Just last Sunday against Philadelphia we saw Couch overthrow a wide- open David Patten on one play and underthrow him badly on another. Patten would have been in the end zone with an accurate throw. Sure, there are many things outside of a quarterback's control that can go wrong when a quarterback steps back to throw long. A breakdown in pass protection will make it all but impossible to connect on a pass downfield. But outside of a great throw down the sideline to Johnson in the first Tennessee game last season and a post pattern to Johnson in the win in Pittsburgh, I can't recall Couch hitting a receiver in stride on a deep route.
Couch seems much more comfortable in the short and intermediate passing game.
And Palmer conceded that fact last year when he scaled back on the deep pass attempts after Couch had started several games and the offense struggled. Already we have Palmer on record as saying that the game plan may have been too ambitious in that it called for too many long routes. So once again we have Palmer backing off on his deep-strike philosophy after Couch proved unable to execute it. It may sound elementary, but if Palmer wanted to emphasize the deep passing game, then the team should have taken McNabb or Smith, both of whom have stronger arms than Couch. Unfortunately, Couch just does not match up to McNabb and Smith athletically.