Smart Links – 5/22/2011

Sunday, 22 May 2011 , by : Chris

What the heck: Titans offensive coordinator Chris Palmer watching more Jake Locker film now than before the draft. Uh, shouldn’t that have been done ahead of time?

- The Solid Verbal interviews Herb Hand, and it is a must listen. So go do that.

- Purdue waiting around to name Rob Henry the starting quarterback, primarily because maybe Robert Marve will be healthy and great (post-ACL tear), or won’t be. Considering that Marve looked terrible last year, if he beats out Henry (who is young and athletic — he led Purdue in rushing last year despite playing in only about half of the games — but has lots to learn in the passing game) then Purdue is in for another dismal season (which they may be anyway). My advice to Henry? Five words: seven-on-seven, every day.

- Why don’t the Wall Street Journal and New York Times combine paywalls?

- Big Ten to pay more to its athletes. Just a little side change.

- Eliminating a quarterback’s indecision in option football.

- Throw-back-back-back uniforms.

- Red Bull’s billionaire maniac.

Posted in the Category: grab bag 5 comments
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  • http://twitter.com/ThomasGower Tom Gower

    In his partial defense, Palmer wasn’t hired by the Titans until mid-February, and his job included getting up to speed on the team as it existed then and all potential quarterbacks, not just Locker. Since the Titans drafted Locker, he can now devote time to him in particular and fitting his skills with what the Titans have.

    A Journal-NYT paywall merger would’ve been more plausible if Murdoch hadn’t bought the WSJ and moved it into some NYT-like directions.

  • Anonymous

    Fair enough, but quick question: What is Chris Palmer’s record with respect to young, high draft choice quarterbacks?

  • Tom Gower

    Well, uh, he was head coach of the Browns when they drafted Tim Couch first overall and offensive coordinator for the Texans when they drafted David Carr first overall.  He was also Eli Manning’s QB coach, though not as a rookie.

    Two explanations for the Palmer hiring:
    1. It took the Titans a long time to part ways with Fisher, and they were limited in their pool of candidates.  They wanted to interview, e.g., Bears OL coach Mike Tice, and the Bears turned down a request they might otherwise have granted had it been made shortly after the regular season ended.
    2. Palmer is basically a placeholder for a year or two, and assistant Dowell Loggains is the offensive coordinator-in-waiting.  But with a first-time head coach who’s never been a coordinator and a defensive coordinator who hasn’t been an NFL DC in half a decade, you can’t have a 30 (32?)-year-old first-time OC as well.

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  • Lindsay Crosby

    Um…enjoyed the read about the quarterback’s indecision in option football…but that website is unreadable with that background. I had to copy and paste into an office suite to stomach it.