Chiefs at Rams - Week 15 - Record: 9-5

What a contrast. What a contrast. Our quarterback situation with Matt Cassel in there is like the brightest daylight compared to last week. I must say it was wonderful wonderful wonderful to see him back in there leading the charge.

I know I've spoken of Cassel as schizophrenic, but that's only because the quarterback position is so critically important. Whatever my ambivalence, there is no question that Cassel is indeed one of the best signal callers in the game. This isn't just because he isn't Brodie Croyle, but he has indeed played extraordinarily well for most of the season. A TD-to-INT ratio of 2-to-1 is pretty good. Cassel's ratio is something around 5-to-1.

And you can't deny the guy is a proven leader. He's coming off an emergency appendectomy that happened just eleven days ago. That's just amazing.

Above all the guy has guts and wants glory, and those are critically vital ingredients a QB needs if any team wants to by taken seriously in the playoffs. After a miserable first quarter (making it seven straight scoreless quarters) Cassel led a couple of great drives that led to touchdowns, putting us up 14-6 at the half. Just watching him do that nifty spin move out of a collapsing pocket then running for a first down during that second drive was just beautiful.

And then there is the defense. Last week they were simply abyssmal. This week they had someone tell them to tackle.

And they did.

They shut down their fine back, Stephen Jackson. They also held the Rams to a couple of field goals early when they ran all over us. As the game progressed they put more and more clamps on the Rams great rookie QB Sam Bradford, completely shutting him down after that depressing first quarter. Wallace Gilberry will be the guy with his name in the headlines, getting three sacks, each one critical to our victory. Early in the second quarter he put the Rams out of field goal range, and in the fourth he kept the Rams from sneaking back into the game late.

I didn't catch how Jamaal Charles is, because he was injured after a boffotacular 80-yard run to put the game away late. Even though he and Jones were stuffed for most of the game, he is showing that he definitely should be an All-Pro this year. He did walk off the field under his own power and he was sitting there on the bench with ice. I heard nothing about him after that, so we'll see where he is for next week.

Speaking of next week, we've got our last two games at home sweet home! We are so not-there yet. San Diego is still breathing heavily on our backs. But this was a crucially important win, getting it on the road and closing the road season with a 3-5 record -- that doesn't seem impressive, but it could've been a lot worse.

The team hasn't lost yet at the New Arrowhead and they plainly play better with the hometown fans right there with them. Their next two are against middling teams, Tennessee and Oakland, though both can be explosively surprising.

For now, a tough road win is sweet, and nice for a good boost of confidence.
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