So this was it. This was the night that Matt Cassel could’ve saved his starting job. Could’ve saved the Chiefs from a 1-7 start and from forcing Chiefs fans into watching the Brady Quinn era unfold before their nearly gouged out eyes. Cassel could not have asked for a better matchup to prove his mettle as the Chargers ranked 10th worst in terms of fantasy QBs scoring against them. Ok, he could’ve asked for the New Orleans Saints but he already went against them and failed. This was supposed to be a hungry Matt. A Matt that wanted to reclaim his job and prove he was worthy of a starting quarterback job in the NFL. Instead of seeing resiliency, Cassel treated us to dormancy as he threw for only 181 yards while turning the ball over twice for defensive touchdowns. Sure, the INT could’ve been caught by his receiver but he could’ve thrown it a bit better. No reason to throw a bullet to a guy 10 feet away from you and if you do, maybe you shouldn’t throw it high and a little behind. Actually, if Matt were a country singer that should be his first single: ‘High And A Little Behind’. I’m picturing a sad ballad there. Decent drives turned to mush the moment the Chiefs got in scoring territory as I like to call it ‘the area where your QB needs to be accurate’.  The death of fantasy relevance hangs heavy in Chiefdom tonight and the blood will be on Cassel’s hands. Welcome to Brady-ocrity, KC. In other fantasy football news…
Dwayne Bowe – Bowe looked like the WR2 you drafted tonight, despite the fumble: 79 yards on 8 receptions. If it weren’t for inaccuracy, he might’ve tacked on a touchdown. Now he’ll be stuck with the Charlie Sheen offense: Quinning! Doesn’t matter if you have Tiger Blood, you still need to get thrown to and Brady won’t be doing that much. Hard to think the offense could get worse than tonight but believe me, this Brady Bunch won’t be fantasy family friendly.
Philip Rivers – Fantasy relevant this week which is more than you can say for him over the last…hrm, what? Forever weeks? If you own him and there’s a needy owner out there looking for a QB, I have a useful four-letter word for you. No, not that one. Unless you’re stuck in traffic, that word works well there. No, the word is SELL. This game was about attrition, not retribution. This is not the Charger you were looking for.
Jamaal Charles – Finally started running the ball well and then got knocked out with an apparent ‘neck injury’. Hrm, gonna have to disagree here. Unless those starry-eyed looks were out of love and admiration for his coach while he was on the sideline, I think it’s fair to say the issue was not the neck but from the neck up. Charles was decidedly not in charge of his faculties. Hard to say how worried I’d be as a Jamaal owner at the moment as I could be very wrong about the concussion (though I doubt it). I really hope they’re not playing with the kid’s future by trying to avoid concussion tests.
Antonio Gates – Gates owners after the first quarter: ‘Man, 3 receptions for 46 yards and a touchdown and we’re only a quarter in. This is gonna be a monster game for Gates!’. Gates owner after the 4th quarter: ‘Only 3 receptions for 46 yards and a touchdown for the entire game!  @#$# you, Gates!!!’. Pretty much the Chiefs started double-teaming him after the first quarter, effectively forcing Rivers to find other guys which he did, albeit sparingly. Wanna know what four letter word goes with Gates? Re-read the Rivers blurb.
Ryan Mathews– Minus a great field reversal run for 31 yards, Ryan’s night was fairly moot as he gained 67 yards on 13 carries and 5 yards on 2 receptions. I guess owners can be thankful he went for a discount in the draft because of injury. I guess they can be un-thankful because the discount wasn’t steep enough. Not hating on Mathews here, hating on the Chargers offense. Can’t see the difference? It means I hate them all. I’m an equal hater-tunist.
Shaun Draughn – Scored the only KC touchdown on the night but don’t read too much into it. The score came late in the 4th quarter when KC was already down 31-6 and Charles was nursing his ‘neck’ injury by staring into space. I’m sure he’ll see a few more reps if Charles misses time next week but I wouldn’t be spending much thought on picking him up. Peyton Hillis is second in command there, despite all the hard work he’s put in not to be. Oh and then there’s Dexter McCluster. Yeah, it’s ugly. I think Dexter’s last name minus the ‘Mc’ describes it quite well. Could even tack on what Gates owners said after the 4th to that and it would be more accurate.
Malcom Floyd – Nabbed a touchdown while the game was still in doubt in the third and finished the night with 48 yards on 4 receptions. Has clearly established himself as the WR1 in San Diego but as his owners would tell you, that don’t mean much. On pace for 4 TDs on 66 receptions and roughly 1000 yards. Not bad but not what you would’ve expected a couple of years ago when saying ‘I drafted SD’s WR1’. Namely because no one speaks in acronym. It’s hard to pronounce.
Ronnie Brown– Had a nice fantasy potpourri on the night with 11 total touches (5 rec/6 rush) for 73 total yards. Is Mathews losing his starting job? Not in a world that makes sense. Is Brown clearly a useful RB in deeper PPR leagues? Yes. Can’t see how San Diego doesn’t need to throw the ball a lot the rest of the way and Brown now has 13 receptions over the last two weeks which puts him on pace for 66 on the year. Hey, that’s what Malcom’s on pace for! #disheartened
Danario Alexander – Injury-plagued his entire career in STL, Danario moved out to San Diego to find himself, surfing and smoking away the pain. Ok, other than everything up to ‘San Diego’ in that last sentence I can’t fully stand behind but he was a decent talent while playing for the Rams and may carve himself out more playing time after tonight’s line of 61 yards on 3 receptions. If not, Robert Meachem gets back in the line up and continues to not get passed to nor catch the passes thrown his way in the first place. If I know Norv, he’ll go for the latter because he’s such an offensive genius. I score more points for the double entendre of offensive there, right?
