like Brady Quinn starting in KC this weekend. What’s the point of announcing this a week in advance? it just lets the defense know exactly who they need to prepare for
Maybe there could be some advantage gained if it were a running QB versus a dropback QB, but I don’t see what the defense is going to do differently against Quinn vs. Cassel.
If nothing else, fans and the press stop asking which guy the team will be starting and maybe the team is less distracted. The defense will be preparing for a shitty QB regardless.
Thought it had to do with…not sure how to phrase it…keeping the gambling under control, like posting a pitching rotation. Everything is transparent, nothing $$hady.
There are league rules (and you’re right - they are mostly there for gambling reasons) requiring teams to disclose injured players along with rough estimates of the likelihood of them playing in the upcoming game. Here is this week’s injury report from the league. (Gamesmanship regarding injury reports certainly happens, but that’s for another discussion.)
I’m unaware of any league rules about announcing starters, though. If both Cassel and Quinn are healthy, then I don’t think the Chiefs have any league-imposed obligation to state which one is expected to play.
My guess is that this is a decision which the Chiefs feel would harder than it’s worth to keep under wraps. The projected starter is going to get most if not all of the reps in practice with the first team, the media questions just aren’t going to stop, and like markdash said there may be little gameplan-relevant difference between the two. I suspect they decided that trying to play coy about it would cost them more than they’d gain.
I note that Matt Cassel is listed on the Chiefs’ injury report that I linked to, with “Full Participation in Practice.” As I type this there’s no “Game Status” listing for anybody except the two teams playing tonight; I don’t think those are due until some specified interval (72 hours?) before kickoff or something like that. (By which the opposing team’s game plan is pretty much set, but the betting is still well under way…)