Matt Cassel

As you get going in the game you just kind of go along and you play the game.

As a quarterback, you have to go out and take care of the ball. That is your No. 1 priority.

The weather is the weather. You have to deal with whatever is out there.

Five turnovers in the second half; you can't beat anybody doing that.

You can work on routes all day in practice but in the game what it comes down to is if somebody is open or not. You kind of go through your progressions and go through it that way.

I always look forward to playing.

You have to go through your reads and you have to make smart decisions because if you start forcing it in to double coverage you will get into bad habits and that is when bad plays happen.

You never know from week to week how one team is going to attack you versus another team.

Goal line is goal line. You go down there and it's the grit and grind of the game.

I think that for a lot of young quarterbacks, sometimes it's difficult to get thrown into the fire quickly because from my experience, either you learn how to be a professional from the veteran players.

Every week you go in and hope that you have production in the passing game and also in the running game.

You just have to always go out and continue to work hard, watch the film, see what you did wrong from an offensive unit and individually. Then, you just have to go out and do better the next time out. That is what sports is all about.

There are definitely times when taking a sack is a better play than doing something else and trying to make a play when something is not there.

I care about winning ball games.

I think for any QB, if you play with confidence you play well because you're confident in what you're doing; you're confident in where you're going with the ball.

You never want to lose but it happens in the NFL.

Any time you get a bye week you embrace it as a player.

Every rep I can get is valuable.

With every look I can get and every defense I play against I get more experience.

I feel very blessed and lucky to have the opportunity to get out there and play. That's all you can ask for as a young guy trying to make it in this league.

All you can ask for in this game is an opportunity.

There are times when the criticism is something you deserve as a quarterback, and there are times when the people doing the criticizing don't know what they're talking about.

One word in one system might mean something else. You have to get a feel for it and study hard and then also when you get into these game-plan weeks, just bear down on what we're doing on a week-to-week basis.

If you don't take care of the ball in this league, I know it's tough to win.

I think the toughest job in football is always to be the starter, because everybody looks to you for guidance.

Even if you're in a backup role, you've always got to prepare yourself.

I don't read the paper.

Teams really take into account character.

There was a time when I thought, 'God, this whole football thing might not work out for me.'

I am just saying people can be successful even though they might not be well known.

It always comes down to being accountable to your teammates and so many times you get caught up in everything else going on. And I remember as a young guy, you always worry about, 'Well, who's getting the reps,' and this, that and the other, and it takes you and distracts you away from just doing your job.

At first when I first went to the Chiefs, there was a huge transition from what we had done in New England to a team that was rebuilding.

I think I constantly refer back to some of the things that I learned in New England and throughout my career. It was a great stepping stone, and it also gave me time to mature as a player and as a quarterback.

I like my life just the way it is. And it's great.

I've got a model wife.

I don't want anybody else's life.

One of our big duties as a player is not to dwell on the past and stay in the now because that's the only way you're going to continue to move forward and be successful.

The hardest part sometimes is when you don't get the reps and you continue to push yourself to learn and understand what's really going on.

I hope to do the 'Letterman' show, 'Leno,' all that.

I've played in a lot of different roles through the course of my career and I've been a starter for a lot of those years and the mentality can never change.

As long as anybody plays this game, you never master it because there are so many things that are always changing.

From one week to the next, everything changes from who you're playing to the defense's scheme. You just try to build on the things that you did well and correct the things that you did poorly in the game; then, move forward from there and hopefully continue to get better and better and better as you move forward.

Anytime you can get the ball in the receiver's hands with some space, you let their natural abilities take over.

Anytime we can get the running game going it is a plus for me and it makes my job a lot easier.

There are a lot of things that you learn as a rookie and you grow the most, I would say as a rookie from your first year to your second year.

Everybody is allowed to have their own opinion.

It is always interesting to hear older players come back and talk.

I can't understand for the life of me why people would cheer when somebody gets hurt. I guess that is the sick world that we are sometimes in.

Without a lot of college film, a lot of people had written me off already. When the Patriots called, I was pretty happy.

Pro Day was very important for me because that was really the only time that I had to prove that I could play at an NFL level and that was really through the physical drills they put me through which was running and throwing the ball. It turned out pretty well for me.