Kansas City Chiefs Inside Slant

Maybe it was the pedigree as Tom Brady's backup. Possibly it was the way several teams went after him with such conviction last offseason. It could have been the $63 million contract that the Chiefs front office gave him before he'd ever worn the team's uniform.

A lot was expected of quarterback Matt Cassel in Kansas City. It would be safe to say that he's not delivered. A dozen games into the 2009 season, Cassel's team is 3-9 and his personal numbers are not much better. In 11 starts, he's completed 53.9 percent of his passes, averaged 5.68 yards per passing attempt, thrown 13 touchdown passes and nine interceptions. His 72.3 passer rating ranks him 26th among active quarterbacks and he does not stand in the top half of the league's 32 starting quarterbacks in any statistical category.

Cassel is coming off the worst performance of his 26-game starting career with the Patriots and Chiefs, when he completed just 10 of 29 throws for 84 yards with two interceptions against Denver.

"He's disappointed with a couple of plays he made in that stretch, as are a majority of the guys on offense," Chiefs head coach Todd Haley said. "I thought Matt did some really good things that should have had us in a better position than we were in. He avoided a couple sacks, made positive plays out of it and made some throws that should have been completions."

Haley pulled Cassel at the start of the fourth quarter, bringing in backup Brodie Croyle. After evaluating the game tapes, the head coach made it clear he wasn't putting the loss on Cassel's shoulders, saying several times it was a "collective effort" that saw the offense score just one touchdown while turning the ball over three times.

That's why the head coach spent no time considering removing Cassel from the starting lineup.

"I'm going to play the guys that give us the best chance to win, and Matt is one of those guys right now," Haley said. "I feel pretty confident in Matt and his ability to bounce back, have another great week of preparation and give us a chance to beat Buffalo.

"As the head coach and (offensive) coordinator, I think the kid is a tough, tough guy. Generally when you are tough, you can handle adversity. That's a quarterback's job, to stare adversity in the face and overcome. Matt was back at it today already. We reviewed the tape and the corrections and he's already on to Buffalo.

"I expect him to learn from the experience, just like the first 10 games he played."

Cassel now has a 13-13 record as a starting quarterback, but 10 of those victories came over the last 15 games of the 2008 season with the Patriots. He's 3-8 as the Chiefs starter and he's starting to draw the wrath of frustrated fans.

It's all part of the package that Haley thinks will make Cassel a better quarterback.

"Each and every one of these experiences he's had as a quarterback is important," Haley said. "Now, he's been taken out of a game and had to watch his backup play. To me the big thing with the quarterback is being able to stand in the face of adversity. Sunday was adversity and how they respond will tell a lot about guys playing that position. That's not a position for the faint of heart.

"In my opinion the experience he had to go through coming out of the game and watching his backup play is more important than actually being out there for the last quarter."

What does Haley expect from his franchise quarterback this week?

"Making it through a game like that, learning from your mistakes, getting back to work and have another good week of practice," Haley said.

SERIES HISTORY: 38th regular-season meeting. Bills lead series 20-16-1. The Chiefs, however, have won two of the last three games between the teams at Arrowhead Stadium. Their most recent meeting was last year, when the Bills rolled into Arrowhead and grabbed a 54-31 victory. The last time the Chiefs beat the Bills was in 2003, when they grabbed a 38-5 victory in Kansas City. These teams are 3-3 in their last six meetings.