Curtis Painter love

Phil Simms, who played a down-or-two of NFL football likes Curtis Painter more than any of the lower QB picks in this year's NFL draft (check the 4:50 mark for details):



Nice to see a Purdue guy getting publicity...hopefully, he has a long, successful career in the league. I've contended all along that I don't think he was coached all that well/all that critically in the last few seasons of his Purdue career...and that could be why he didn't seem to progress in West Lafayette. He was always a favorite of Tiller's, and from what is slowly leaking out of various reports and player interviews, Tiller's range of treatment for different players was obvious in practice at times.

And speaking of Tiller's favorites, Kory Sheets is still upset at Tiller and co. saying that they all but sabotaged his chances of being drafted last weekend. And GBI had a story today in which Kory is still bemoaning the fact that Tiller ruined his draft weekend.

First off, I really don't think Tiller has that kind of power with that many teams in the NFL. Unless Joe Tiller is actually the Worldwide Wes of this league, it's doubtful that his word would matter to that many franchises. But, what probably did hurt him was the fact that every time Kory was given the chance, he erased any doubt that he had a massive ego...and that everyone was wrong last season, but him in the way his conflict was handled.

Instead of focusing on how excited the Niners are to have him and how much he wants to prove everyone wrong who didn't pick him, he'd rather complain that he deserved more...We'll see in a few months if he's correct.

Monday Shravesty Report

First, the very good news- Sheets sounds like he'll be OK. All that happened was his shoulder fell out of socket again. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this something that happens more and more once it occurs? I hope Kory can hold it together and finish his college career as this season has started.

On a much worse note, Frank Duong will probably be out next game with a strained MCL. Is it coincidence that as Frank went down, so did the defense, Saturday? I think not. Duong is part of Spack's master plan- base your entire defense's ability to stop the run on a 5'7" ex-walk-on Safety. I like Duong and see him as extremely important to this defense as the linebackers simply haven't performed. If only we had a defensive coach who played LB in college to give them some pointers...

To beat this rotting dead horse once more- Is he honestly going to tell me that this defense is "close" again? The linebackers are the worst part of the defense (the position he coaches, by the way) and the rest of the team isn't far behind in their ability to be out of position time and time again. While stats don't tell the whole story, Purdue, once again is in the cellar nationally as a defense. The honor of being one of the worst defenses in the land left this team last year as they landed firmly in the 50s...Now they're back to where they were in '06. Yippee! A few years ago, Tiller and Co. blamed injuries...they of course learned their lesson by not preparing no one except one the one-deeps at LB in '08. So when Werner went down, so did the defense. I don't blame Werner and his back for any of this and don't see him as a savior. He's a good, untested player...the system is seriously injured.

Anyone who still thinks this should have been Spack's job in '09 is either:
-heavily impaired
OR
-has the last name of Spack

All that said, the systemic issues that are deep in the brains of those in the program can be traced to the very top.

I'm not blindly optimistic...But I'll be cheering for my alma mater as this season continues on; hoping for the best, but only believing what my eyes keep telling me...

Damnit, prove me wrong.