Matt Cassel told a crazy story about Todd Haley losing it during a 2010 Chiefs game
Quarterback Brodie Croyle somewhat famously never won a game in 10 career starts with the Chiefs.
Croyle’s final appearance with the Chiefs came in a 2010 game against the Tennessee Titans, and the reason for that appearance came to light on Monday night. Well, the real reason.
On Dec. 26, 2010, the Chiefs clinched an AFC West title with a 34-14 win over the Tennessee Titans (coupled with a Chargers loss). Matt Cassel started the game at Arrowhead Stadium and he finished it. But there was a three-play sequence late in the third quarter/early fourth in which Croyle replaced Cassel.
After that game, coach Todd Haley said of the switch: “It was a strategic area I felt had to get cleaned up. I have complete faith in Brodie, and it didn’t hurt Brodie to get some playing time, but we had to get something cleaned up strategically with Matt.”
Cassel told reporters at the time: “Coach just made the decision that we had to fix a few things on the sidelines, so he brought me off. He wanted to talk about a few specific things for when I went back in, and we did.”
On Monday night, Cassel revealed what really happened. It came during an interview on NBC Sports Boston, and Cassel was talking about how Haley was “nuts” on game days.
“That’s when Todd Haley was at his craziest,” Cassel said. “The man was nuts on game day and I don’t know why. Here’s a great example of that: we’re playing the Tennessee Titans late in the year, this is for the divisional lead and to actually win the division, and throughout the course of the first part of the game, they kept bringing Blitz Zero.
“Blitz Zero is max pressure; I was checking out. (Offensive coordinator) Charlie Weis gave me that ability to do so, and we were throwing the pass. So, every time I came to the sidelines throughout the first half, Todd Haley is screaming at me. He’s yelling at me, ‘Just run the ball.’ I’m like, ‘We talked about this. We can’t run the ball into everybody pressuring right into the run so we’re gonna throw it.’
“Well he got heated as the game went on. Finally, it was a third quarter, I’m coming off the field he’s screaming at me for pulling up on the boot. And I said, ‘Oh, Todd, like you ever played the position.’
“My bad. It was my fault, my frustration took over. So, I go on the sideline he still coming over yelling at me. We had a little bit of a dispute over there and he benches me. He benches me ... at the end of the third quarter, and he says ‘Brodie you’re in,’ and he’s being dead serious.
“Well, I took the liberty to run back out on the field. Well (Haley) wouldn’t give me a play in my helmet. He would not give me a play in the helmet. Then he sends Brodie back out on the field, Brodie two plays later throws an interception. Now everybody’s mad at Todd Haley, and then he literally said, ‘You’re not going back.’ He told the coaches to tell Cassel he’s not going back in the game.
“So again, as a team captain I thought it was my obligation to run back out on the field, Again, he wouldn’t give me a play in my helmet. So I had to call my own plays in the helmet for the first three plays. Eventually, we ended up getting a score on that drive, we won the game but I’ll tell you what, it was disruptive to say the least.”
Cassel was asked what the reaction was on the Chiefs sideline.
“Every single person on the sideline from offensive linemen to the wide receivers were also kind of yelling at Todd at that point saying, ‘What are we doing right now?’” Cassel said. “I mean, it was the end of the third quarter, yes we had an established lead at that point probably 14 points but that can go away quickly in any ballgame.”
Fortunately for the Chiefs, they held the lead. But the incident makes for a great story, even if the truth came out a decade later.
But there is one clarification. The Chiefs never scored after the incident.
Still, this is nutty, and here’s Cassel talking about it:
Cassel threw for 314 yards and three touchdowns in the game, despite the clashes with Haley.
Haley, who spent nearly 25 years as an NFL coach and was 19-26 in three seasons as the Chiefs head coach (2009-11), offered his response on Twitter and it was dripping with sarcasm:
Interesting hashtags, apparently referencing some social media posts that suggest Cassel resembles the character Woody from the “Toy Story” movie series.
Can you imagine Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid having this type of exchange?
This story was originally published November 9, 2020 at 10:08 PM.
