The Alex Smith Thread

[oaktownwarriors87]

R-tard isn't appropriate.. SOOOOO PC bro.

[Dodub]

No only the Alexsexuals had a problem with the QB change.

What Alex is doing in KC basically vindicates Harbaugh's decision. No way they make the SB or the 2013 NFC Championship game with Alex. No way they win on the road in GB and Carolina in the playoffs with Alex.

Stop with the revisionist history.

As a person who actually follows the Chiefs, I doubt you have any clue what has actually been going on this season in KC, just looking at the stat sheet.

[wco81]

KC has a stud tight end and before Charles was injured, had a RB who could take a screen pass all the way.

So Alex still can't make difficult throws outside the hashes.

No TDs to WRs last season. Enough said.

[MHSL82]

KC has a stud tight end and before Charles was injured, had a RB who could take a screen pass all the way.

So Alex still can't make difficult throws outside the hashes.

No TDs to WRs last season. Enough said.

Low TDs to WRs is an issue. The number zero isn't. There were several drops that would've led to touchdowns, Jenkins ran out of bounds for no reason on one and he tripped on the 1 yard line with no one around him on the other. If his receivers make those catchers or do not step out of bounds or trip, it doesn't make Smith a better quarterback. So, it doesn't make him worse. Again, his low touchdowns to receivers is an issue and you can ding him for that.

Also, there were at least six times a runningback or tight end lined up as a receiver, ran a route like a receiver, and was defended like a receiver and scored a TD. Pro football focus tried to argue that one of Maclin's touchdowns in the preseason shouldn't count as a receiver touchdown because he was lined up as a runningback. So when someone's lined up as a receiver, why does that not count?

[ChrisPozz]

Ben Stockwell:

61.6% of Alex Smith's third down targets this season have been short of the markers. Only 3 other QBs over 50%, none within 10% of Smith.

KC receivers have converted 33% of these into 1D/TD, puts Smith's receivers 12th in the league at converting on passes short of markers.

[MHSL82]

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/0ap3000000585454/Chiefs-Alex-Smith-finds-Albert-Wilson-for-27-yards

[MHSL82]

Alex Smith... Deep?... To a WR?... Multiple times in one game? Yep. [Insert quip about a stopped clock being right twice a day. And yes, I know one of the deep passes if thrown better (a bit deeper) would've been a touchdown.]

Maclin on pace for 1,158 yards... Kelce for 1,002 yards... Smith for 3,900 yards. (Yes, I know, not great, but easily a career high.)

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/0ap3000000590481/Jeremy-Maclin-highlights

[MHSL82]

Alex Smith, enters their game Sunday at Oakland having thrown 283 consecutive passes without being intercepted. That’s the fourth-longest such streak in NFL history, nearing such company as Tom Brady (358), Bernie Kosar (308) and Bart Starr (294).

.................................

“As a quarterback, you’ve got a huge responsibility: You’re touching the ball every single play,” said Smith, who is 51-18-1 in career starts when he doesn’t throw an interception. “You have such a big impact on deciding the game, just in your decision-making and how you are with the football and your fundamentals.”

This is the essence of the risk-averse Smith, whose sparse spectacular moments have made for skeptics. To that group, the very achievement seems to damn with faint praise.

Smith usually won’t get you beat, the mindset goes, but he doesn’t make many things happen. So what if he’s guiding the fifth-most productive offense in the NFL right now?

He’s a mere game manager, the thinking says, because he just doesn’t have the arm to go downfield. After all, the Chiefs have the NFL’s second-fewest percentage of passes thrown 20 yards or more in the air. Never mind if you’ve seen Smith let it go to Jeremy Maclin last week and that the Chiefs are third in the league with 16 pass plays that went 40 or more yards, and third in pass plays that went more than 20 yards, with 63.

.....

Big deal that Smith has them on a trajectory toward the playoffs again: After all, he doesn’t have what it takes to lead them to their first playoff win in more than two decades … even if he’s thrown nine touchdown passes with no interceptions in three career postseason games.

We’ve all been there some with that kind of thinking, especially early this season when, looking back, his game obviously was skewed because of a still-forming offensive line.

.....

Dilfer was Smith’s teammate for two years in San Francisco, and one of the first things he says about him now is: “Do you understand how smart he is? Has it ever been written that he was, like, a Mensa candidate?”

Dilfer couldn’t verify that precisely, and the Chiefs only were able to clarify that Smith had received an offer for membership in the exclusive so-called high IQ society.

.....

But Dilfer believes Smith’s intelligence has an even broader application, suggesting Smith is playing a sort of three-dimensional chess while the rest of us are thinking about checkers.

“He’s thought through dimensions of the game that most quarterbacks don’t,” he said. “He’s not out there to ‘make plays.’ He’s out there to win. In my opinion, he’s almost calculated a formula in his head.

“Like, ‘X plus Y plus Z equals win,’ and X, Y and Z are all these high-level, thoughtful, conservative, analytical ways of approaching a game.”

More specifically, Dilfer pointed to the practicality and logic in Smith’s game.

“He throws away from defenders, more than he throws to wide receivers, as much as anybody I’ve ever been around,” he said.

Dilfer laughed and added that this is a compliment, which reinforces the point that some things you might find maddening are by design in Smith’s game.

“Now, will he miss a throw here or that there most guys would hit?” Dilfer said. “Yep. But you know why? Because he’s not necessarily always throwing it to the receiver. ‘It’s got to be caught by my guy, or it’s going to be incomplete.’

“Same reason he escapes to his right all the time. Because when he escapes to his right he can see, right? There’s no clutter, and he’s good throwing on the run: ‘I can make a throw, or I can run, or I can get out of bounds. All three are positive endings to the play.’ ”

....

Smith has a capable arm, but not the superstar one people rave about, and maybe that dull image is furthered by not being outlandish or appearing in a bunch of commercials and just being a family man who is remarkably charitable.

It’s not about image, though, but substance.

And there’s plenty of value in being a sharp, selfless, tough guy and great teammate who absorbs what Dilfer called all the “you can’t, can’t, can’t” stuff and says, “You know what I can do? I can win.”

....

“He is the right guy for that team, that system and where they are,” Gannon said. “There are a lot of things that he does well when you look under the hood that people don’t really talk about.”

Such as, he said, understanding the significance of ball security … and getting it out as quickly as anyone but wisely … and being cognizant of the field-position game … and making plays with his legs … and numerous adjustments at the line of scrimmage called for in this offense.

Most of all just what needs to be done to win, not what needs to be done to stand out, and contouring himself to the realities of Andy Reid’s offense and what he has at his disposal.

The addition of receiver Jeremy Maclin has changed the dynamics, yes, but Maclin and tight end Travis Kelce are the only significant passing threats at this stage.

“If he was in a different offense, where they had four (strong) receivers … then maybe it would be a little different,” Gannon said. “But the thing he does, I think, as well any quarterback in the league right now is put his team in a position to have a chance to win each and every time out.”

Take it from Brandt, who was at Smith’s legendary pro day at Utah before the 2005 NFL Draft.

According to NFL.com, Smith for 45 minutes threw to every part of the field from virtually any conceivable drop or action.

By the end, he had thrown one ball that was considered uncatchable.

“I think that it was probably 100 passes, and I’m not sure if (the one) was uncatchable or the guy was slow getting there,” Brandt said. “But he put on a show, and there’s no question he can throw the ball as well as (about) anybody down the field.”

Brandt recalled watching part of the workout with then-Miami coach Nick Saban, whose Dolphins had the second pick in that year’s draft.

Saban, he believes, would have taken Smith if San Francisco had not, and maybe that would have been better for all concerned.

“His only problem was that he was drafted No. 1 overall,” Brandt said. “If he’d have been drafted No. 5 overall, everybody would say, ‘Boy, what a great find.’ ”

There are built-in complications for any overall No. 1 pick, starting with the fact that the team that picked them was the worst in the NFL and amplified by the scrutiny of being a would-be savior.

It didn’t help Smith that he was only 20 when he was drafted and that he’d have to play for seven offensive coordinators, six quarterback coaches and three head coaches in his eight years in San Francisco.

After struggling for a few years, Smith was stigmatized as a bust.

But as he matured and the team around him stabilized, Smith prospered. And if not for two cruel twists of fate, he could have played in two Super Bowls.

In the 2011 season, Smith steered the 49ers to the NFC Championship Game against the Giants.

He threw two touchdown passes and no interceptions, only to lose in overtime in a game marked by Kyle Williams’ two fumbled punts.

“Was that (Smith’s) fault?” Brandt said.

A year later, Smith was completing more than 70 percent of his passes when he sustained a concussion late in the season and was replaced by Colin Kaepernick.

In a controversial decision, Smith then was relegated to the bench as the 49ers went to the Super Bowl and lost to the Ravens.

That made Smith expendable.

At least at the time — Kaepernick has since fizzled.

“I think that if (the 49ers) had it to do all over again,” Brandt said, “I don’t think there would be any question who would be there and who wouldn’t be there.”

To Brandt, that’s also because of Smith’s savvy and his physical and mental toughness and, well, game management.

“This game manager thing, it kind of rubs me wrong,” Brandt said. “Today, in our game, the quarterback is 75 to 80 percent of the game, and he comes to Kansas City, last place the year before, and takes them to the playoffs?”

For that matter …

“Let me say this, and I mean this in all sincerity,” he said. “If I had my pick of any quarterback in the league right now to win one game, Smith would be at the top of my list. …

“He would be right there with Tom Brady.”

Brady has won more playoff games than anyone in NFL history, 21, and is tied with Montana and Terry Bradshaw for most Super Bowl wins by a quarterback, with four.

....

Smith is the “least of their worries,” said Gannon, who wonders about the Chiefs’ ability to keep pace in a high-scoring game because of not having enough threats to stretch the field and create matchup problems.

Brandt sees Smith as a quarterback who has all the qualities necessary to take a team to the Super Bowl.

Dilfer points to the fact that Smith’s postseason play generally has been at an enhanced level — including four touchdown passes against the Colts in the Chiefs’ epic defensive collapse in the playoffs two seasons ago.

“That’s an ‘end-of-argument’ stat right there,” Dilfer said. “I’m not a big believer that stats tell everything.

“But that one kind of tells everything.”

Just like the 283 says more than you might realize.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/vahe-gregorian/article48062610.html#storylink=cpy

[MHSL82]

I can't post full articles here so I just posted parts of it. I am not claiming any of these things, I fully know his limitations and shortcomings, just sharing what someone shared with me for anyone who cares to read it. [Insert some comment on how just me and Dodub would read it.]

http://espn.go.com/blog/statsinfo/post/_/id/112890/dont-look-now-but-alex-smith-is-a-pretty-good-qb

Smith has more authority to audible out or into a play and it started in the first week of the 10 game winning streak.

Roman remembers meeting with the quarterbacks the Monday before their second NFC Championship Game, which Kaepernick would start this time, and was impressed by the lengths Smith went to make sure that week’s game plan would be one in which Kaepernick could succeed. A few weeks earlier, in Week 16 of the regular season, the 49ers offense had struggled in a loss amidst the deafening crowd noise of Seattle’s CenturyLink Field. For the title game against Atlanta in the Falcons’ noisy Georgia Dome, Smith advocated for a no-huddle attack that wouldn’t rely on verbal communication. “He literally was like Kaepernick’s agent,” Roman says, “to make sure I didn’t pile too much on him in the championship game.”

It worked, and Kaepernick got the 49ers to Super Bowl XLVII, where they narrowly lost to the Ravens. With Kaepernick firmly set as the starter, it wasn’t feasible to keep Smith, his $8.5 million salary prohibitive for a backup. A few weeks after the Super Bowl, Harbaugh acknowledged publicly that Smith would likely be traded.

“We used to talk all the time about how can we keep both of these guys, but I don’t think it was fair to Alex to do that,” Roman says. “And he probably didn’t look at it this way, and I understand that, but I think there was a great effort on our part—and I’ve got to credit Harbaugh with that—to try to find him the best situation, because of how thankful we were for what he did and how he did it for us. It went beyond a business decision for us. We all wanted to see him have success.”

Smith does agree with that. After the 2012 season ended, he says the 49ers kept him in the loop about which teams were interested and presented options to him. He didn’t get to pick, per se—but he says he had a lot of input. And his input on Kansas City, which had young talent and a new coach with a track record of success with all kinds of quarterbacks, was that it was a place he would like to go.

Most of his first eight seasons in San Francisco were a blueprint on how to ruin a No. 1 overall pick. Smith played for six offensive coordinators in his first six pro seasons, never being given a chance to master a system, or have his coaches master him. The 49ers never had a winning season those first six years, and he threw more interceptions (53) than he did touchdowns (51).

“You say a lot of quarterbacks would be ruined by that. I would say most. Most are ruined,” says Rich Gannon, CBS commentator and an 18-year NFL quarterback, to whose playing style Smith’s is often likened. “He was abused and mistreated those early years in San Francisco. It ruins your confidence and that of the people around you, whether it’s teammates, the coaches or the fan base. No quarterback should go through what he went through.”

By 2011, when Harbaugh was hired by the 49ers, “let’s just say it,” says Roman, Smith’s seventh NFL offensive coordinator, “he was considered a bust.” Though the 49ers had drafted Colin Kaepernick in the second round that year, Harbaugh and Roman decided to forge ahead with Smith. Their starting point was the same place that keyed the Chiefs’ turnaround this year: Smith’s brain. They wanted Smith to think through a football game, Roman says, like Jack Nicklaus used to think his way through a golf course. Smith was given the chance to find answers to problems on the football field, and when he did that his confidence started to rebuild.

Smith led the Niners to the NFC Championship Game during the 2011 season and was off to another good start in 2012. The entire NFL world knows what happened next: Smith suffered a concussion midseason, Kaepernick performed well in his absence, and Smith never got his job back. If Smith’s early years in the pros calcified his mental fortitude, his stint as Kaepernick’s backup confirmed his solidarity.

“For me, it was so long ago,” Smith says. “You see it. I certainly have a lot of friends on that team. And you do recognize it is—even for me—crazy to watch what has happened the last couple of years. But from day one, when the trade happened, I was so happy about the opportunity to come here, and was going to go full bore with it and not think about anything else, and try to make the most of it. I think, certainly, what happened with me there makes you appreciate the opportunity. The opportunity to play and start and how it can get taken from you pretty quick. So, yeah.”

He’s asked, Do you think they consider it a mistake?

“I have no idea,” Smith says. “It’s weird. None of them are there. They are out of there as well.”

There's more to the article, but it's more Chiefs based and I can't post whole articles on this board. http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2016/01/05/nfl-chiefs-alex-smith-andy-reid-winning-streak-wild-card-round-2015-playoffs

A few videos, too.

Andy Reid said that this was the first time in his career that he gave the quarterback the power to change the call at the line of scrimmage if what he sees he doesn't like: http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/14527415/how-kansas-city-chiefs-saved-their-season-nfl

I'm not calling Smith elite or anything, but it pays to have a smart quarterback. The article claims that not even McNabb had that freedom and it didn't start until the Pittsburgh game this year for Smith, the first of the ten game winning streak. McNabb is the type of person in the media to refute this, so I fully expect him to say that he had the keys to the car and changed plays all the time, too.

Breakdown of the tighter windows Smith has been throwing into and not caving after his two INTs: http://www.arrowheadpride.com/2016/1/6/10707090/kansas-city-chiefs-real-super-bowl-contenders-alex-smith-2-0

http://www.arrowheadpride.com/2016/1/3/10700154/anatomy-of-a-play-alex-smith-to-jeremy-maclin

http://youtu.be/IXR839Ef9lA

[oaktownwarriors87]

A little more salt in the wound.

What would have happened had Smith never been benched for CK? What if they moved CK for some extra fire power or depth?

[Pattersonca65]

A little more salt in the wound.

What would have happened had Smith never been benched for CK? What if they moved CK for some extra fire power or depth?

Nothing. Smith would have stunk it up with the way the roster and team headed.

[oaktownwarriors87]

A little more salt in the wound.

What would have happened had Smith never been benched for CK? What if they moved CK for some extra fire power or depth?

Nothing. Smith would have stunk it up with the way the roster and team headed.

You don't think Kaepernick played a large role in the teams downward spiral?

Kaepernick took over the best team in the NFL and went 28-30
Smith took over the worst team in the NFL and has gone 43-20

I bet Jim Harbaugh would probably still be the coach.

https://www.si.com/specials/greatest-sports-what-ifs/nfl/2017/alex-smith-jim-harbaugh-san-francisco-49ers-quarterback

[Pattersonca65]

A little more salt in the wound.

What would have happened had Smith never been benched for CK? What if they moved CK for some extra fire power or depth?

Nothing. Smith would have stunk it up with the way the roster and team headed.

You don't think Kaepernick played a large role in the teams downward spiral?

Kaepernick took over the best team in the NFL and went 28-30
Smith took over the worst team in the NFL and has gone 43-20

The team was also horrible under Smith earlier in his career. The talent on the roster has dramatically declined from 2012 - 2016. We went from one of the best defenses to the worst. Went from having one of the best olines to the worst. The 2015 oline that started Pears, Martins, and Devey was the worst offensive line in the league. Alex Smith did well in SF while having one of the leagues best rosters. He was supported by an elite defense and running game and wasn't asked to do much. Alex Smith is not an elite QB and is would not have been able to carry our talent deprived roster.

[CalamityX12]

Kap also had a great hand in bringing us to the Super Bowl, repeatedly destroyed the packers and gave us a chance vs Seattle til his downfall tookover him.

So was anyone complaining when we won the NFC game? made the playoffs? won big games en route to the SB? Put the majority of the blame on him vs the Ravens in the loss?

[MHSL82]

A little more salt in the wound.

What would have happened had Smith never been benched for CK? What if they moved CK for some extra fire power or depth?

Nothing. Smith would have stunk it up with the way the roster and team headed.

I think in the end, nothing. But I don't think he himself would've stunk it up. I think it would've been average. A few games here and there might've changed results. The coach made the switch to Kaepernick because of the perceived higher ceiling that paid off the first year, but failed to repeat (few teams go to the Super Bowl back to back). As far as winning a Super Bowl or not, the floor was not decreased with Kaepernick and any more wins by Smith would not have amounted to much my opinion.

[MHSL82]

Won't last, but since somebody dragged up this thread again:

Read on Twitter

/photo/1

[oaktownwarriors87]

Kap also had a great hand in bringing us to the Super Bowl, repeatedly destroyed the packers and gave us a chance vs Seattle til his downfall tookover him.

So was anyone complaining when we won the NFC game? made the playoffs? won big games en route to the SB? Put the majority of the blame on him vs the Ravens in the loss?

Kaepernick went 1-4 against Seattle with Harbaugh as the HC. Smith won his last 4 vs Seattle.

Also, a lot of people were complaining. Kapernick never went through his reads and he didn't manage the offense well. He relied heavily on his natural abilities. He rarely made it past his first read and given time in the pocket would stare down receivers. It's either he hits his first read, gets picked/batted down, or scrambles.

It was only a matter before teams got enough film and picked up on his habits. He never got better, just more risk adverse.

Smith can actually run an offense. He can call plays, go through reads, and make good decisions. He's shown that he understands the game beyond himself. Harbaugh robbed the Niners of at least 1 super bowl ring and a potential dynasty by gambling on CK.

Do you really think guys wanted to play with Kaepernick? Do WR/TE's want to run broken routs all game? Do linemen want to have to guess where their QB will be? Do RB's want to run up a crowded line? Does any offensive player want a QB that can't read a defense or mange plays? Smith wasn't a dream, but KP was a disaster.

[Pattersonca65]

A little more salt in the wound.

What would have happened had Smith never been benched for CK? What if they moved CK for some extra fire power or depth?

Nothing. Smith would have stunk it up with the way the roster and team headed.

I think in the end, nothing. But I don't think he himself would've stunk it up. I think it would've been average. A few games here and there might've changed results. The coach made the switch to Kaepernick because of the perceived higher ceiling that paid off the first year, but failed to repeat (few teams go to the Super Bowl back to back). As far as winning a Super Bowl or not, the floor was not decreased with Kaepernick and any more wins by Smith would not have amounted to much my opinion.

In 2015 he would have been buried behind Martin, Devey, and Pears. Maybe he plays a bit better last year but who knows. This thread should have just died. Both QBs are gone. New FO, new coach. Time to move on

[Pattersonca65]

Kap also had a great hand in bringing us to the Super Bowl, repeatedly destroyed the packers and gave us a chance vs Seattle til his downfall tookover him.

So was anyone complaining when we won the NFC game? made the playoffs? won big games en route to the SB? Put the majority of the blame on him vs the Ravens in the loss?

Kaepernick went 1-4 against Seattle with Harbaugh as the HC. Smith won his last 4 vs Seattle.

Also, a lot of people were complaining. Kapernick never went through his reads and he didn't manage the offense well. He relied heavily on his natural abilities. He rarely made it past his first read and given time in the pocket would stare down receivers. It's either he hits his first read, gets picked/batted down, or scrambles.

It was only a matter before teams got enough film and picked up on his habits. He never got better, just more risk adverse.

Smith can actually run an offense. He can call plays, go through reads, and make good decisions. He's shown that he understands the game beyond himself. Harbaugh robbed the Niners of at least 1 super bowl ring and a potential dynasty by gambling on CK.

If you want to go that route, you can also argue Smith cost us one super bowl. Don't know why you are stuck on this. Smith wasn't taking Baalke's roster anywhere. They are both gone now. Time to move on.

[Pattersonca65]

Won't last, but since somebody dragged up this thread again:

Read on Twitter

/photo/1

This is silly. What period does this cover? Brees is over the hill and Goff is starting his first full season.