Daniels always in the right place

Daniels always in right place
Sunday, November 09, 2008
BY JOHN NALBONE
PHILADELPHIA -- Free safety Brian Dawkins has put in 13 years of hard labor with the Eagles and is still searching.
Right tackle Jon Runyan will run his streak of consecutive regular season starts to 185 tonight against the NFC East-leading Giants at Lincoln Financial Field, while quarterback Donovan McNabb has attempted 4,020 passes since being drafted second overall in 1999.
Left tackle Tra Thomas has protected McNabb's blindside for nearly all of those throws, yet he has not reached the pinnacle in a sport often judged by just one thing when all is said and done.
Winning a Super Bowl.
Torrance "Tank" Daniels must be living pretty darn good.
Let go by the Eagles following the 2006 season after appearing in just six games, the backup linebacker and special teams performer was picked up by the Giants, whose newly-hired defensive coordinator, Steve Spagnuolo, was familiar with Daniels' work when both men were employed by Andy Reid.
Comparable to his brief stint with the Eagles, who originally signed Daniels as an undrafted free agent before affording him the opportunity to become the first player from Division II Harding University to play in the NFL, Daniels spent most of the 2007 season on the Giants' practice squad.
Lighting struck for the 26-year-old Daniels in Week 13 of the regular season, when he was moved to the active roster.
Although he appears nowhere in any statistical category over the final four regular-season games with New York, Daniels showed enough intangibles to stick around for the playoffs.
To make a long story short, Daniels forced a fumble in the NFC wild-card game against Tampa Bay and, a few weeks later, found him self on the field celebrating with the Giants after they stunned the unbeaten New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.
"I just feel so fortunate to be in the league only three years and have a Super Bowl ring," Daniels said. "Not only that, I have been to the playoffs every year. To be a Super Bowl champ, it took a long, long, long time even after winning to have it kind of sink in. Then I came back here to Philadelphia (in September), seeing great, I mean great players that are 10 times bet ter than I am, who still don't have what I have. It's pretty humbling."
To recap, an undrafted free agent from a Division II college that has spent the majority of his career on the practice squads of two teams -- whose most notable contribution in the NFL was a forcing a kick return out of the hands of the Buccaneers' Michael Spur lock early in last season's playoff run -- has made the playoffs each year he has been in the league and returned to the Eagles (5-3) a champion after being let go by the Giants (7-1).
Bad stuff happens to good people all the time.
But so do good things.
So when men such as Daniels can find time to visit wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center before he and his Big Blue teammates were feted at the White House, there is hope for Dawkins, McNabb, Runyan, Thomas and every other member of the Eagles still in search of the NFL's Holy Grail.
That seemingly endless journey continues tonight against the defending champs in a game the Eagles, who are winless in the divi sion, must have.
"The guys in here work so hard," said Daniels, one of only three Eagles with Super Bowl rings.
Cornerback Asante Samuel (2/ Patriots) and Dan Klecko (3/ Patriots and Colts) are the others.
"They deserve to experience what I was lucky enough to experience last year," he said. "It's not easy, obviously. Every year, every week it's something different in the NFL. It's a beast, but once you taste it a little bit, you want more and I believe this team can be a champion."
Contact John Nalbone at jnalbo ne@njtimes.com