Originally posted by BigRon:
I get the impression that Singletary has been waiting for Smith to shine so brightly that he has no choice but to name him. Unfortunately, Smith has yet to do that so by default Singletary will have to name Hill the starter after the Dallas Game. Nate Davis won't get a shot simply because he is a rookie and I don't think Singletary wants to make a mistake with him starting ala Nolan.
The job is Hill's to lose anyway. I don't think Smith can win it outright now after the Raider's game. Maybe if the 3 drops had been caught or if Smith had run for some positive yardage on one of the throwaways, it would be a different story, but they weren't and he didn't. I think since the "competition" is a toss up, Hill wins due to last years performance.
Now i agree with you to a certain degree but what if you look at the smith thing a little differently. Could be a shot in the dark but what if after the first game Sing said ok hill looked good, no TD, but looked ok and drove as usual. Which is why he said he knows what to expect from hill.
This recent game i wonder if he looks it a little differently. Smith did gel with the offense on his first drive. Vernon even low fived him on that completed pass. He converted on his third downs, only to fail when bruce dropped one, vd dropped one, and if you look at sing after vernon dropped it, he smiled when he was returning to the sideline, cause he knew vernon should of caught it. Just like Morgan should of caught that ball. As i said and will continue to say as a wide receiver your job is to catch the ball. Each mans hand touched the ball so they all should of been caught.
Like matt b said yesterday, smiths results were deceiving because a lot wasnt his fault. The ball came out quicker, he stepped up, and stayed in the pocket, and threw it away instead of taking the sack like hill. He did drive the ball down the field. He did put his body out there when we were gonna take the loss, he did make the tackle when there was an int instead of letting them score on defense. It was funny because Ellis even said yeah you gotta take a look at a QB that can make a move like that to try and save the play.
What if sing looked at all these things and said to himself you know, i thought it would be wrapped up with hills play, but hill looked horrible. He shined during raiders practices like everyone said but then did worse than any of our qb's. his pass would of been caught for the int. And above all he was on the 4 yard line, and couldnt punch it in. And some said only two run plays and one throw, well on that one throw, maybe it's just me, but in the past many made a big deal about him diving into the endzone and throwing up his hands and all that crap, but he overthrough out the back of the end zone, and if he really wanted to make a statement he should of dove in the end zone. i watched it and he may have gotten tackled, but he could of made the td himself just the same. So now he was just as close as smith but didnt score, he stayed in to make a statement score after the Raiders scored and couldnt get it done.. And so far thats been his M.O., if your going solely based on this years performance through the first two games. Hill has drove the ball, but even in the red zone, all his drives have stalled.
So i dont think Sing is necessarily taken because smith did make strides in the last game, some things that i have never even seen hill do. The raiders shut down his short game, and thats the only fault that i see to hill, his timidness to look down the field for more than 15 yards. I thought he should of done better being that he did shine soo much in the practices like everyone talked about. And not to mention he was brought in to make a statment, being as his supporters say he is the starter.
I think because of smith's drives and the saves he had, that it does give Sing a reason to take another look. I mean f**k past seasons stats, and games, that has nothing to do with now. And if you base it on qb play alone, hill has looked average at best throwing his usual short underneath passes, for 15 yds and shorter. Also if you look at each qb's play, smith has also thrown more to different receivers as opposed to just VD, and maybe one other on the inside 15 yd plays.
