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The real steal Chris Chandler: After 10 seasons, an overnight sensation
Posted: Friday January 08, 1999 02:11 PM
SUWANEE, Ga. (AP) -- Sure, the Atlanta Falcons were in desperate need of a quarterback for the 1997 season. But Chris Chandler? The guy was nothing more than an injury waiting to happen, so fragile that he was nicknamed "Chris Chandelier." There had to be a reason he bounced around to five teams in his first nine seasons, suffering the ultimate ignominy of being cut by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during a 3-13 season. "No one really knew the story about Chris," running back Jamal Anderson said, remembering when he heard the Falcons acquired Chandler in a trade almost two years ago. "When he arrives here, we're all like, 'We traded for him? He's going to be our quarterback?"' Well, at least the Falcons didn't have to give up a whole lot to pry Chandler away from the then-Houston Oilers. A couple of low draft picks -- one in the fourth round, the other in the sixth -- was all it took. Then, it only took one workout for Chandler to convince Anderson and receiver Terance Mathis that he was the quarterback who could finally lead the Falcons to the NFL's promised land. "Jeff George was here before him, so we were used to a quarterback who had a great arm," Anderson said. "When Chris comes in and starts throwing the ball around, me and Terance are like, 'Whoa! What's happening here? There are other teams who didn't want this guy? We love him.'" Coach Dan Reeves, who engineered the steal -- uh, make that deal -- with the Oilers, thought he was getting an adequate quarterback who could hold down the starting job until somebody better came along. Instead, he wound up with a full-fledged star. "I've been around some great ones -- John Elway, Roger Staubach, Danny White, Phil Simms -- but I don't think I've ever seen a quarterback who is any more accurate throwing the ball, particularly deep," Reeves said. "He was definitely underrated by me. I had no idea that Chris was as good a football players as he is." A mere 10 years into his career, Chandler became an overnight sensation with the Falcons, leading them to respectability last season and the NFC West championship this season. Along with Anderson, he is probably the most integral component of Atlanta's greatest year ever. "I have a lot of satisfaction," said Chandler, who leads the Falcons (14-2) into an NFC divisional playoff against San Francisco on Saturday. "I'm in a situation where I feel like everything I've gotten in this league, I've really had to earn. I haven't had a lot given to me. It's very rewarding to be in this situation I'm in right now." Chandler was the second-rated quarterback in the NFL last season, earning his first Pro Bowl appearance despite a series of injuries that knocked him out of four games and kept him out of two others altogether. The Falcons saw enough to build their team around the 33-year-old Chandler, signing him to a four-year, $25 million contract extension that will keep him in Atlanta through 2002. This season, despite missing two more games because of injuries, Chandler showed it was a wise investment. He was voted to another Pro Bowl over stars such as Brett Favre and Troy Aikman, throwing for 3,154 yards and 25 touchdowns, both career highs. Chandler also had the highest rating of his career (100.9), ranking fourth in the league. "This has been a great fit for us," Reeves said. "He loves what we're doing and we love to construct our offense around what he's doing." In addition to displaying one of the league's strongest, most accurate arms, Chandler has taken great strides to dispel the perception that he's too fragile to play in the NFL. If anything, he seems to be a little too courageous for his own good, stubbornly refusing to get rid of the ball until the last possible second and subjecting himself to some brutal hits. "Every once in a while I might hold on to the ball a little bit and take a hit or two that maybe I shouldn't," Chandler conceded. "But when you start looking at the rush, that's when you start throwing interceptions. And those are even worse." The Falcons gave up 53 sacks this season, a total exceeded by only five other teams. Chandler was on the receiving end of all but eight, but he shows no willingness to change his style. "On some of the touchdowns he's thrown, you can see after he releases the ball that he's just getting smashed," Mathis said. "But he'd rather sit in there to make the play and suffer the consequences." The Falcons can live with that.
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