SoCalBronco
05-20-2005, 05:05 PM
Friday, May 20, 2005
Quarterbacks Coach Pat McPherson Answered Your QB Camp Questions!
Pat McPherson comes into his third season as the Broncos quarterbacks coach and his eighth year overall on the staff. Previous to his current position he spent the 1998 season as a defensive assistant and from 1999-2002 as the club's offensive assistant before taking over the quarterbacks in 2003.
McPherson was named quarterbacks coach the same year Jake Plummer signed with the team from Arizona. The two work closely together along with fellow quarterbacks Danny Kanell, Bradlee Van Pelt, Matt Mauck and recently signed rookie Chad Friehauf.
This week begins the team's eight-day quarterback camp which runs through May 26. The annual camp gives the quarterbacks the opportunity to work with the running backs and receivers in preparation for the 2005 season.
This week he took a number of questions from fans. Here's what he had to say:
Max Morton; Colorado Springs, Colo.
What will Bradlee Van Pelt need to improve to become the No. 1 backup to Plummer?
Pat McPherson
It's a competition now. Danny Kanell is the incumbent as the backup. He definitely has the edge in experience and in knowing the system. But Bradlee is an excellent athlete. He has a strong arm, he's very bright and he works hard at it. His biggest thing is that he's going to need to become more consistent to become that guy. Day in and day out, play after play, he just has to be a consistent football player for us.
Chris Ranta; Laramie, Wy.
What are the chances that Matt Mauck becomes the No. 2 quarterback this fall?
Pat McPherson
Matt is right there too in the competition. Matt is very, very bright. He is athletic -- not quite the athlete that Bradlee is -- but he makes up for it in other ways. He's a savvy player. Matt is a consistent football player, he just needs to leave no doubt in our minds. It's the same thing with both of those guys. To be a backup quarterback in this league you have to be relied upon. If something happens to Jake in the first play of the game, the backup has to go in and our offense shouldn't skip a beat. That person has to be prepared at all times without getting reps during practice. I think Matt has the ability to do something like that. He just needs to continue to show that he's that guy.
Chris; West Palm Beach, Fla.
Who do you think has the best shot at being Jake's backup this year?
Pat McPherson
It's too hard to tell right now. It's so early and all three of those guys have great qualities. All of them have a flaw or two and it's just a matter of who performs the best in the preseason games and training-camp practices. We'll see; it will be exciting.
Luke Clementson; Midlothian, Va.
I noticed last year Jake was put into some tough positions where mistakes could easily occur. What will you try to do to help him become a more efficient and mistake-free quarterback?
Pat McPherson
Well, one of the things that Coach (Gary) Kubiak and I have done this offseason is spend some quality time with all of the quarterbacks. We've gone back to basics and talked about defenses, coverages and what defensive coverages look like. Not that Jake doesn't know what we're going through, but just maybe break it down even further so that he can say when he walks up to the line of scrimmage and when he looks out at the defense that he knows what defense they're in. I think that's something that's going to help him a bunch. We spent a good month doing that. He's been in our system now, this will be his third year, and with that experience factor in our system, he's just going to get better and better.
Jon; Fort Collins, Colo.
How do you see Colorado-product Chad Friehauf fitting in to the Broncos system? Does he have a chance of at least making the practice squad?
Pat McPherson
I think he has a chance. We've been very impressed with him so far -- I know he's only been here for (a few) days -- but we knew that he had the talent coming in. We knew he was a very bright kid coming from the Colorado School of Mines. He's picked up our stuff probably quicker than most people do. He's shown a nice, strong arm. I think that he has a chance. Hopefully it works out that potentially we could put him on the practice squad and get him to a situation where we send him to Europe next spring and see where it goes from there. Right now it's kind of hard to tell, but that should be his goal, to prove that he belongs at this level of competition, that he can learn what we're doing -- which I don't think he'll have a problem with -- and taking it from the classroom to the field, being consistent and making all the throws.
Robert; Washington, D.C.
How has Jake Plummer's game developed since he has been with the Broncos?
Pat McPherson
Jake proved when he came in that he is definitely a good leader. He's a guy's guy and he gets along with everybody. A lot of people look up to him and look to him for leadership. He's not a talker, he's not a big rah-rah guy, but everybody knows that he's going to do whatever it takes to win a game. He's going to prepare, he's going to play hard and I think that he's probably always had that quality. Since he's been here what he's probably improved the most at is studying what we do so when he walks out on the field on Sundays he knows exactly where everyone is in our offense.
James Kennedy; Honolulu, Hawaii
We have a stable of young quarterbacks that I think are a solid future for this team. We have a national champion, a Div. II MVP and a highly mobile quarterback. How did winners like all three fall so far in the draft or not get drafted and what did you see that you wanted?
Pat McPherson
Matt Mauck was what I call a bounce-back baseball player. He went and played some minor-league baseball for a few years after of high school. Then came back and played football at LSU and had an injury that cut his junior year short, so really he was a one-year starter at LSU. I think he flew, to a certain extent, under people's radar. I think to a certain degree some people thought that LSU had such a good team around him that maybe he was just the guy driving the bus. He's smart so he had everybody lined up and he got them the ball, but I think that he was a great college football player. What we saw when we evaluated him was that he is an athletic player, he's got a strong arm and he's a winner and we want people here that are winners.
Bradlee Van Pelt was very raw and just a football player. He's an athlete running around making plays and a tough kid. At Colorado State, although they were very productive offensively, they probably didn't have an offense that an NFL coach would look at and say this guy has thrown 30 times a game and that translates well to the NFL. Some of the things he did translated very well to what we do, like moving around. I think that a lot of people didn't believe in his arm, didn't believe in how smart he is and didn’t believe in the guy. He is a little different guy, but he is a good kid. We saw the athleticism. We met him a few times and being a local kid it was easy to have access to him and we felt like he was a strong enough character kid that we'd bring him in and we drafted him.
With Chad Friehauf, it's real tough for a lower division quarterback to make it in the NFL. He had about as productive of a career and a senior season as anybody you'll ever see. He's the Harlon Hill Award winner. He's very tall and skinny. He played his career that way and he needs to develop physically, but I think some people question how athletic he is. In watching film he looked athletic enough for us especially for his body frame and the longer he's in our conditioning and lifting program, if we can get him up to about 225 or 230 pounds, he's going to be a big, strong kid. I thought he was an extremely athletic kid for his height and build and he has a very strong arm for being so slight. I'm excited to see where it goes with him.
Paul Harmon; Oak Hills, Calif.
What do you look for in a backup quarterback?
Pat McPherson
The biggest thing is that he's got to be a guy that has to go the whole season -- for the most part -- with taking very few reps. In our system and in the way we practice, the backup quarterback actually gets a few more reps than a lot of places. There are some places where the backup quarterback doesn't take a single rep during the course of the season. He has to run the scout team and get his reps there and take mental reps. We do give our guys, especially early in the week, some significant reps, but he's got to be able to be the guy that doesn't get all the reps and be able to go out there on Sunday if something happens and play. In a nutshell, he has to be smart, he has to have the right mentality in that he might be very competitive and he wants to play, but he has to do whatever he can to help support the No. 1 guy and help support the team. That's a huge quality and I guess that translates into being a high-character guy.
Tim Perez; St. Louis, Mo.
Do you foresee this being the breakout year for Jake Plummer in which he places himself among the elite quarterbacks in the league?
Pat McPherson
I sure hope so. His first year here he had an excellent record as the starting quarterback and played very well. Last year he played every snap, he threw for more yards than any quarterback in Broncos history and he tied for the mot touchdown passes by a Broncos quarterback. The problem that we had was that his interception rate was fairly high. We did throw the ball a lot and interceptions are going to happen. There were some times, specifically in San Diego where we had a few balls bounce in ways that they don't usually bounce, so we had a little bit of bad luck. This year I'm looking for great things. He's going to be in his third year and generally it takes until about that third year for a guy that's either a rookie or new to a system to have a great understanding of the system. What Mike Shanahan and Ted Sundquist have done are get some really good people around him so hopefully the combination of his character and his competitiveness with all the rest of the great character and talent that we have around him, he should be ready to make that next leap to be a Pro Bowl player and a Super Bowl quarterback.
Mark Archuleta; Canyon Country, Calif.
As a coach and talent evaluator do you believe there is an intangible quality of "finding a way to win?" To me, Bradlee Van Pelt has that quality. What deficiencies kept him from being drafted high?
Pat McPherson
I think a lot of people didn't see him as a true quarterback. People looked at him as an athlete. Could he be a safety? Could he be a fullback? Could he be a linebacker. Just in talking to other quarterback coaches and offensive people during the drafting process, I don't think a lot of people felt that his accuracy was outstanding, just being a pure thrower and lucky for us, we felt that way because he does have some talent. Other people underestimated him. I think in taking both he and Matt in the seventh round last year; we got them both as steals.
Kyle Baldwin; Sacramento, Calif.
As a quarterbacks coach, how long do you give a rookie quarterback before making a judgment about how he'll fit in on the team, how skillful he really is, whether to trade him, release him or keep him long term? It seems there must be a time frame when you're satisfied that you've seen all of his ability and can make a judgment as to how good a player he is?
Pat McPherson
I think a lot of whether we cut someone or keep them has a lot to do with the level of competition that there is. I think right now we have a pretty good level of competition. In the past we may have had some years where maybe the battle for backup quarterback was an easy one to win. It's really up to the other circumstances, how many guys there actually are. Looking purely at one guy and asking if the guy can play in this league, you're never going to know until you get him into a game. You can watch a guy in practice and he can have a great arm, know all the plays, know where everyone is and make all the throws and then you get into a game and he just falls apart and can't function. Until a guy actually gets into a game you never really know.
Jim Koontz; Denver, Colo.
What do you think would be the ideal qualifications to be an outstanding quarterbacks coach?
Pat McPherson
I'm not quite sure I'm there yet, but I think one of the biggest things is to have a lot of patience because it is a tough position to coach -- especially for a former linebacker. I'm learning every day. One of the things that you have to do is be patient with the players that you're coaching and the learning curve that they have coming out of college or another system. I think that you have to be a good teacher and a good communicator. You can know all the Xs and Os in the world, but if you can't get the quarterback to know them then you're in trouble. I still have a ways to go in what I do but I think those are some qualities that you'd need to be a good coach.
Ron Valdez; Erie, Colo.
The media often characterize Jake as being purely a bootleg and play-action quarterback. I agree that he is really good out of the pocket, but I also think that he would be good in the pocket, if given more experience. Are you planning to work on keeping Jake in the pocket a little more this season?
Pat McPherson
I wouldn't think that we're making a big effort to go either way. What we've done in the past has worked well for him. I don't want to tip our hand as to what we are doing, but I think that he can do both. I just think that we're in a position where we're a running football team that has an athletic quarterback and when you put the two of those together it translates into effective play-action and getting your quarterback out of the pocket with keepers and those kinds of things so why not take advantage of what you're good at.
Ron Albo; Brush, Colo.
With five quarterbacks in camp how many will the Broncos be able to keep on the active roster? Would any of them be put on the practice squad or allocated to NFL Europe?
Pat McPherson
If it was up to me, you always want to keep them all because they're good guys. I think they're great character guys and I think we have a great locker room, but realistically, going into the last two football seasons we've kept two on our active roster so if history shows you anything we may have two on our active roster. Depending on who becomes that backup quarterback we could keep three. It would be nice to give Chad an opportunity to get bigger, stronger and allow him to be on the practice squad for a year to completely learn our system and be around this team for a while then see where it leads. He'd be the guy that is probably the most logical choice for the practice squad or NFL Europe.
Waylon Duncan; Las Vegas, Nev.
In your opinion, what are Jake Plummer's strengths compared to some of the top quarterbacks in the league and what are some of the areas of the quarterback position you think he needs to work on the most?
Pat McPherson
His strengths are that he's a high-character guy. He cares about the people he's playing with and with the people he's playing for and that kind of goes hand-in-hand with being a leader because people play harder for you, with you and work harder for you when you're that kind of a person. He's very competitive, so to him he's never out of a football game. When you talk about athleticism, there may be one or two guys in the league that are more athletic than he is, but I think that's he's by far one of the most athletic guys in the league which allows you to do a lot of different things. I think he prepares very well for a football game. He has a much stronger arm than a lot of people give him credit for. I know when he first came in here a lot of people didn't think he had a very strong arm, but he's got a very strong arm and he can throw out of almost any body position as you can see when he's out running around. He can throw across the field and do all kinds of crazy stuff. When it comes to weaknesses, I think some of his strengths at times can be some of his weaknesses. He's so competitive at times that he thinks he can make every play he needs to say to himself, 'I don't need to make that play right now, so I don't need to take that chance right now.' I think that might be one area that he needs to improve on. Sometimes he just needs to realize that he has another down coming up and he can make the play then. And he knows that.
Anthony Roberts; Alamosa, Colo.
With three very good quarterbacks competing for the backup spot behind Jake Plummer, why did the team sign Chad Friehauf?
Pat McPherson
We always are looking for talented players and when we go through the whole draft-evaluation process we have a list of guys and say, 'These are guys that, if not right now, a year or two or three down the line might help our football team. These guys are talented enough to play in this league and for this team.' We saw that in Chad. We didn't draft him because there were other needs for the football team. Historically, what happens when you get in that seventh round of the draft is that all these quarterbacks just start going off the list. Everybody grabs a quarterback late. We were really happy to have him there when the draft was over.
Quarterbacks Coach Pat McPherson Answered Your QB Camp Questions!
Pat McPherson comes into his third season as the Broncos quarterbacks coach and his eighth year overall on the staff. Previous to his current position he spent the 1998 season as a defensive assistant and from 1999-2002 as the club's offensive assistant before taking over the quarterbacks in 2003.
McPherson was named quarterbacks coach the same year Jake Plummer signed with the team from Arizona. The two work closely together along with fellow quarterbacks Danny Kanell, Bradlee Van Pelt, Matt Mauck and recently signed rookie Chad Friehauf.
This week begins the team's eight-day quarterback camp which runs through May 26. The annual camp gives the quarterbacks the opportunity to work with the running backs and receivers in preparation for the 2005 season.
This week he took a number of questions from fans. Here's what he had to say:
Max Morton; Colorado Springs, Colo.
What will Bradlee Van Pelt need to improve to become the No. 1 backup to Plummer?
Pat McPherson
It's a competition now. Danny Kanell is the incumbent as the backup. He definitely has the edge in experience and in knowing the system. But Bradlee is an excellent athlete. He has a strong arm, he's very bright and he works hard at it. His biggest thing is that he's going to need to become more consistent to become that guy. Day in and day out, play after play, he just has to be a consistent football player for us.
Chris Ranta; Laramie, Wy.
What are the chances that Matt Mauck becomes the No. 2 quarterback this fall?
Pat McPherson
Matt is right there too in the competition. Matt is very, very bright. He is athletic -- not quite the athlete that Bradlee is -- but he makes up for it in other ways. He's a savvy player. Matt is a consistent football player, he just needs to leave no doubt in our minds. It's the same thing with both of those guys. To be a backup quarterback in this league you have to be relied upon. If something happens to Jake in the first play of the game, the backup has to go in and our offense shouldn't skip a beat. That person has to be prepared at all times without getting reps during practice. I think Matt has the ability to do something like that. He just needs to continue to show that he's that guy.
Chris; West Palm Beach, Fla.
Who do you think has the best shot at being Jake's backup this year?
Pat McPherson
It's too hard to tell right now. It's so early and all three of those guys have great qualities. All of them have a flaw or two and it's just a matter of who performs the best in the preseason games and training-camp practices. We'll see; it will be exciting.
Luke Clementson; Midlothian, Va.
I noticed last year Jake was put into some tough positions where mistakes could easily occur. What will you try to do to help him become a more efficient and mistake-free quarterback?
Pat McPherson
Well, one of the things that Coach (Gary) Kubiak and I have done this offseason is spend some quality time with all of the quarterbacks. We've gone back to basics and talked about defenses, coverages and what defensive coverages look like. Not that Jake doesn't know what we're going through, but just maybe break it down even further so that he can say when he walks up to the line of scrimmage and when he looks out at the defense that he knows what defense they're in. I think that's something that's going to help him a bunch. We spent a good month doing that. He's been in our system now, this will be his third year, and with that experience factor in our system, he's just going to get better and better.
Jon; Fort Collins, Colo.
How do you see Colorado-product Chad Friehauf fitting in to the Broncos system? Does he have a chance of at least making the practice squad?
Pat McPherson
I think he has a chance. We've been very impressed with him so far -- I know he's only been here for (a few) days -- but we knew that he had the talent coming in. We knew he was a very bright kid coming from the Colorado School of Mines. He's picked up our stuff probably quicker than most people do. He's shown a nice, strong arm. I think that he has a chance. Hopefully it works out that potentially we could put him on the practice squad and get him to a situation where we send him to Europe next spring and see where it goes from there. Right now it's kind of hard to tell, but that should be his goal, to prove that he belongs at this level of competition, that he can learn what we're doing -- which I don't think he'll have a problem with -- and taking it from the classroom to the field, being consistent and making all the throws.
Robert; Washington, D.C.
How has Jake Plummer's game developed since he has been with the Broncos?
Pat McPherson
Jake proved when he came in that he is definitely a good leader. He's a guy's guy and he gets along with everybody. A lot of people look up to him and look to him for leadership. He's not a talker, he's not a big rah-rah guy, but everybody knows that he's going to do whatever it takes to win a game. He's going to prepare, he's going to play hard and I think that he's probably always had that quality. Since he's been here what he's probably improved the most at is studying what we do so when he walks out on the field on Sundays he knows exactly where everyone is in our offense.
James Kennedy; Honolulu, Hawaii
We have a stable of young quarterbacks that I think are a solid future for this team. We have a national champion, a Div. II MVP and a highly mobile quarterback. How did winners like all three fall so far in the draft or not get drafted and what did you see that you wanted?
Pat McPherson
Matt Mauck was what I call a bounce-back baseball player. He went and played some minor-league baseball for a few years after of high school. Then came back and played football at LSU and had an injury that cut his junior year short, so really he was a one-year starter at LSU. I think he flew, to a certain extent, under people's radar. I think to a certain degree some people thought that LSU had such a good team around him that maybe he was just the guy driving the bus. He's smart so he had everybody lined up and he got them the ball, but I think that he was a great college football player. What we saw when we evaluated him was that he is an athletic player, he's got a strong arm and he's a winner and we want people here that are winners.
Bradlee Van Pelt was very raw and just a football player. He's an athlete running around making plays and a tough kid. At Colorado State, although they were very productive offensively, they probably didn't have an offense that an NFL coach would look at and say this guy has thrown 30 times a game and that translates well to the NFL. Some of the things he did translated very well to what we do, like moving around. I think that a lot of people didn't believe in his arm, didn't believe in how smart he is and didn’t believe in the guy. He is a little different guy, but he is a good kid. We saw the athleticism. We met him a few times and being a local kid it was easy to have access to him and we felt like he was a strong enough character kid that we'd bring him in and we drafted him.
With Chad Friehauf, it's real tough for a lower division quarterback to make it in the NFL. He had about as productive of a career and a senior season as anybody you'll ever see. He's the Harlon Hill Award winner. He's very tall and skinny. He played his career that way and he needs to develop physically, but I think some people question how athletic he is. In watching film he looked athletic enough for us especially for his body frame and the longer he's in our conditioning and lifting program, if we can get him up to about 225 or 230 pounds, he's going to be a big, strong kid. I thought he was an extremely athletic kid for his height and build and he has a very strong arm for being so slight. I'm excited to see where it goes with him.
Paul Harmon; Oak Hills, Calif.
What do you look for in a backup quarterback?
Pat McPherson
The biggest thing is that he's got to be a guy that has to go the whole season -- for the most part -- with taking very few reps. In our system and in the way we practice, the backup quarterback actually gets a few more reps than a lot of places. There are some places where the backup quarterback doesn't take a single rep during the course of the season. He has to run the scout team and get his reps there and take mental reps. We do give our guys, especially early in the week, some significant reps, but he's got to be able to be the guy that doesn't get all the reps and be able to go out there on Sunday if something happens and play. In a nutshell, he has to be smart, he has to have the right mentality in that he might be very competitive and he wants to play, but he has to do whatever he can to help support the No. 1 guy and help support the team. That's a huge quality and I guess that translates into being a high-character guy.
Tim Perez; St. Louis, Mo.
Do you foresee this being the breakout year for Jake Plummer in which he places himself among the elite quarterbacks in the league?
Pat McPherson
I sure hope so. His first year here he had an excellent record as the starting quarterback and played very well. Last year he played every snap, he threw for more yards than any quarterback in Broncos history and he tied for the mot touchdown passes by a Broncos quarterback. The problem that we had was that his interception rate was fairly high. We did throw the ball a lot and interceptions are going to happen. There were some times, specifically in San Diego where we had a few balls bounce in ways that they don't usually bounce, so we had a little bit of bad luck. This year I'm looking for great things. He's going to be in his third year and generally it takes until about that third year for a guy that's either a rookie or new to a system to have a great understanding of the system. What Mike Shanahan and Ted Sundquist have done are get some really good people around him so hopefully the combination of his character and his competitiveness with all the rest of the great character and talent that we have around him, he should be ready to make that next leap to be a Pro Bowl player and a Super Bowl quarterback.
Mark Archuleta; Canyon Country, Calif.
As a coach and talent evaluator do you believe there is an intangible quality of "finding a way to win?" To me, Bradlee Van Pelt has that quality. What deficiencies kept him from being drafted high?
Pat McPherson
I think a lot of people didn't see him as a true quarterback. People looked at him as an athlete. Could he be a safety? Could he be a fullback? Could he be a linebacker. Just in talking to other quarterback coaches and offensive people during the drafting process, I don't think a lot of people felt that his accuracy was outstanding, just being a pure thrower and lucky for us, we felt that way because he does have some talent. Other people underestimated him. I think in taking both he and Matt in the seventh round last year; we got them both as steals.
Kyle Baldwin; Sacramento, Calif.
As a quarterbacks coach, how long do you give a rookie quarterback before making a judgment about how he'll fit in on the team, how skillful he really is, whether to trade him, release him or keep him long term? It seems there must be a time frame when you're satisfied that you've seen all of his ability and can make a judgment as to how good a player he is?
Pat McPherson
I think a lot of whether we cut someone or keep them has a lot to do with the level of competition that there is. I think right now we have a pretty good level of competition. In the past we may have had some years where maybe the battle for backup quarterback was an easy one to win. It's really up to the other circumstances, how many guys there actually are. Looking purely at one guy and asking if the guy can play in this league, you're never going to know until you get him into a game. You can watch a guy in practice and he can have a great arm, know all the plays, know where everyone is and make all the throws and then you get into a game and he just falls apart and can't function. Until a guy actually gets into a game you never really know.
Jim Koontz; Denver, Colo.
What do you think would be the ideal qualifications to be an outstanding quarterbacks coach?
Pat McPherson
I'm not quite sure I'm there yet, but I think one of the biggest things is to have a lot of patience because it is a tough position to coach -- especially for a former linebacker. I'm learning every day. One of the things that you have to do is be patient with the players that you're coaching and the learning curve that they have coming out of college or another system. I think that you have to be a good teacher and a good communicator. You can know all the Xs and Os in the world, but if you can't get the quarterback to know them then you're in trouble. I still have a ways to go in what I do but I think those are some qualities that you'd need to be a good coach.
Ron Valdez; Erie, Colo.
The media often characterize Jake as being purely a bootleg and play-action quarterback. I agree that he is really good out of the pocket, but I also think that he would be good in the pocket, if given more experience. Are you planning to work on keeping Jake in the pocket a little more this season?
Pat McPherson
I wouldn't think that we're making a big effort to go either way. What we've done in the past has worked well for him. I don't want to tip our hand as to what we are doing, but I think that he can do both. I just think that we're in a position where we're a running football team that has an athletic quarterback and when you put the two of those together it translates into effective play-action and getting your quarterback out of the pocket with keepers and those kinds of things so why not take advantage of what you're good at.
Ron Albo; Brush, Colo.
With five quarterbacks in camp how many will the Broncos be able to keep on the active roster? Would any of them be put on the practice squad or allocated to NFL Europe?
Pat McPherson
If it was up to me, you always want to keep them all because they're good guys. I think they're great character guys and I think we have a great locker room, but realistically, going into the last two football seasons we've kept two on our active roster so if history shows you anything we may have two on our active roster. Depending on who becomes that backup quarterback we could keep three. It would be nice to give Chad an opportunity to get bigger, stronger and allow him to be on the practice squad for a year to completely learn our system and be around this team for a while then see where it leads. He'd be the guy that is probably the most logical choice for the practice squad or NFL Europe.
Waylon Duncan; Las Vegas, Nev.
In your opinion, what are Jake Plummer's strengths compared to some of the top quarterbacks in the league and what are some of the areas of the quarterback position you think he needs to work on the most?
Pat McPherson
His strengths are that he's a high-character guy. He cares about the people he's playing with and with the people he's playing for and that kind of goes hand-in-hand with being a leader because people play harder for you, with you and work harder for you when you're that kind of a person. He's very competitive, so to him he's never out of a football game. When you talk about athleticism, there may be one or two guys in the league that are more athletic than he is, but I think that's he's by far one of the most athletic guys in the league which allows you to do a lot of different things. I think he prepares very well for a football game. He has a much stronger arm than a lot of people give him credit for. I know when he first came in here a lot of people didn't think he had a very strong arm, but he's got a very strong arm and he can throw out of almost any body position as you can see when he's out running around. He can throw across the field and do all kinds of crazy stuff. When it comes to weaknesses, I think some of his strengths at times can be some of his weaknesses. He's so competitive at times that he thinks he can make every play he needs to say to himself, 'I don't need to make that play right now, so I don't need to take that chance right now.' I think that might be one area that he needs to improve on. Sometimes he just needs to realize that he has another down coming up and he can make the play then. And he knows that.
Anthony Roberts; Alamosa, Colo.
With three very good quarterbacks competing for the backup spot behind Jake Plummer, why did the team sign Chad Friehauf?
Pat McPherson
We always are looking for talented players and when we go through the whole draft-evaluation process we have a list of guys and say, 'These are guys that, if not right now, a year or two or three down the line might help our football team. These guys are talented enough to play in this league and for this team.' We saw that in Chad. We didn't draft him because there were other needs for the football team. Historically, what happens when you get in that seventh round of the draft is that all these quarterbacks just start going off the list. Everybody grabs a quarterback late. We were really happy to have him there when the draft was over.