Alex Smith is Elite?

Sandlot · Post #1 » by **Sandlot** » Thu Nov 10, 2011 3:56 pm

According to this article: http://football.realgm.com/src_wiretap_ ... arterback/

. . . Jim Harbaugh thinks Alex is an elite QB in this league.

If we only focus on this year, he has been very efficient. He has one of the best passer ratings in the league. He has the fewest amount of picks from QB's who have been the starter for the whole season.
My biggest problem with this statement is that he's not throwing the ball enough to be considered great. Don't get me wrong I don't think he needs to or should throw more. I'm just saying . . . Thoughts?

Website · Post #2 » by **Nicky Nix Nook** » Mon Nov 14, 2011 3:29 am

I think in order to be considered elite you need to be able to play at a high level consistently. If Smith maintains this type of play for an entire season, I think you can start talking about him being elite. Until then, he's just "playing well right now."

Sandlot · Post #3 » by **Sandlot** » Tue Nov 15, 2011 12:47 am

I thought he had a great game yesterday! The Giants clearly game planned to make Smith beat them and I think he did that. Would have been even better if Ginn held onto the ball. I felt like he proved he can win a game on Sunday.
Still not sure I would call him elite. I only give that title to the top few guys. Great year for him though!

Post #4 » by **Wolfay** » Mon Nov 21, 2011 12:53 am

I think a better question to ask is can Alex Smith lead us to and win the Super Bowl? I'm not sure about that, but unlike the past 6 seasons, I'm willing to be convinced he can. How he performs in the playoffs is going to tell us a lot.

Sandlot · Post #5 » by **Sandlot** » Tue Nov 22, 2011 8:19 pm

I think he can. This is probably the most overused statement but Trent Dilfer won a superbowl. Dilfer isn't as good as Smith is. Dilfer also wrote an article recently that compared this Niners team to his 02 Ravens team. He said his only job was to not make mistakes. The offense needs to be a complimentary piece to the team, it doesn't have to win games. With his team, if the offense could maintain drives and keep the defense rested . . . they won. We are in a similar situation. We focus on the run and not making mistakes. Our defense comes out and gets turnovers and stops. Our special teams gives us field position. Smith is great in this offense. He might not be the guy that throws 50 times a game and sets records but he is a great fit for our system.

whocurrz · Post #6 » by **whocurrz** » Wed Nov 23, 2011 7:39 pm

Yes, Alex can lead us to a Superbowl. I'm not sure about this year, but with another year in the system and another draft (assuming we hang on to Rogers), definitely. There are some things that are completely overlooked when people talk about Alex being a great QB vs game manager. 1) And this is from a quote Steve Young said, is that 75% of QBing is managing games. And when he's been asked to win games, he has done so. and 2) This is the QB Harbaugh wants. Harbaugh had arguably one of the greatest QB prospects and the best QB in the nation at Stanford. And Harbaugh still ran a pretty similar offense to this there. Stanford was still a run first team despite having the talent to destroy teams with the pass, Luck was managing games too, he just has elite tools, and was thus able to do so at an elite level.

Alex is playing exactly how Harbaugh wants a QB to play because although it is a QB driven league, you cannot win without an all out team effort. Running the ball, passing the ball, stopping the run and stopping the pass, and playing great special teams. We are doing all pretty well except passing the ball, but we are not attempting a ton of passes because our ground game is working and getting us wins. However, nothing has shown us when we need to Alex can't throw us to a win. He has done it, when needed to (something I don't know if Dilfer had to do much in 2001), his coach realizes we have a top 5-10 RB, and an O-Line that is better suited for run blocking (Singletary wanted Iupati and Davis to help boost our run game).

All in all, Alex is not elite QB, but he is good enough to win a Superbowl with.

Website · Post #7 » by **Nicky Nix Nook** » Wed Nov 23, 2011 11:38 pm

whocurrz wrote:Yes, Alex can lead us to a Superbowl. I'm not sure about this year, but with another year in the system and another draft (assuming we hang on to Rogers), definitely. There are some things that are completely overlooked when people talk about Alex being a great QB vs game manager. 1) And this is from a quote Steve Young said, is that 75% of QBing is managing games. And when he's been asked to win games, he has done so. and 2) This is the QB Harbaugh wants. Harbaugh had arguably one of the greatest QB prospects and the best QB in the nation at Stanford. And Harbaugh still ran a pretty similar offense to this there. Stanford was still a run first team despite having the talent to destroy teams with the pass, Luck was managing games too, he just has elite tools, and was thus able to do so at an elite level.

Alex is playing exactly how Harbaugh wants a QB to play because although it is a QB driven league, you cannot win without an all out team effort. Running the ball, passing the ball, stopping the run and stopping the pass, and playing great special teams. We are doing all pretty well except passing the ball, but we are not attempting a ton of passes because our ground game is working and getting us wins. However, nothing has shown us when we need to Alex can't throw us to a win. He has done it, when needed to (something I don't know if Dilfer had to do much in 2001), his coach realizes we have a top 5-10 RB, and an O-Line that is better suited for run blocking (Singletary wanted Iupati and Davis to help boost our run game).

All in all, Alex is not elite QB, but he is good enough to win a Superbowl with.

Great post.