Matt Cassel’s book. Here is a guy that is under a lot of heat in KC. His play has been poor. He’s had to endure tons of criticism, some fair, some not. The day Cassel got injured, a group of fans paid to fly a banner over the stadium calling for him to be benched. He’s taken it all in stride and handled it with class and professionalism.

I sure wish Matt Cassel was the QB the Chiefs needed. It’s unfortunate that it hasn’t worked out.

But off the field, Cassel appears to be a first-class human being.