In watching the tape from last night's game, Cassel was AWESOME, maybe the best I've ever seen him, at least in a Chief uniform.  Of course the stats show 4-9 with 1 INT, but look at every pass, and you get the true picture. 
1-10-GB 33 (13:18) (Shotgun) 7-M.Cassel pass incomplete short right to 83-J.Urban.
Perfect pass, right where it was supposed to be.  

2-10-GB 33 (13:12) (No Huddle, Shotgun) 7-M.Cassel pass incomplete short left to 83-J.Urban.
Perfect pass, right where it was supposed to be.  
 
3-10-GB 33 (13:08) (No Huddle, Shotgun) 7-M.Cassel pass incomplete deep right to 82-D.Bowe [56-N.Barnett].
 Perfect pass, right where it was supposed to be.   If Bowe had got his feet down, it's a TD.  As an added bonus, this was the best pocket presence I've ever seen from Cassel.  He felt the pressure, drifted to his right, and threw a great pass on the move, something he is usually pretty poor at.

2-10-GB 37 (8:38) (No Huddle, Shotgun) 7-M.Cassel pass short right intended for 82-D.Bowe INTERCEPTED by 24-J.Bush at GB 23. 24-J.Bush to GB 32 for 9 yards (46-T.Castille).
Perfect pass, right where it was supposed to be.  D -Bowe's body was contorted, and he fell down, and couldn't keep his arms up, and the pass whizzed by where he was supposed to be, and was INT.   

1-10-KC 38 (7:14) (Shotgun) 7-M.Cassel pass incomplete deep right to 82-D.Bowe [96-M.Neal].
Didn't see this pass in my initial review.  For arguments sake, lets say this was a bad pass by Cassel.  Someone else could enlighten me if it actually was. 

So in reality, Cassel was dead on target with 8 of his 9 throws, threw the ball well enough to get plenty of YAC on the catches that were made, showed pocket presence and ability to throw on the run.  He looked like the NE Matt Cassel.  I'm not particalarly a Cassel fan or detractor, but after watching this tape, I think he might have turned the corner.  I'm am very enthused to see if this was just a great game by him, or a milestone in beginning to become what he was in NE, or better. 

There may be some waiver claims that will bring some new guys into the equation, but just using our guys, and assuming that both Leggett and Sheffield are OK and don't go on IR, here we go. 

QB: Cassell, Croyle, Palko- Think we might see some waiver wire potential here at the #3 position
RB: Charles, Jones, Battle- Battle's made the team, and due to DMC being used as a runner, they'll only carry 3
FB: Castille- This is close between Castille and Cox.  Due to Battle's being a big back who is most similar to Castille, it might help Cox
TE- Pope, Moeaki, O'Connell- Moeaki's quiet pre season was disappointing.  Pope will start by default at 1st.
OT- Albert, Richardson, O'Callaghan, Ndukwe- I think Richardson won the starting job.  Colin Brown likely goes to Practice squad to develop further.  There could be a waiver pickup here.
OG- Waters, Lilja, Asamoah- Ndukwe's, and Rudy's versatility allows them to carry 3
C- Wiegmann, Niswanger- Very close, but I think Rudy's ability to play guard actually help Weigman be the starter and Rudy the backup.  Could get a waiver pickup that changes things
WR- Bowe, Chambers, DMC, Horne, Copper, Lawrence- This is very tough.  Urban could make it and be as high as #4, and either Lawrence or Copper don't .  The last 3 are all special teams guys and that might sway it.

DE- Dorsey, Jackson, Gilberry, Smith, Magee- Magee might have saved his job last night.  Played very well.  Love the different skill sets here.
NT- Edwards, Lokey- Disappointed Smith really never got a look there.  Could also be a waiver/trade pickup here.  Weakest spot on roster.  Gales might be kept as a NT/DE swing guy, but Smith seems to fill that.
OLB- Hali, Studebaker, Vr abel, Sheffield, Walters- Studebaker SHOULD start.
ILB- Williams, Belcher, DJ, Mays  - All top 4 will play, and Vrabel might play alot here also, where his lack of speed isn't as much an issue. Herron on the bubble, but specials could save him.
CB- Flowers, Carr, Arenas, Leggett, Daniels- Depending on Leggett's availability early, could be one more, but Washington's versatility might make that unnecessary.
S- Berry, Lewis, Washington, McGraw - Washington was a revelation in pre season.  All over the place in regular play and specials. Lewis SHOULD start.  Langford on the bubble.  Morgan gone, Jarrad who?? 

LS- Gafford
K- Succop
P- Colquitt

Since next week's game is even more meaningless than usual, as it's just a final audition for the guys in the 45-75 spots,  I think I can draw some conclusions from what I've seen so far.

1)This D should be way better than even the biggest optimist could have hoped.   The D line, with the glaring exception of NT at some points, has been playing really well, and the proof of that is the outstanding performances we're seeing from multiple LB's, the playmakers in a 3-4 D.   Dorsey and T-Jax are playing very well, Gilberry and Magee have their pressure roles.  The run D has been particularly good, and I think there's a realistic chance we can hold teams to under 4 yards per carry, what a real good Defense needs to do.

2)Studebaker MUST start/play at least 90% of the snaps.  He is a constant disruptor in all phases of the game.  He has been overall the star of the meaningless games, and he's done everything it should take to supplant Vrabel as the man at that OLB spot.  With him and Hali, we will get the the pressure from the OLB's that a good 3-4 team needs.

3)Like last year, DJ and Demorrio Williams should share the ILB slot situationally.  It won't make DJ or his fans happy, but Williams has played very well, and has some specific strengths that DJ doesn't, and vice versa.  Williams is a much better blitzer than DJ, and I hope we see more of him in that role, like we did in his 1st year here.  DJ is a much better player against the pass, and is also adept at tackling RB's for losses.

4)Kendrick Lewis MUST start/play most of the snaps.  On a smaller scale than Studey/Vrabel, the D is just way faster when Lewis is on the field vs McGraw.  Jarrad who???

5)Dexter McCluster is the ultimate weapon.  This kid does everything, from anywhere.  It appears he will have a bigger role in the running game than anyone envisioned.  He's going to become a prototype player, and pretty soon every team is going to want to get their own version of DMC.  Tough as nails.

6)Javier Arenas is at least a top 5 NFL return guy, and he may not even be the best natural returner on his own team.  If DMC had been doing this regularly since College, I think he'd be the #2 returner in the league, after Cribbs, who may be the best of all time when he's done.  Arenas is special in his own right though, and like Cribbs and Vanover, he brings power to the return game.

7)Romeo Crennel and Charlie Weis adjust.  BIG TIME.  A constant theme has been improvement as the game goes on.  They have no problem adjusting on the fly.

8)Matt Cassel is still the key to this team.  I've seen some good, and some not so much.  He looks like he's getting rid of the ball faster.  He's really shown some zip on a few throws in the red zone.  He looks to be way more accurate than last year, and should at least be in the 60% range.  He still does not have pocket presence, and he'll still make the goofy throw where you just don't know what he saw/was thinking.   If he plays just OK, this team should be in the playoff hunt.  Better than that, we should be a very serious threat to win the division.  I think he'll overall play OK, and will be more of a passenger than a driver.

9)We will get at least 30 sacks, and give up less than 40.  Both lines are improved.  Not mega improved, but improved enough to not be tremendous weaknesses.  I don't know how bad O'Callaghan is hurt, but Barry Richardson played real well last night at RT, and he may have stolen the job, based on his overall nice pre season, and O'Callaghan's not so much.  Cassel may not know what it's like to be sacked less than 40 times.

10)We out statistic-ed our opponent in all 3 games, something that rarely happened last year.   That's the sign of a team with a growing talent base.

Of course all this should be taken with a severe grain of salt.  The exhibition games are truly meaningless, and what you see in them often just doesn't translate once the real stuff starts, and teams start planning for a specific opponent.  The good news for us is we have the best Coaching staff in the league, IMO, and should only be better when these guys are planning for a specific opponent.

Adam Zimmer, son of Mike Zimmer, Bengals DC.  Adam was a Saints assistant LB Coach this year, and will have the same job with us.  I haven't seen this announced anywhere, but I heard his father on the radio today and he broke the news.  Probably not a good idea in Pioli's world for his father to break it before Pioli/Haley breaks it officially.  Seems like a good, young promising coach who worked with our LB Coach, Gary Gibbs in NO already.  Here's a bio.
http://www.neworleanssaints.com/Team/Coaches/People/Adam%20Zimmer.aspx

I nominate Brad for world's tallest invisible man.  After looking real good catching the ball last year in camp, he has completely disappeared, and looks to be the next Herm high round draftee that may be headed out the door soon.   What the hell has happenned to this guy?  He looked to have all the tools, and suddenly he's behind a total stiff in Sean Ryan?  He was specifically drafted as a blocking TE, and yet he can't play ahead of Sean Ryan, who so far looks like a dreadful blocker, and is a lousy receiving TE. 

It seems Engram is having the most trouble of all the WR's outside of Lawrence holding onto the ball.  Since the only reason he was brought here was his supposed reliability and good hands, it appears he might be done.   I hope they don't keep him just because he's a vet who Haley likes.  If we're going to take practice seriously in the slightest, than a 36 year old WR who can't hold onto the ball, when his prior profile was reliable hands, should be the first guy gone. 

I notice he hasn't written a new column at the mothership since June 1st.  I also notice that as of today, he's no longer listed on the mothership under columnists.   On his own website, he's been decidedly more objective about the Chiefs over the last few months, rather than in constant Defend Carl and Herm mode.   the latter are good things, because when he's discussing the Chiefs objectively, he does an outstanding job.