Saints Sideline Blog

CHASING DANIEL

Sunday, August 22nd, 2010      Email Print

DATELINE: New Orleans, LA/ August 22,2010 (Are the Saints Cloning QB's?)
 
The similarities are eerie with one exception, Drew Brees insists he's the QB over six feet while the understudy should know his place --in the world of the 5 "11 peeps. Kidding aside, who are we kidding? Size hardly matters when talking about the Super Bowl MVP and his backup Chase Daniel who have almost everything else in common---in a nutshell these guys are winners. Both QB's won high school state titles under those Friday Night Lights in Texas.Both were then ignored by Texas big boy schools. Both then followed that up by making their mark at Purdue and Missouri respectively. Now both are Saints where there is no doubt Daniel has benefited watching and learning from a guy who appreciates the road Daniel has traveled to New Orleans.
 
While Brees was a second round pick, Daniel went undrafted out of college despite turning around a Missouri program leading them to 10 wins his senior season. Chase was a Heisman finalist where he simply rewrote the Tigers record book---my favorite stat in a two game span against Southeast Missouri State and Nevada he threw more TD passes (7) than incompletions (6)!! Labeled a slow, small, system oriented QB, remarkably no team took a chance on him in the draft. His next move was a free agent deal with the Redskins. Daniel was then cut by the Skins even though he outplayed Colt Brennan by throwing three TD's and no picks in limited action. On the street again, Chase was thrown a lifeline from the Saints and this preseason he's swimming with the sharks.
 
On Saturday night, this Texan smoked the Texans by getting quality reps and responding with quality play. Daniel led four scoring drives and threw three touchdowns against Houston where each drive he displayed his all around game. Daniel is a gamer, a playmaker and on this night despite one interception---a quality decision maker. Chase showed off his arm throwing the ball downfield to Adrian Arrington, and proved he can use his legs with nobody open, where he ran for a !st down to set up another score. Some guys look good at a combine, Chase Daniel is at his best when its gametime where despite all the naysayers, he just continues to make plays.
 
While the soldout Superdome welcomed back its Super champs, nobody was cheering for Daniel more than his mirror image. Sure Daniel isn't sniffing the level of Drew Brees yet, but on this night he showed so many signs of promise. There are some things in sports you can't teach and its apparent Chase Daniel has a lot of them. He knows how to win and beyond that Daniel has an inner confidence that he expects to win. Jeff George, Andre Ware, and Ryan Leaf had all the skill in the world but were absent of many tangibles Chase Daniel possesses.  History has told us that Daniel has the poise to make it happen on the football field, the Who Dat Nation saw first hand in preseason game part deux ,where you get the feeling he's just getting warmed up.
 
AROUND THE CAMPFIRE
 
MR PRESEASON: You have to make quite the impression if you're gonna make this Saints team especially on offense but Adrian Arrington is making his case. For the second straight week, Arrington led the Saints in receiving yards where he had three receptions for 71 yards and a score. That's an average of over 23 yards a catch!.
 
PRACTICE MAKES......: Sean Payton reved up practice this week where accountability was king. Mistakes on the practice field were rewarded with extra running, an up/down or in the case of left guard Carl Nicks, a temporary demotion from the 1st team. Several players told me afterwards that helped them focus better during the week and it carried over to the game.
 
THE KILLER "P'S: Reggie Bush says he's as healthy as he's ever been as a pro and you could tell on Saturday. Bush ran with PATIENCE and a PURPOSE against the Texans where a pair of between the tackle beauties finished off the opening drive of the game.
 
TEXAN TURNOVERS: The Saints D didn't look good against Matt Schaub during the week but they enjoyed its do-over in the dome. Lots of pressure on the Houston QB where Will Smith forced a fumble that Sedrick Ellis recovered.
 
HOLLIDAY'S HOMECOMING: It wasn't the happy return for former LSU star Trindon Holliday in the Superdome. He fumbled twice, losing a punt which resulted in the Saints second score of the night.
 
EVERYTHING'S BIGGER VS TEXAS? The Saints 38 points vs the Texans was the most ever in a preseason game inside the Superdome but the second most in the franchise's practice game history.  You have to go back to Aug. 24, 1968 when the Saints beat the Cleveland Browns 40-27 at Tulane Stadium for the most points in a preseason home game.
 
UNTIL NEXT BLOG,
Mike Nabors
CST

By: Mike Nabors

An Emmy award winning sports reporter who covers a wide variety of events for CST. Primarily, Mike serves as the network's reporter for Saints coverage.

Post Comment | Read Comments (0)