Sorting the Sunday Pile, Week 1: Must-Win Games

Sorting the Sunday Pile looks back at the NFL weekend that was. It's also an unofficial Brady Quinn blog.

A year ago, Matt Cassel got his chance to be an NFL starting quarterback when then-Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard blew up Tom Brady's knee. Cassel led the Patriots to 11 wins, and played well enough for the Chiefs to trade for him in the offseason.

Smash cut to Cassel tweaking his knee during Kansas City's third preseason game (God's sense of humor is underrated), which forced him to miss the first Sunday of the 2009 season. Any chances the Chiefs -- an outfit that won six times in their last 32 games -- had against the Ravens were out the window with Cassel on the bench.

Except that Brodie Croyle, who got his first start since October 19, 2008, actually looked like he knew what he was doing. It was refreshing, frankly. He finished 16 of 24 for 177 yards, 2 TDs and no interceptions. And that was against one of the league's most menacing defense.

Yes, the Chiefs lost 38-24, but it was tied 24-24 with just over five minutes to go. Not sure if that says more about Todd Haley's R. Lee Ermey coaching style, or that the Ravens might not be quite ready to challenge the Steelers in the AFC North, but if there's ever a reason to be pumped about a moral victory I think this is it.

More than that, though, does Croyle, the Chiefs' 2006 third-round pick, deserve more playing time? Maybe. But here's the thing: Croyle's a Carl Peterson-Herm Edwards guy. Cassel's a Scott-Pioli-Haley guy. And even though he struggled in preseason, there's no way Cassel doesn't get on the field as soon as he's healthy. That's one of the benefits to playing for a team with absolutely no short-term expectations: you can make all the mistakes you want. At least until the guys who brought you in get canned.

Redskins-Giants Play First Must-Win Game of '09

I suspect we'll start hearing about "must-win games" by the end of the month, which is akin to putting up your Christmas tree on July 5th. With that in mind, let me be the first to declare the first must-win game of the 2009 season: the Week 1 Redskins-Giants get-together. I don't really believe that, but I can envision Washington fans, heads in hands, lamenting their plight after watching Sunday's debaclement.

Last year, then-first-year head coach Jim Zorn was accused of conservative play-calling -- something Joe Gibbs had to deal with early in his second stint with the team (that was before Al Saunders and his 700-page playbook showed up in Ashburn and everything magically got better*) -- and he promised that things would be different this time around. Maybe the changes were subtle because the '09 Jason Campbell looked a lot like the '06-'08 version.

But just like last season, it's not completely Campbell's fault. The offensive line deserves some blame, as does the defense. But Campbell's an easy target, except that now, with Colt Brennan on injured reserve and Chase Daniel on the Saints' practice squad, it's not clear who the anti-Campbell contingent would want to take over the job.

Todd Collins briefly enjoyed the Colt Brennan treatment following the 2007 season, when he led the 'Skins into the playoffs after Campbell was injured. As it turned out, that had more to do with Collins' familiarity with Saunders' scheme than his quarterbacking skills. He looked just as lost as everybody else last preseason in Zorn's version of the West Coast Offense.

So now what? Washington appears as unremarkable as ever, and Zorn's future is tied to Campbell, who is in the last year of his rookie contract. Obviously, the 'Skins need to find a way to get Hunter Smith more involved in the offense. In the meantime, here's your silver lining, 'Skins fans, courtesy of Jim Zorn: "The positive thing is we played hard the whole game. We just didn't have the poise in situations that we needed to."

So there's that.

Michael Crabtree, Somehow Less Relevant

There were plenty of reasons to think that the Cardinals might not repeat as NFC West champs: Kurt Warner is 38 years old and routinely takes a beating during games; Matt Leinart was no closer to winning the starting gig, and he was apparently battling Brian St. Pierre for the backup job early in the preseason; the Seahawks are improved -- and more importantly -- healthy. Plus, before the final month of the 2008 season, when the Cards caught fire and made their Super Bowl run, they were wildly inconsistent.

So despite the expectations, it's not completely surprising that the 49ers came into Glendale and won. But Arizona is a veteran team and, truth be told, this game probably meant more to San Francisco.

Mike Singletary is in his first full year as head coach, and Shaun Hill is the quarterback, beating out the eminently beatable Alex Smith. Hill played the part of game manager (usually considered a pejorative, in this case, it's a compliment), throwing a touchdown and avoiding interceptions, and somehow managed to do it without first-round pick Michael Crabtree.

Part of me hopes Crabtree does decide to re-enter the draft next April and he gets drafted by the Raiders. In the fourth round.

* better = worse, more complicated