Alex Smith Observation.

I am not sure who else has noticed this, but it seems to me that Alex Smith's interception 90% of the time come off of tipped balls. Especially, this year. Both passes in Mondays game that were picked were off tips. One of his two from Seattle. I have noticed this since he came into the league in '05. The ball just kind of has a knack for finding a defender.

Why do you think he gets so many tipped balls?
What do you guys think can fix this?

My Suggestion: Pump fake. Throw not only the D-Line but the secondaries to delay their reactions.

ninerbrand(on)

two words. Ball placement.

I think it's just the luck of the draw, it happens a lot around the league.

Pump fake wastes time, which already comes at a premium with our shaky O-line. He just needs to improve on his accuracy.

at least he doesn't have a low side arm delivery...that would make it 10x worse.

Originally posted by Norcal9erfan:
Pump fake wastes time, which already comes at a premium with our shaky O-line. He just needs to improve on his accuracy.

Yeah, I agree he needs to improve accuracy. A LOT. But in the same token, the o-line played pretty well Monday. Often, his passes hit the D-Line. It's not the fact that hes short like Brees. He's 6'4. Shouldn't be a problem.

MAYBE:

It could be that he has little touch on a lot of his passes.

I've noticed that too, he likes to throw the balls on a rope majority of the time. Not really a finesse passer.

Originally posted by Norcal9erfan:
Pump fake wastes time, which already comes at a premium with our shaky O-line. He just needs to improve on his accuracy.

He did complete like 70% of his passes on Monday.

Yeah I can see what people mean with the accuracy. From my perspective he has been very accurate through preseason and the first two games (except for the second half of Seattle which has been discussed, and seemed to be more an issue of pressing, and getting out of the gameplan- still bad, but different)

He really only had a few off throws on Monday. From what I have seen, every elite QB (not saying he is elite) has from 3-5 bad throws per game. That includes Manning, Brady, Brees, etc.

Edit: I have been watching for QB throws this year. When I say bad, I mean bad enough that the receiver can't easily adjust to the ball and catch it. If you include throws that are slightly off it has been more in the 10 range per game.

[ Edited by dtcomposer on Sep 22, 2010 at 10:28:20 ]

Originally posted by dtcomposer:
Yeah I can see what people mean with the accuracy. From my perspective he has been very accurate through preseason and the first two games (except for the second half of Seattle which has been discussed, and seemed to be more an issue of pressing, and getting out of the gameplan- still bad, but different)

He really only had a few off throws on Monday. From what I have seen, every elite QB (not saying he is elite) has from 3-5 bad throws per game. That includes Manning, Brady, Brees, etc.

Brees made several off target throws on monday. I thought Alex was very accurate (sides the Gore throw).

But his tipped balls just have a knack for getting picked off.

I don't really know how to explain that. It has plagued him all of his career.
Tipped=Picked for A.Smith.

He does throw with a lot of velocity on short to medium throws which causes the ball to bounce harder off of a helmet, hand, shoulder pad etc. giving it more air time for a defender to get to the ball.

I think he's getting better at not putting so much mustard on his shorter throws but it kinda goes in line with the fact that when he 1st came into the league at age 20 he was trying too hard to impress.

Too bad he wasn't afforded clipboard duty for a couple of years behind a solid QB. Oh well. It is what it is and thankfully it seems that he's finally getting it.

Originally posted by jreff22:

Originally posted by Norcal9erfan:
Pump fake wastes time, which already comes at a premium with our shaky O-line. He just needs to improve on his accuracy.

He did complete like 70% of his passes on Monday.

72%

Actually, after that swing pass for the TD to gore, he was pretty spot on that night. He completed like 11 or 12 straight at one point.

Originally posted by ninerbrand:
I am not sure who else has noticed this, but it seems to me that Alex Smith's interception 90% of the time come off of tipped balls. Especially, this year. Both passes in Mondays game that were picked were off tips. One of his two from Seattle. I have noticed this since he came into the league in '05. The ball just kind of has a knack for finding a defender.

Why do you think he gets so many tipped balls?
What do you guys think can fix this?

My Suggestion: Pump fake. Throw not only the D-Line but the secondaries to delay their reactions.

ninerbrand(on)

Nothing to fix. If what your saying is that Smith only throws pics 10 % when the ball is tipped... he's doing fine. Occassionally those tips come from receivers hands (which may or may not be Smiths fault - accuracy?) or it may get tipped at the line, which is not really his fault.

The two pix against the Saints did not cost the 9ers the game. The bad snap, miffed punt and fumble by Walker were more devasting than the pix (the punt was the worst... Get Adams off the PR duties). You reverse any of those plays and the 9ers are tied for first in the West.

The tipped balls by our own guys are mainly due to the WR or to the QB making a bad throw.

There could be a number of reasons for tipped balls by the defense and I'm listing them in order of what I feel is the primary reason:

1. He looks just a millisecond too long at where he's throwing
2. Slightly longer windup
3. Misjudging the passing lane
4. Just a damn good defensive play

He has more tipped balls, especially at the line of scrimmage than most QB I have seen in games. I think it will improve as he understands how to manipulate the defense better and makes quicker decisions or disguises his throw better.

Originally posted by jreff22:

Originally posted by Norcal9erfan:
Pump fake wastes time, which already comes at a premium with our shaky O-line. He just needs to improve on his accuracy.

He did complete like 70% of his passes on Monday.

If we are basing it on this game, he was 71.9% to be exact. The pass to Gore was completely off target. The pass to Crabs was just a great job by the D-Linemen.

If we are talking career accuracy, Smith is 56.8% accurate with an int% of 3.76%. Compare his int% with Phillip Rivers who is pretty accurate just to get a gauge and Rivers has an int% of only 2.37%.

Originally posted by Micky6:

Originally posted by ninerbrand:
I am not sure who else has noticed this, but it seems to me that Alex Smith's interception 90% of the time come off of tipped balls. Especially, this year. Both passes in Mondays game that were picked were off tips. One of his two from Seattle. I have noticed this since he came into the league in '05. The ball just kind of has a knack for finding a defender.

Why do you think he gets so many tipped balls?
What do you guys think can fix this?

My Suggestion: Pump fake. Throw not only the D-Line but the secondaries to delay their reactions.

ninerbrand(on)

Nothing to fix. If what your saying is that Smith only throws pics 10 % when the ball is tipped... he's doing fine. Occassionally those tips come from receivers hands (which may or may not be Smiths fault - accuracy?) or it may get tipped at the line, which is not really his fault.

The two pix against the Saints did not cost the 9ers the game. The bad snap, miffed punt and fumble by Walker were more devasting than the pix (the punt was the worst... Get Adams off the PR duties). You reverse any of those plays and the 9ers are tied for first in the West.

My point is, Alex Smith gets intercepted off of tipped passes more regularly than the average QB. Majority of his interceptions in general, I would say come off tipped passes, either at the line or by a LB/DB/WR.

I don't know where you get the 10% figure. lol.