Josh Morgan: "Nothing is Alex's fault."

What?

Discuss.

This was shocking to hear to say the least. Really? Who says something like this? If Smith has been bad, why aren't his teammates throwing him under the bus or at least hinting he's been a major problem? Maybe he hasn't? Coaches and players seem to have an awful lot of faith in him. Which I know many fans would say is unjustified. But these comments are.. well.. I don't know what to call them.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=capress-fbn_49ers_smith-4761055

Quote:

Smith, in his sixth NFL season, is tied for the league lead with seven interceptions and his 66.1 passer rating places Smith 27th among the 30 quarterbacks who qualify for the NFL rankings. He ranks 27th in average gain per pass attempt and is tied for 25th in touchdown passes.

Smith's problems were magnified during last week's 16-14 loss at Atlanta. After guiding the 49ers 88 yards to a touchdown on their opening drive, Smith threw two second-half interceptions that helped the Falcons rally from an early 14-0 deficit.

Smith also overthrew wide-open receiver Josh Morgan(notes) on a deep pass that could have gone for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter. Later on the same drive, with the 49ers clinging to a one-point lead, Smith took an intentional grounding penalty on third down that pushed San Francisco out of field goal range.

These struggles are nothing new for Smith, the first player selected in the 2005 NFL draft. He has been inconsistent throughout his career and takes a 68.9 career quarterback rating into Sunday night's game against the visiting Philadelphia Eagles.

This year was supposed to be different with San Francisco entering the season as an NFC West favourite and Smith playing consecutive seasons under the same offensive co-ordinator for the first time in his career.

But now that co-ordinator is gone after Jimmy Raye was fired last week. Quarterbacks coach Mike Johnson(notes) was elevated to take Raye's place. And the criticism Smith has heard throughout his career continues to grow louder.

"I'm not reading a bunch of sports pages or listening to talk radio," Smith said Wednesday. "But I do get it. As a starting quarterback in the NFL, you are more responsible for wins and losses than any player on the field. We're 0-4 and I'm the starting quarterback, so no question a lot of that falls on my shoulders."

But Smith remains unfazed. He's confident both he and the 49ers can still turn around the season. San Francisco is just two games off the NFC West lead and still has five division games remaining on its schedule.

The 49ers will need better play from their quarterback to get back into contention. San Francisco's offense has been mostly ineffective, ranking 31st in the NFL in points scored with only versatile running back Frank Gore(notes) making much of an impact.

Gore leads the NFC with 533 total yards from scrimmage and is second in the conference with 29 receptions. But starting wideouts Morgan and Michael Crabtree(notes) have combined for just 23 receptions as Smith has struggled to get in sync with his receivers.

"It's not Alex's fault," Morgan said. "Nothing that's happening is Alex's fault. It's us as a whole team. We just haven't been able to execute. We just have to grow up and make the plays count when they're there."

The 49ers could get some help on offense this week from centre Eric Heitmann(notes) and receiver Ted Ginn, who are practising and expected to be available for the Eagles game.

It sounds like he is just echoing Singletary. We don't lose as individuals, we lose as a team. Smith's two interceptions are not the sole reason the Niners lost, nor is Nate's fumble, or the D's lack of ability to be clutch, it is the whole team working as a dysfunctional whole.

What do you expect him to say? If someone asks him about Smith he's not going to say, "yea the dude sucks, he overthrew me for a sure TD."

We'll see if Capt. Checkdown can make some plays down the field this week. I actually think he *might*.

Originally posted by OnTheClock:
What?

Discuss.

This was shocking to hear to say the least. Really? Who says something like this? If Smith has been bad, why aren't his teammates throwing him under the bus or at least hinting he's been a major problem? Maybe he hasn't? Coaches and players seem to have an awful lot of faith in him. Which I know many fans would say is unjustified. But these comments are.. well.. I don't know what to call them.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=capress-fbn_49ers_smith-4761055

Quote:

Smith, in his sixth NFL season, is tied for the league lead with seven interceptions and his 66.1 passer rating places Smith 27th among the 30 quarterbacks who qualify for the NFL rankings. He ranks 27th in average gain per pass attempt and is tied for 25th in touchdown passes.

Smith's problems were magnified during last week's 16-14 loss at Atlanta. After guiding the 49ers 88 yards to a touchdown on their opening drive, Smith threw two second-half interceptions that helped the Falcons rally from an early 14-0 deficit.

Smith also overthrew wide-open receiver Josh Morgan(notes) on a deep pass that could have gone for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter. Later on the same drive, with the 49ers clinging to a one-point lead, Smith took an intentional grounding penalty on third down that pushed San Francisco out of field goal range.

These struggles are nothing new for Smith, the first player selected in the 2005 NFL draft. He has been inconsistent throughout his career and takes a 68.9 career quarterback rating into Sunday night's game against the visiting Philadelphia Eagles.

This year was supposed to be different with San Francisco entering the season as an NFC West favourite and Smith playing consecutive seasons under the same offensive co-ordinator for the first time in his career.

But now that co-ordinator is gone after Jimmy Raye was fired last week. Quarterbacks coach Mike Johnson(notes) was elevated to take Raye's place. And the criticism Smith has heard throughout his career continues to grow louder.

"I'm not reading a bunch of sports pages or listening to talk radio," Smith said Wednesday. "But I do get it. As a starting quarterback in the NFL, you are more responsible for wins and losses than any player on the field. We're 0-4 and I'm the starting quarterback, so no question a lot of that falls on my shoulders."

But Smith remains unfazed. He's confident both he and the 49ers can still turn around the season. San Francisco is just two games off the NFC West lead and still has five division games remaining on its schedule.

The 49ers will need better play from their quarterback to get back into contention. San Francisco's offense has been mostly ineffective, ranking 31st in the NFL in points scored with only versatile running back Frank Gore(notes) making much of an impact.

Gore leads the NFC with 533 total yards from scrimmage and is second in the conference with 29 receptions. But starting wideouts Morgan and Michael Crabtree(notes) have combined for just 23 receptions as Smith has struggled to get in sync with his receivers.

"It's not Alex's fault," Morgan said. "Nothing that's happening is Alex's fault. It's us as a whole team. We just haven't been able to execute. We just have to grow up and make the plays count when they're there."

The 49ers could get some help on offense this week from centre Eric Heitmann(notes) and receiver Ted Ginn, who are practising and expected to be available for the Eagles game.

True that the whole team is playing like sh!t but alex is also part of the problem

Josh Morgan and Alex Smith MUST be gay lovers, amirite? Dude LOVES his junk.

Originally posted by chico49erfan:
Josh Morgan and Alex Smith MUST be gay lovers, amirite? Dude LOVES his junk.

Then he should've dove after that long pass.

Originally posted by chico49erfan:
Josh Morgan and Alex Smith MUST be gay lovers, amirite? Dude LOVES his junk.

Nah, Alex is Gore's b***h. -Alex would rather throw a wimpy ass screen/bail-out to Gore than sail a 30 yard jet to an OPEN Zeigler.

Originally posted by Leathaface:
What do you expect him to say? If someone asks him about Smith he's not going to say, "yea the dude sucks, he overthrew me for a sure TD."

We'll see if Capt. Checkdown can make some plays down the field this week. I actually think he *might*.

Capt. Checkdown completes more Passes than you could ever complete in your life.

I don't remember people having a problem when Joe and Steve threw slants.

But Alex does it and he gets anointed with "Capt. Checkdown"

You guys would complain if you were hung with a new rope.

~Ceadder

It's called being a good teammate...something Crabs needs to learn. I have a bad feeling about that guy

It's unfair.







That's my quarterback.....

Originally posted by Leathaface:
What do you expect him to say? If someone asks him about Smith he's not going to say, "yea the dude sucks, he overthrew me for a sure TD."

We'll see if Capt. Checkdown can make some plays down the field this week. I actually think he *might*.

I expect him to say, "I can only do my job out there." Or.. "Alex knows what he needs to do." Or virtually anything along those lines, saying in the nicest way that he thinks the quarterback could be doing better.

Leath, I'm sick of people using the expression, "What do you expect him to say?" -- It's complete and utter bull crap. Morgan doesn't owe Smith jack squat. Why on earth would he so vehemently defend Smith? We're not talking about just any old defense here, my friend. He flat out said Smith has nothing to do with our problems.

If Smith were so awful, wouldn't he want to make hints that he's (or the team is) losing faith in him so he could be benched for someone else? We don't see that. We see zero indication. Nothing. Zip. Nada. Something's wrong with this picture.

what else is Morgan going to say? When Smith throws me the ball I don't go up and get it because I suck and shouldn't be on the field anyway.

Originally posted by backontop:
what else is Morgan going to say? When Smith throws me the ball I don't go up and get it because I suck and shouldn't be on the field anyway.

Something other than defending Smith to the death.

Originally posted by OnTheClock:

Originally posted by backontop:
what else is Morgan going to say? When Smith throws me the ball I don't go up and get it because I suck and shouldn't be on the field anyway.

Something other than defending Smith to the death.

He doesn't need to worry about defending Smith, he needs to defend his own performance on the field.

I'll tell you what Morgan would say if he felt Alex was part of the problem. He would say"We all are messing up out there, " or "We all need to do better." If he blamed Smith, then the last thing he would do is make a point of saying that Smith is not the problem.

And it doesn't surprise me, because that is what some of us, including some of the sports writers, have been seeing.

I do put some stock in Steve Young's interview that the offense is stymied by an unaggressive offensive philosophy. He said defensive minds work differently than offensive minds. Sing needs to get out of the way and let the offensive people rip.