The article wants you to imagine a Missouri quarterback one day leading his NFL team to a Super Bowl. It then goes on to say that the guy they want you to imagine is not Chase Daniel, but Chase Patton. That’s how the story goes from ESPN the Magazine’s Seth Wickersham.
It’s an interesting story about how the two Chase’s are close not only on the field, but off the field as well. The story also describes how Chase Patton struggled with learning the spread offense and how difficult it was for him to first accept, then realize his potential , after losing out on the Mizzou depth chart to Chase Daniel.
Read the article and see what you think, but I think Wickersham’s assessments are off. First, I agree with him that Chase Daniel may have a hard time breaking through in the NFL. Height and weight and speed are taken into account for so much these days. There have been plenty of smaller quarterbacks who have done well in the NFL and many who don’t fit the prototypical mold, yet they have a desire to win.
I think one thing that plays into Daniel’s advantage is he is so smart on the field. Mizzou head coach Gary Pinkel says it’s like having another coach on the field. He can grasp a system. Granted, he’s been running the same offense for a number of years, but I think Daniel has the instincts to learn any system and adapt, because of one major factor. He’s got great mechanics. He can hit guys like Jeremy Maclin, Will Franklin (who is a pro) Danario Alexander, etc, etc on a dead run and place the ball over their shoulder. He doesn’t have to worry about how he should throw, and that confidence and assurance allows him to just concentrate on making the right read.
When you read, you’ll see how quarterback’s coach David Yost called Patton accurate when his feet are in the right position. The other description that glares out to me is how they say Patton is shy and quiet. I don’t want that from a quarterback. I want a guy that has an edge to him. I want him to feel like he is the man. You can be 6’3, big , and have a rocket arm, but if you don’t have the mechanics down or give your teammates that air of confidence that you can lead them into battle, you’re not going to cut it.
Wickersham is already throwing all of Daniel’s accomplishments right out the window because of his size and giving Patton a little more credit than deserved. Let me know what you think. E-mail me at [email protected] .
