ED: I'm in the midst of Football Outsiders Almanac 2013 writing season, which means I've written a couple thousand words about the Titans this week but you don't get to read them yet. Blogging rate will be light for potentially the next month or so.
Quote dump today, since I'm short on time and these have been sitting on my computer for a while. First, Russ Lande in a podcast with Mike Tanier before this year's draft:
Jake is a guy that when you look at everything he has, it's rare except for one thing, and that's his accuracy. He can't hit the broad side of a barn. And I mean, I sat there at the Senior Bowl with two quarterback coaches, and we watched him. And they both turned to me and they said, "Russ, I don't mind taking on a quarterback who's inaccurate, but he better have a mechanical flaw. This kid has no flaws. He's perfect mechanically, and he still can't hit the broad side of a barn." He said, "How am I supposed to fix him?" That's the issue. Some coach saw something, I think it was Chris Palmer, and felt he could correct something, but it is so tough to correct a flaw to change the accuracy. … It's really a shame, because he's really what you want in a quarterback. He's tough. He'll come and play through any type of pain. He teammates love him because he takes command of the huddle. I mean, he's a great athlete. He's got a tremendous arm. He can fit the ball into tiny pockets. But the problem is he doesn't know when he's going to throw into that pocket correctly, and that's the biggest issue because the ball goes everywhere.
Second, Greg Cosell talking to the Midday180 on 104.5:
Let’s talk about what I think you can do with him. What you can do ultimately with Jake Locker, and I think this is what they’re trying to get accomplished, is you want to get the run game going and be a play-action quarterback because play-action defines and clarifies reads a lot better and therefore you can take some shots, defined shots down the field. Then you hope because he’s athletic that when you get into the third-and-8s and third-and-9s that he can make enough plays with his legs to sustain some drives. I think everybody would agree that he’s not going to be a 66 or 67% passer. He’s never been that. He’s not going to wake up one day and that’s going to happen. You try to craft an offense in which you can take advantage of your entire offensive personnel and what Jake Locker is. Don't forget they had a very poor defense. That’s the other part of this equation. I don’t think Jake Locker will be effective if he has to put up 30 points on a weekly basis.
Good luck, Dowell Loggains.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
