John Clayton's take on Alex Smith

Originally posted by WestCoast:
It will be funny when he makes the pro bowl. of course though, he won't get any credit, crabtree, gore and davis will

I'll give him credit....

the only time where I won't care about stats or ProBowl selections is if he only puts up big #s vs weak teams....but plays horrible against good teams..

but besides that I'll be the first to give the guy credit.

Quote:
Remember, the receiving corps around him is very good and they catch more bad balls than most other teams.

Wow... enough said here. He may as well have said that he simply has not watched 49er football in quite some time, and is just throwing feces at a wall to see what sticks. Terrible job, Clayton. You may be good at reporting NFL news and updates, but you have not done your homework to even sign your name to such drivel.

Dude seemed to ignore the fact that Crabtree and Davis were both near the top in drops in 2009.

Originally posted by Gavintech:
Dude seemed to ignore the fact that Crabtree and Davis were both near the top in drops in 2009.

And that they just added Ginn to the roster, who has way more drops per times targeted than either of them.

Last Thursday's game showed two passes thrown by Montana to Rice. One was a beautiful pass that hit Rice down field in stride. The second pass, however, was the same kind of pass, but it was badly underthrown. Rice, who was closely covered, slowed down and caught the pass despite the defender having his hands in the way. Montana was a great QB, no doubt, but his success and stats were helped by great coaching, a wonderful offensive system, a solid OL and super receivers. I have yet to see a QB throw perfect passes all the time.

clayton really does have a point. it's not fair to say alex smith has a 0% chance to be elite and some of these others losers on his list have a higher %, but alex does need to be more accurate and LEAD HIS RECEIVERS OPEN. i have seen some of it this year. he needs to just let loose from time to time.

in the past we have seen him really only throw when someone is wide open. well, that doesn't happen often in the nfl. he needs to take chances and squeeze the ball in there.

Originally posted by oldman9er:

Quote:
Remember, the receiving corps around him is very good and they catch more bad balls than most other teams.

Wow... enough said here. He may as well have said that he simply has not watched 49er football in quite some time, and is just throwing feces at a wall to see what sticks. Terrible job, Clayton. You may be good at reporting NFL news and updates, but you have not done your homework to even sign your name to such drivel.

It seems that most of his opinions are uninformed and unsupported. How does he retain his job?

It's just his opinion....nothing more.

Originally posted by excelsior:
Last Thursday's game showed two passes thrown by Montana to Rice. One was a beautiful pass that hit Rice down field in stride. The second pass, however, was the same kind of pass, but it was badly underthrown. Rice, who was closely covered, slowed down and caught the pass despite the defender having his hands in the way. Montana was a great QB, no doubt, but his success and stats were helped by great coaching, a wonderful offensive system, a solid OL and super receivers. I have yet to see a QB throw perfect passes all the time.

Exactly. Many people believe Peyton Manning is the best QB in the NFL, but any 49er fan who watched the game last year at Indianapolis saw Manning miss open targets several times. Our 49ers played pretty good that day, but it was Manning missing Wayne on at least three tosses that could have been touchdowns that kept the game as close as it was. At the same time, Manning was less accurate that day because he was under more pressure than he had been at any other point in the season. We sacked Manning more times that day than he had been sacked in all the games prior to that for the 2009 season.

As much as ive been a HUGE Smith supporter over the last 6 years, I have to agree with Clayton.. Alex has MUCH improved, and the outsiders around the league can even agree, BUT there isnt MUCH upside after 5-6 years in the league..

My take: What Clayton means by "elite" is a Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees of the league.. On the cusp you have guys like Rodgers, Rivers, Shaub and Romo.. Smiths first few seasons were poor-average at best and was arguably a bottom tier starting QB, 27-32. 2006 he showed flash, but was injured 2007-2008 and then came 09'.. He now has the weapons, Gore is a top 5HB in the league, Davis is a top 3 TE in the league, and Crabtree can SOON be a top 10 WR..

I like to base my QB's in tiers, tier 1-5.. tier 1 is QBs 1-5 , tier 2 is QBs 6-10 , tier 3 is QBs 11-18 , tier 4 is QBs 19-25 , tier 5 is QBs 26-32.. Smith IMHO is arguably a tier 3 QB and IDK if he can get into that 1-2 range, although I do see him having a chance at making a probowl or 2 b.c he does have the help around now to put up some numbers..

Originally posted by 49ersnum1:
As much as ive been a HUGE Smith supporter over the last 6 years, I have to agree with Clayton.. Alex has MUCH improved, and the outsiders around the league can even agree, BUT there isnt MUCH upside after 5-6 years in the league..

My take: What Clayton means by "elite" is a Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees of the league.. On the cusp you have guys like Rodgers, Rivers, Shaub and Romo.. Smiths first few seasons were poor-average at best and was arguably a bottom tier starting QB, 27-32. 2006 he showed flash, but was injured 2007-2008 and then came 09'.. He now has the weapons, Gore is a top 5HB in the league, Davis is a top 3 TE in the league, and Crabtree can SOON be a top 10 WR..

I like to base my QB's in tiers, tier 1-5.. tier 1 is QBs 1-5 , tier 2 is QBs 6-10 , tier 3 is QBs 11-18 , tier 4 is QBs 19-25 , tier 5 is QBs 26-32.. Smith IMHO is arguably a tier 3 QB and IDK if he can get into that 1-2 range, although I do see him having a chance at making a probowl or 2 b.c he does have the help around now to put up some numbers..

When Smith drove us down the field against Indy last year for the TD in the two-minute drill, he looked like he could be an elite QB. On that series he had the privilege of being able to call his own plays. I think at some point this season Smith will be given full command of the offense and I'm excited to see what he can do if that situation arises.

The first part of the post about ball placement was acurate...the part about our receivers made me bust up laughing.

Vernon Davis is a great talent but is among the league leaders in dropped passes and has a reputation for having shaky hands. Morgan "it came down like a punt" has bad hands and it's questionable whether he is a legit #2 wideout in this league. Even Crabtree had a pretty high drop rate last year (which I believe will go down this semester).

Sure there have been times when our receivers have bailed Alex out, but there have been quite a few other times when it's been the WR's who have let him down.

Originally posted by A-R-S:
Damnit, crypt keeper!

Alex does have a tendency to put the ball a little too far infront, or behind, or high (alot).

But our receivers drop passes left and right.

Originally posted by WestCoast:
It will be funny when he makes the pro bowl. of course though, he won't get any credit, crabtree, gore and davis will

With Drew Brees, Brett Favre, Matt Ryan, Eli Manning, Donavon McNabb and Tony Romo in the NFC - all fan and coach favorites - it's doubtful Alex Smith will make the Pro Bowl unless he puts up ridiculous numbers or a lot of those guys start stinking it up. Very unlikely.