I said he was playing borderline elite right now, which is true. I'm not saying he's quite reached that status, or even that he's going to. Your criticism of Smith is kind of ridiculous. First, it doesn't matter how many yards a QB throws, just that he wins the game. Secondly, he's averaging 8 yards per attempt, which is well above the league average. You can throw short passes as long as you throw to the right guy. Also, it's not easy to get a 70% completion rating, no matter how you throw the passes. How do I know that? Because nobody else does it. Smith is doing quite a bit more in San Francisco than not fucking up. Calling him a carbon copy of Dilfer is, well, stupid. The argument against running QBs never made sense to me. Being able to throw and run aren't mutually exclusive. RGIII has been crazy good this season. Remember part of the reason Washington got him is that they were terrible last year and had a high pick (didn't need to move up far). They already have as many wins as they did last season. The saints have about the same record, it doesn't mean Brees is overrated. The colts record is barely better as well.
I'm sorry, but the more I look at Alex Smith's stats, the less it shows he is even a marginal QB. Not one pro season with more than 20 TD's. He's never throw for more than 3 TD's in a game and has only throw 3 TD's in a game 8 times. He's thrown 1 or less TD in 50 games. Even this year his stats are horrendous. 13-24 Loss to Minnesota 24/35 204 1/1 3-26 Loss to Giants 19/30 200 0/3 34-0 Win vs Jets (this ones laughable) 12/21 143 0/0 Yes that's right, elite quarterbacks throw for 143 yards against the Jets, their team wins 34-0 and the QB doesn't throw a TD. The Buffalo game was his only bright spot this season. I know you'll bring up the fact that SF beat Green Bay and his 18/19 "performance" against Arizona. Those games had little to do with Alex Smith. The Arizona game, featured 7, yes 7 yards rushing by the Cardinals. The Green Bay game was a little better with 45 yards rushing. Sadly, 27 of those came off the legs of Rogers. You don't have to do much as a QB when your opponent drops 7 rushing yards on your team. I don't doubt Alex Smith is an average at best QB. He's nowhere near being an elite QB nor is he ever going to LEAD his team to a Super Bowl. The fact of the matter is he's a passable back up QB and SF will be better off with him riding the pine and seeking new employment next year, regardless where they finish this season.
This is not defending him, this is speculation. A Smith has had 7 different offensive coordinators in his 8 years in San Fran. Stats or not, he feels like a good QB to 'Frisco fans... B If you're a football fan, you don't want your team to trade a semi-proven QB for a backup, even if the backup had a great game (a REAL football fan that is) C They will continue to start Alex Smith as soon as he is cleared from concussion worry, and that's a fuckin' fact.
I know he doesn't have a spectacular overall career at the moment. I'm talking about right now, mainly how he's played recently, which is very good. A lot of QBs don't light it up as soon as they enter the league. Regarding the bolded part; yes, if you're going to flat out deny reality, then yes he's had a bad season. You only list three of his games. Two are mediocre and one is bad. Umm, no. Yes, I was going to, but since you've mostly covered it I'll add that what the other team does on offense has little relevance to his performance at QB. Smith has 3 games this year where he has been almost perfect (3.5 if you count his short outing against St Louis). He's got a passer rating of 104, 70% completions, and more than 2.5 as many TDs as picks. He's had one game as a bright spot? Yeah, you're going to have to go back a few years to win a stat argument, but then again, I was talking about recently. Really? Because last playoffs he threw 5 tds and no picks over 2 games. I'll remind you the 49ers were only an overtime field goal away from missing the super bowl. However, if your metric is that even this season is bad, then he's not getting credit for anything so no, he won't lead his team to a super bowl. Seriously though, in this league teams don't get 13 wins with passable back ups starting, and you're making stats arguments, which is the strongest possible argument for Smith at the moment.
Ah, I understand the disconnect now. You didn't actually read my posts, and instead focused on one single line at the end. Do you want to talk about what my point was, or are you going to continue to write long responses to what was clearly a flippant remark completely off topic from the rest of what I said? In any event, it actually underscores my point, since Flynn is now one of the most expensive backups in the league - he came in, threw his great game, and Seattle chucked a bunch of money at him like he was the Chosen One. The point wasn't to compare Flynn with Rogers, it was to demonstrate that a good game isn't a track record and decisions should be made with the maximum amount of evidence available. The (relatively few) fans that bitch are the same ones who bitched about Tebow not starting, and should be ignored. Lastly, I know it's the internet and all, but you being a douchebag when you have a discussion with someone doesn't constitute an "arugment" [SIC]. I'm talking about what I think: you're acting like I'm flipping out and acting childish. Deep breath, and read what's in front of you rather than making inferences.
Fun questions to debate. 1) Is Rob Ryan a good defensive coordinator? 2) Given what we saw yesterday against the Cowboys, do we now believe that RG3 has the power to fuck Jessica Simpson skinny? 3) Have the Jets given up on their season? Or are they egotistical and go on a game by game basis? Quit games they can't win but go crazy on teams they can beat? This is a fact though, you can't talk about Alex Smith before Jim. Its like talking about a kid that grew up in the wild without parents and saying "He did nothing!" He had terrible coaches, 7 different offensive coordinators, and not a lot of talent around him. If Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers had the same issues, they'd be fucked also. It's simply not fair to compare his pre-Jim seasons. That was fact, this is opinion: I do believe what we're seeing this year and last year is the best Alex Smith is ever going to be. We've seen his ceiling. I think they can (can, not will) win a Superbowl if their defense plays their best and their running game stays intact. The follow-up to that is at his best, he won't lose the game for them. He's 2.5 notches above a game manager, but he's sure not an assassin.
How's this prediction working out for you? Harbaugh is like any other coach... If he thinks someone else will provide him with a better opportunity to win he is going to ride that horse to victory. The only thing that ever counts in the nfl is, what have you done for me lately.
I'll just point out the year Trent Dilfer was the QB for Baltimore's SB win they went 12-4. I'm aware pre-Jim, he was HORRIBLE. How he stayed on that team and actually kept a starting job is beyond me. I didn't cherry pick the games he was at his worst, just pointed out the games that completely dispel any notion he's an elite QB. Yesterday's late game shows what elite QB's do against a shitty Jets team. Even when their defense scores, the QB still lights up the other team. Yes his completion rating and TD/INT ratio is good. Again, if the majority of your passes don't travel more than 5 yards in the air, it's hard to throw picks. Yes his YPA is above league average. It's because he has a solid running game to keep defenses honest against the rush and he's blessed with players who gain yards after the catch.
The year that Dilfer won the Super Bowl, he had a QB Rating of 76.6. He threw 12 touchdowns compared to 11 interceptions. He completed 59% of his passes, for 6.6 yards per attempt. His offense averaged 20.8 points per game. The Ravens had three special teams/defensive touchdowns, and a safety. Alex Smith has maintained a QB rating above 100 all season. He has 13 touchdowns to 5 interceptions, while completing 70% of his passes for 7.98 yards per attempt. His offense averages 24.5 points per game. The 49ers have scored one defensive and special teams touchdown and one safety. Those two stat lines are about as similar as those of Brady and, say, Joe Flacco. The Jets are fifth in the NFL in opponent passing yards. They are 16th in interceptions, and 11th in yards per attempt. Not the best, but hardly terrible. Where the Jets defense is actually terrible is against the run. They rank 30th there. The 49ers also won that game 34-0. Thus you can see why the 49ers ran the ball 44 times that game, compared to throwing 23 times. Also the average completion by Alex Smith travels more than six yards in the air. Which is in the same ballpark as Brady, Rodgers, and Manning. Smith actually averages more air yards per attempt than Aaron Rodgers (although Rodgers was at the top of the NFL in this regard last year). If you look at which teams are near the top of the leave in yards after catch, you'll see Green Bay, Denver, and New England all rank quite high. I'm not suggesting that he is their equal either this year or over his career; what i am saying is that he has been one of the five or ten best quarterbacks this year and last. The main differences between Smith and other quarterbacks who are having great years is that they have been doing it longer, and that they attempt more passes per game. Also, if Matt Ryan and Eli Manning can have three (or five...) interception games, I think Smith can get away with one per season.
Weird, I don't remember mentioning the Giants. Seems insecure of you. Anyways, I agree that Alex Smith doesn't deserve to lose his starting job. It's one thing to try and use a guy who's on a hot streak, but it's another thing to bet the farm on him. Right now, Kaepernick strikes me as a variety option and not a whole lot more.
Pretty simple, every coach that has come in there has acknowledged what we just did. He never had a solid OC or any consistency, and we know "In the National Football League, we all know, oh by the way, in the National Football League, players are creatures of habit." He was a first round pick, and people watched game film and never thought "Ok, this guy Delhommed every game he's played."
Also, it's worth mentioning that Smith, even though being good the last couple of years (and on a good team) doesn't have great receivers. It's not a bad unit to be sure, but he's not exactly throwing to Julio Jones and Roddy White either. As much as I love Rodgers it's not him doing everything in Green Bay. A lot of QBs would see their numbers go up if their team was five deep at receiver. I think I'll actually take it as a positive sign if the giants beat the packers tomorrow. I'm tired of them losing to us in the regular season, then coming in to lambeau as huge dogs and blowing the doors off. If the packers do win tomorrow, they could easily lose a top seed because of that debacle in Seattle. Oh well.
If I was ever capable of feeling sorry for somebody with a multi million dollar salary, I feel a bit sorry for Alex Smith just pacing the sidelines with his helmet on.
So Kaepernick wins today, looking good, but not great like he did last game. He's lucky Moss stopped Jenkins from getting that pick. I wonder if this changes anything with the QB situation. I wouldn't imagine it would. Other than the Moss interference that got missed by the refs the potential interference calls were close, but they seemed to go the 49ers way every time. D26, the bears finally beat an above .500 team, and it was in a blow out. Still think they suck? Yes, I'm sure you do. I wasn't really blown away today...
Did you watch that game? Beating the Vikings isn't something to be proud of. It's like beating a 3rd grader at chess.
Holy fucking shit, I swear I've repeated this about 8 billion times, but here it goes again: I never said they suck. I said they are not as good as everyone was proclaiming them. People had them ranked the 2nd best team in the league at one point, and they simply are not. In fact, I predicted they'd win this game against the Vikings, if I am correct. Let me check the tally. So, thus far, I am still completely correct in my assessment of the Bears, and they have followed my predictions exactly for the past 6 weeks. They are a good, playoff caliber team that will struggle mightily against better teams and they will beat up on lesser teams.
Why is McCarthy suddenly so unwilling to go for it on 4th down. Twice, he kicked the fg when he shouldn't have. Also, I wish GB would never use any of their current RBs again ever. Holy shit are they terrible. If you really have to, pitch it to Cobb, or do a draw.
Thats what he gets for saying he only came to meet with the Dolphins this offseason cuz he'd never been to South Beach. Now you can sit on the bench and look at the pictures of the trannies on your phone. Thank GOD the Dolphins didnt sign him or Matt Flynn. Ireland doesnt get enough credit for NOT making the moves some idiot fans were calling for like these hasbeens/neverwuzes and Kyle Orton.