Chiefs' Cassel cleared for non-contact practice - KCTV5

Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel returned to the practice field Tuesday and for the first time answered questions about some fans cheering his injury that resulted in a concussion.

Cassel said he didn't want to directly address the cheering, but he did praise Chiefs fans.

"All I'll say is, I live here year-round in Kansas City, and I have nothing but support from the people here in Kansas City and the people my wife has met and where my children go to school," Cassel said. "The fact of the matter is Kansas City is a great place to play. We've got a passionate fan base. I'm sure they're frustrated. We're frustrated as well. We're working and doing everything in our power to get it corrected and move forward in the right direction."

Doctors cleared Cassel to return to non-contact practice. Cassel said he was excited.

"It was great getting back out there with the team and feeling healthy again," he said, adding it was another opportunity for him and the team to get better.

It's too soon to say whether backup quarterback Brady Quinn will start against the Raiders in just under two weeks or whether Cassel will have recovered from his concussion, Chiefs coach Romeo Crennel said.

"Both of them will get work and then we'll evaluate it and then next week we're going to get ready for game week, then we'll make a decision and go from there," Crennel said. "When we get ready to play the game, then I'll make a decision, so that's next week. That's when we play."

Cassel said he understands both he and Quinn getting snaps with the starters.

"This is a time to evaluate everybody on the bye week, try some different things and see where we're at. That's kind of part of what happens," Cassel said. "I'm going out there to get better each and every day and do what I need to do to get better."

He said the focus is on getting "things corrected," and getting back on track against the Raiders.

However, the struggling offense of the Chiefs has more than a quarterback controversy to work on this week.

The Chiefs (1-5) have not scored a touchdown in the last eight quarters while losing 9-6 to Baltimore and getting blown out 38-10 at Tampa Bay.

Here's how bad it was for offensive coordinator Brian Daboll last week in Tampa: When the Chiefs had the ball, the Buccaneers outscored them 7-3.

Trying to get the offense back on track is a big priority for the Chiefs during their bye week.

Coaches say Quinn is shedding the rust from his backup time and Cassel didn't show rust from being off the field for a week.

"Right now we're not playing good football so hopefully we can sit back and check out a variety of things, check out ourselves, scout ourselves, look at ourselves in the mirror and see what's wrong," linebacker Derrick Johnson said. "This train is not going to stop. We can't feel sorry for ourselves. We can't say could have, should have done this. At the end of the day, we have to make more plays than the other team, and we haven't been doing that."

Copyright 2012 KCTV (Meredith Corp.)  All rights reserved.  The Associated press contributed to this report.