Backup QB Daniel plays valuable but thankless role

The greatest fear in almost every NFL city is the entrance of the backup quarterback.

"It's natural," said Chase Daniel, the Eagles' backup quarterback. "Fans are going to freak out, especially if the starter is a star player and they think the team's success hinges on him."

Many times the apocalyptic reaction is justified. In Dallas, for example, the Cowboys have watched two of their last three seasons destroyed by Tony Romo injuries and they're worried it could be happening again in 2016. With their season-opening home loss to the New York Giants, the Cowboys slipped to 1-13 in games started by someone other than Romo over the last four seasons. They are 23-11 when Romo has played during that span.

The fans were sleepless in Seattle last week after Russell Wilson sprained his ankle in a season-opening win over Miami. Wilson, it turned out, was sleepless, too. According to the Tacoma News Tribune, he slept a total of six hours from Sunday night through Wednesday night because he was doing everything he could in order to play Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams.

Wilson has not missed a game since coming into the league as a rookie in 2012 and the Seahawks are 54-21 during that span with two Super Bowl appearances, including a victory. Nobody in Seattle wants to find out if Trevone Boykin can play the position.

After just one game of watching Carson Wentz, the same feeling now exists in Philadelphia about Daniel. It's not fair to the backup, but Wentz was so impressive in the season-opening win that expectations for this season have significantly risen. They would immediately fall the moment Daniel trotted onto the field, although head coach Doug Pederson is confident he has the right guy as the backup.

"During this offseason I spent a lot of time thinking about who was going to be our number two," Pederson said. "That's why I went after Chase Daniel. I know what he's all about. I know how he works."

The NovaCare Complex might be the NFL capital of backup quarterbacks right now. Pederson spent 10 seasons as a backup and made 17 career starts. Offensive coordinator Frank Reich made 27 starts in 13 seasons and Daniel made two starts in his first six seasons.

"I would say probably the most difficult thing is getting ready for the game, with all the mental stuff that goes into it, and then never actually getting to go through it physically on game day," Daniel said. "There's a lot of built-up stuff in your brain and you want to get it all out, but most of the time it stays in there not just for one week but the entire season."

Both of Daniels' career starts came with Kansas City in season-finale games against San Diego. Two years ago, he helped the Chiefs beat the Chargers to eliminate San Diego from playoff contention.

"There is a lot more to being a backup than game time," Daniel said.

For Daniel, that means helping Wentz get ready.

"That is true for any backup, not just me and Carson," Daniel said. "I would say there is a little more put on me because he is a rookie and he hasn't been around and done it before. By that I mean he hasn't prepared week in and week out for NFL defenses. He's sort of leaning on me for that, but he has done a great job. He's super smart. He's one of the smartest people I've ever been around, that's for sure."

Daniel, Reich, and Pederson might be career backups, but they all know what greatness looks like up close. Daniel played with Drew Brees in New Orleans. The bulk of Reich's career was spent with Jim Kelly in Buffalo, and Pederson was Brett Favre's sideline sounding board in Green Bay.

So maybe there's reason to worry about Chase Daniel going into a game, but there's also reason to rejoice that he is a voice inside Wentz's head.

Sam Bradford spent opening day as a backup quarterback for the first time in his career and he watched his Minnesota Vikings rally from a 10-0 deficit to pull out a 25-16 victory in Tennessee. If Shaun Hill had any thoughts of keeping Bradford on the bench for another week, he made the least of his opportunity as the Vikings failed to score an offensive touchdown.

After working with the first-team offense during practice this past week, Bradford is expected to make his Vikings debut Sunday night against the Green Bay Packers. The Vikings are hoping that Bradford's presence helps open up the running game. Adrian Peterson was held to 31 yards on 19 carries playing against a Titans defense that stacked the line of scrimmage.

The San Francisco 49ers controlled the ball for 32 minutes, 10 seconds in their 28-0 season-opening win over the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night and that was the most interesting statistic from the game.

Chip Kelly still had quarterback Blaine Gabbert run a no-huddle offense, but the 49ers did not seem to be in as much of a hurry as the Eagles often were during the coach's three seasons in Philadelphia. Interestingly, the Eagles also won the time-of-possession battle in Kelly's 2013 NFL debut down in Washington. They would do so only 14 more times in Kelly's final 48 games as the coach of the Eagles.

The 32:10 time of possession for the 49ers was surpassed only five times during Kelly's tenure with the Eagles.

For the record, Kelly is 12-4 as an NFL head coach when his team wins the time-of-possession battles he does not care about. He is 15-18 when the other team wins the time-of-possession statistic. The Eagles were 9-2 against teams under .500 when they held the ball longer than their opponent during the Kelly era and 7-7 when they lost the possession battle.

In their win over the Browns, the Eagles held the ball for 39:20, which was the longest of any team in the NFL in Week 1 and more than five minutes longer than any game coached by Kelly.

It was nearly a decade ago that veteran long-snapper Mike Bartrum suffered a career-ending neck injury during a game in Indianapolis. He was replaced the following week by Jon Dorenbos, who had been working as a part-time magician.

"It's a cool job being a magician," Dorenbos said after signing with the Eagles. "Actually, I never want to have a real job."

Dorenbos, of course, has been the Eagles' long-snapper ever since, and after his third-place finish on America's Got Talent last week it's a lock that he'll never be burdened by a real job.

So Ryan Fitzpatrick and the New York Jets compile 493 yards and 37 points in a win Thursday night at Buffalo and Bills offensive coordinator Greg Roman is the one who gets fired? It sure looked like a defensive problem to me, and, at last check, Rex Ryan is a head coach whose reputation was built on defense. The heat is definitely on Ryan and it's highly unlikely Buddy's boy will ever get a head coaching job again.

Sunday early game:

Dallas at Washington

This game ensures that one of the two teams that have most recently won the NFC East will open 2016 at 0-2. Washington's Kirk Cousins failed to throw a TD pass in the opener against Pittsburgh, the first time that had happened since the 2014 season. Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant has had just one catch in two of his last three games.

Sunday late game:

Tampa Bay at Arizona

After throwing five touchdown passes in a rout of the Eagles last season, Jameis Winston was a pedestrian quarterback in Tampa Bay's final six games as the Bucs went 1-5. He opened this season with four TD passes in a win over Atlanta and now has a chance to show some consistency against an Arizona team that suffered a tough home loss to New England in its opener.

Sunday night game:

Green Bay at Minnesota

The Vikings open sparkling U.S. Bank Stadium against their fiercest rival a year after winning the NFC North. According to the Vikings' web site, the new stadium cost $1.1 billion to build. The Metrodome, which opened in 1982, cost only $55 million. Since the NFL went to a divisional format in 1967, the Vikings have won 19 NFC Central and North titles and the Packers have won 14.

Monday night game:

Eagles at Chicago

The Bears managed just 73 yards rushing in their season-opening loss at Houston, the team's lowest single-game total in 17 games with John Fox as their head coach. This is Fox's second season in Chicago. In his previous two coaching stops, Fox's teams - Carolina and Denver - went 11-5 and 13-3 in his second seasons.

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