There may be no better example of a "team" sport than in the NFL.  It's rare that one player can take over a game, because more often than not a combination of things have to happen in that game for that player to be successful.  Most likely, those "things" are a result of actions caused from the play of their teammates.

It's easy to consider the result of a team, a group effort.  However, its tough to consider the result of one player's stats, positive or negative, the result of the team. 

When Chiefs' head coach Todd Haley spoke about Matt Cassel, he suggested Cassel's below-average season in 2009 was a result of the players around him.

"We had 50-plus drops last season. If those don’t happen, people would look at Cassel differently… If we get the improved offensive play around him that we hope to, I think people will feel better about Matt Cassel." - ESPN.com

There is no doubt that playing with the Chiefs is a big reason why his quarterback rating dropped from a 89.4 in 2008 with the Patriots to a 69.9 in 2009 with the Chiefs.  However, pinning all those drops on the rest of the team is a little ridiculous. 

The Chiefs needed to improve the talent around Cassel in the off-season in free agency and the draft.  The second year coach and GM feel like they did just that with the addition of veteran RB Thomas Jones, offensive specialist Dexter McCluster, ex-Colts guard Ryan Lilja, and offensive coordinator Charlie Weis.

2010 will be a make-or-break year for Cassel, where we will we see if Cassel is worth the $63 million price-tag the Chiefs placed on him.  More importantly we should finally realize if GM Scott Pioli is the personnel mastermind we all thought he was or if the Chiefs were duped into picking just another guy man who took a free ride on the coattails of one - Bill Belichik.