While many were surprised at Pete Carroll's portion of the Mark Sanchez NFL announcement press conference most of those shocked, saddened, upset or any other negative adjective you could think of. Those of us who follow the team closely were not surprised with Pete Carroll's frustration at Sanchez going early. The delivery may not have been what would have liked but the message was loud and clear and because Pete Carroll is an expert on the NFL and what scouts and coaches are thinking we should understand where he is coming from.
Sure there was probably a little selfishness in his tone...why not? If Sanchez stays that offense in 2009 would have been firing on all cylinders and it would been pretty unstoppable. Instead we will have some adjustments to deal with that might be a little uncomfortable...it happens.
But for those haters and clowns who chastise Pete Carroll about setting up self fulfilling prophecies and such they really don't know what they are talking about. While Pete Carroll may have vehemently disagreed with Sanchez's decision that doesn't mean that he wouldn't go to war for Sanchez...(apologies to Michael Lev of the OCR, as I am taking his whole post).
“Sanchez does not have a very strong arm.”
Those are the words of Todd McShay, of ESPN.com’s Scouts Inc., regarding USC’s Mark Sanchez, uttered in this here video.
These are the words of Sanchez’s former coach, Pete Carroll:
“He’s got a terrific arm. He’s got a lot of plays on film that demonstrate that. That’s never been an issue.”
So who are you going to believe?
I side with Carroll, who, without prompting, ranked Sanchez’s arm as the second best during Carroll’s time at ‘SC, behind only Carson Palmer’s. And Palmer, Carroll said, had “the best arm anyone’s ever seen.”
McShay isn’t the only one who has questioned Sanchez’s arm strength since the NFL scouting combine, and Carroll has a theory why: Sanchez lofted the ball on some corner routes after air-mailing his first attempt out of bounds. The receivers had to slow down to catch them, creating the illusion that Sanchez didn’t have enough power to lead them.
Carroll obviously considers that hogwash. Not that arm strength is everything when it comes to quarterbacking.
“The greatest quarterback coach of all time said the most important attribute a quarterback can have is to throw a catchable ball. That’s Bill Walsh,” Carroll said. “I tend to go with the guy who was the all-time all-timer.”
What do you think?
For the most part I like Todd McShay and Mel Kiper but they have been wrong as much as they have been right so while I respect their over all body of work I am not swayed one way or the other by their declarations.
There were some rumblings that some of Carroll's frustration was because he felt that Sanchez got some bad advice and was possibly lured by an agent into declaring for the NFL Draft. Carroll himself said he was a little crabby at the presser quite possibly because of that. We have seen it before at USC...no other program is putting as many players in the NFL as USC is under Carroll so agents trying to lure players is nothing new and players who were not ready and still declared is nothing new either.
From a money stand point it was the smart move for Sanchez and I said as much earlier in the year. But it isn't all about money...sure Sanchez is going to make a boatload of money and be able to take care of his family but Sanchez is a competitor and even if he goes high there are no guarantees that he could have a solid NFL career especially without that critical 5th year at USC.
We have rehashed this before but the more important point here is that regardless of what happened at the presser Pete Caroll is looking out for his players...even if he doesn't agree with them. If you don't believe me watch the interview below...
I feel pretty comfortable in saying that Pete Carroll is very supportive of Sanchez even if he disagrees with the decision.
Sanchez could very well light it up after a few years of seasoning on the bench but the numbers also don't lie when it comes to QB's. Heck, Leinart stayed all five years and he has had a pretty difficult time adjusting to the NFL.
Carroll has Sanchez's back no question and I have no doubt that Carroll will do all that he can to get him prepared for USC's Pro Day. Anyone who thinks different doesn't have a clue...