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Originally published January 31, 2014 at 3:02 PM | Page modified January 31, 2014 at 10:13 PM

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Seahawks, Broncos scout-team QB study in contrasts, too

Seahawks’ B.J. Daniels and Broncos’ Brock Osweiler have big differences but still try to emulate starting quarterbacks all week before the Super Bowl.


Seattle Times staff reporter

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JERSEY CITY, N.J. — One of the overriding themes of Super Bowl XLVIII is the vast differences between the Seahawks and Broncos. Denver has the best offense in the NFL, Seattle boasts the best defense.

That list extends to something that can go relatively unnoticed — the backup quarterbacks for each team, who have handled much of the scout team duties the past two weeks.

One of the Denver quarterbacks playing the role of Seattle’s 5-foot-11 Russell Wilson in practice is 6-8 Brock Osweiler, who played at Arizona State but was also a standout basketball player at Flathead High in Kalispell, Mont., good enough that for a time he had committed to Gonzaga.

Countering for Seattle is 5-11 B.J. Daniels, a member of the Seahawks’ practice squad who has been playing the role of 6-5 Denver starter Peyton Manning.

Osweiler not only is nine inches taller than Wilson but also vastly different in styles — Osweiler has 11 career rushes for minus-11 yards.

So it is with Daniels, whose running ability had some teams looking at him as a receiver — he ran for 2,068 yards at South Florida — but this week is emulating the prototype dropback quarterback of this era.

“Yeah, I’m having to hang in the pocket a little more,’’ Daniels said with a laugh. “Just trying to make sure I give the defense a good look. Quarterbacks don’t get hit in practice anyway, so I’m not too worried about the rush or anybody getting to me like that.

“… Peyton is not going to run the zone read or run out of the pocket or things like that. So it’s just making different tweaks like that that will help out giving the defense a good look.’’

As a practice-squad member, Daniels won’t be eligible to play in the Super Bowl. But for now, simply being here is good enough. He was chosen by San Francisco in the seventh round of the 2013 draft. A broken ankle suffered at the end of his senior season didn’t help his draft stock.

He made the 49ers’ initial 53-man active roster, and helped play the role of Wilson in practice for San Francisco before the Seahawks-49ers game in September. After being cut a few weeks later, Seattle snapped him up, initially to its active roster, and then releasing him and re-signing him to the practice squad.

“From breaking my ankle to thinking I wouldn’t even get drafted and thinking my dreams were gone, to now playing in the Super Bowl is truly a blessing,’’ he said.

Seahawks healthy

The Seahawks wrapped up their practice week Friday with a 77-minute workout at the New York Giants’ facility at East Rutherford, N.J.

The official NFL pool report of the practice stated that all 53 players on the active roster were full participants, including receivers Percy Harvin (concussion) and Doug Baldwin (hip), who each were reported as having run “freely for the third straight day.’’

All Seattle players are expected to be available for the Super Bowl.

“And now,’’ coach Pete Carroll was quoted as saying after the practice, “we wait. We had a great day today. We finished like I hoped we’d finish, and I thought our execution today was very good.”

The NFL practice report also stated that “each day in New Jersey, Seattle practiced without pads’’ and Friday the Seahawks “also went without helmets ... most players wore green-and-blue knit Seahawks hats as they went through their paces in temperatures in the high thirties.’’

Fua listed doubtful

Denver also is healthy entering the game with just one player listed on its injury report — reserve defensive tackle Sione Fua, who is listed as doubtful with a calf injury.

The NFL report stated the Broncos used the indoor field at the Atlantic Health Center Training Center (the practice home of the New York Jets) for their 85-minute practice after coach John Fox determined that the outdoor synthetic field was too hard.

Note

• According to the NFL, the temperature is expected to be about 39 degrees for the 3:30 p.m. PT kickoff Sunday.

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com. On Twitter @bcondotta.



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