200 words on Gary Danielson

Credit: Staff Sgt. Steve Cortez

Gary Danielson is one of the most cerebral and quick-thinking football analysts we have, and I will be sad when we don’t have him anymore.

(And among current play-by-play/color teams currently working college football, the one-two of Brad Nessler and Danielson is second only to Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit—and not by much, frankly—but that’s another post.)

The whining about Danielson is legion. Generally there are accusations that he’s biased, or that he’s trying to stir up controversy. Mostly, I think this is nonsense. His most significant defect—and it’s still a minor one—is that sometimes he won’t leave something alone.

(Perhaps that’s partial credit on “stir up controversy.”)

You know what he does better than anyone else on television, though? Break the game down, rapidly and accurately. Danielson expertly and articulately dissects formations and schemes, and what he says is going to happen happens nearly every time. He has taught me more about how to read a defense than anyone else, and it’s not close.

Danielson was an NFL quarterback for 12 years, and it’s tough to beat that for domain knowledge. He thinks quickly, and he is sufficiently skilled with English to process that thought into digestible and informative chunks at a pace consistent with that of a football game.

Stop hating on the guy and listen to him. You’ll come away smarter.

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