Sam Mellinger

The Kansas City Star

Judged on a scale of championship quarterbacks, Matt Cassel is utterly inadequate.

Judged on a scale of competent placeholder quarterbacks, there is no reason to believe Tyler Palko is adequate.

That’s the difference, and along with pointing out another way general manager Scott Pioli has come up short, the point of today’s column.

A busy mailbag, obviously, with lots going on. And I want to be sure to thank each and every one of you for not submitting anything about Jerry Sandusky, who apparently needed an enormous scandal to learn that grown men probably ought not shower with young boys.

Anyway, on with the mailbag, which has an obvious theme:

@BlaiseinKC It’s been quite a while since the Chiefs had a QB built for highway speed.

This is a response to a line in today’s column:

But if Cassel is something like the quarterback version of a Corolla, we’re about to watch the Chiefs play with a tricycle.

And I know it’s not meant to be taken literally, but the 35-year-old version of Trent Green is the last legitimate full-speed quarterback the Chiefs had.

Cassel had a really good 2010, but I think we all recognize he threw against teams scratching their helmets and stacking eight and nine guys in the box trying to stop Jamaal Charles.

@Prozaakk Best realistic replacement for Cassel next year via draft or free agency? Assuming we’ve seen enough and Stanzi isn’t the answer.

Well, NFL Trade Rumors has the list of potential free agents here. Assuming Drew Brees re-signs with New Orleans, you’re looking at a class headlined by — wait for it — Kyle Orton and Matt Flynn.

@bmenezes Any reason whatsoever at this point to start Palko over Stanzi? #Chiefs

Yes, but it’s ugly: Stanzi either sucks entirely, or just isn’t ready. And that’s a huge part of the point here.

If anything, wouldn’t Scott Pioli and Todd Haley be motivated to use “their” guy?

@DanEngland Do all your retweets seriously suggest that Matt Cassel is the only reason the Chiefs are losing? Most people really think that?

The Chiefs have so many problems right now, you could walk into the locker room blindfolded, spin around six times, and whoever you pointed at would be part of the problem.

Unless it was Tamba Hali. Or maybe Derrick Johnson.

@vincentmiller0 you think they draft a qb this year ? #chiefs

There are so many factors that go into this, any answer is only a guess. But my guess is yes, unless they really are convinced that Stanzi can be that guy in a year or two.

And if that was the case, you’d think he’d be able to beat out Tyler Palko.

@theKCeye Will Jon Gruden’s head explode next Monday while witnessing Palko & the O-line set the game back 40 years?

Tyler Palko vs. Tom Brady, on Monday Night Football in Foxboro, has to be one of the greatest quarterback mismatches in the last decade.

Even though, hey, the Patriots have the worst pass defense in the league.

@whofan1968 do you really think the QB play could get much worse? Cassel has been utterly ineffective.

This is a popular sentiment right now, and it’s understandable. Cassel is 24th in passer rating, whatever that means, and 18th in ESPN’s total quarterback rating, whatever the eff that means, but he also has a track record of being pretty decent when the parts around him are operating at full capacity.

That’s not much of a compliment, obviously, but I don’t mean it as a slam. Cassel was mostly efficient last year throwing with the league’s best rushing attack, and in the image that is burned in Pioli’s memory, threw for 3,693 yards while starting 15 games for the Patriots in 2008.

Cassel is a bit of a mechanical quarterback, in the sense that he’s good enough to facilitate when everything around him is going well, which really made him an awful fit for a team that lost its superstar running back, top tight end, and in the last few weeks apparently forgot how to block.

@cjh1778 Cassel was 12-25 yesterday. It cannot get worse.

Yes, actually, it can. Much worse.

Maybe it’s especially depressing that Chiefs fans are in a place where they’d be wise to remember the wise words of Buddy Bell during another miserable Royals season: it can always get worse.

And that Broncos game isn’t on Cassel. He was scrambling or throwing under pressure on three-step drops. I’ve been as critical of the guy as just about anyone, but he can only do so much.

@BryanWXOU Despite what Babb says, doesn’t this schedule set up for failure; +/- Stanzi starts this season at 2?

One of the few things we know for sure is that enough is going wrong with this season that all options are possible.

@rebmoti If Stanzi becomes the starter and the Chiefs play the game in London next year will he go?

Hopefully he does, but only with a white headband with a Sharpie-scribbled “U.S.A.!!!” on it, like this generation’s Jim McMahon.

@rock_hawk you could comment on @Hos3KC #ROY hose job. 3rd place? #ChildPlease

Well, I should say up front that I was not surprised or upset by the voting. This was a particularly wide-open year, with five different players receiving first-place votes. I didn’t have a vote, but if I did, I probably would’ve put Jeremy Hellickson first and Hosmer second.

I do think voters were seduced by Trumbo’s 29 homers and 87 RBIs, ignoring a sort of all-or-nothing approach. Hosmer out-performed Trumbo, but this isn’t a giant injustice.

The most important thing, and it’s pointed out by Rustin Dodd makes here, is that Hosmer is the guy on that list you’d most want on your team going forward.

@EvanUebe If Royals ever wanted an opportunity to jump over the Chiefs in city love, they might have a shot in the next couple years no?

Right now, at this very second? Sure. But these things change quicker than is worth keeping up with, and besides, if both teams are winning, there will be plenty enough love to go around.

@georgehweston how good can the #Royals be with the current players they have under control for 2012 and are able to re-sign Chen?

They’re certainly good enough — and in the right division — to be disappointed with a losing record next year. The lineup is only going to get better, and if they can get any of Duffy, Montgomery or Crow to be a good starting pitcher next year, there is a whole lot to get excited about here.

@PhilGarver whose first basketball game was worse: Mizzou or K-State?

Missouri, because theirs didn’t include Frank Martin’s awesome halftime interview. I also should admit I didn’t watch much of Mizzou, because the picture quality was roughly equal to a kindergartner’s Crayola sketch.

@nsobba29 Does Klein at least deserve some Heisman hype? Check out Ubben’s blog, written last week

This is a hard thing to answer, because really, what does it take to “deserve” Heisman hype? It’s such an ambiguous award, driven in large part by frivolous factors, yet it might still somehow be the coolest award in sports.

Does he deserve to be invited to New York as a finalist? No, probably not.

Does he deserve to be mentioned as the most underrated and one of the most productive players in the country? Yes, absolutely.

@SorryRoyalsFan I hope Tyler Palko is right handed and this whole “throw with your left” is a Pioli/Haley veil of secrecy.

Winner.

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