Originally posted by JayBee:
Originally posted by dj43:
Smith worked WITH the 49er staff during the off-season when he was healthy enough to do so.
As to Peyton, you don't know that he was going to be elite any more than I do, however, the entire point is that by comparing what other teams did with their QBs and how they developed, gives us insight into exactly how bad the 49ers were.
As to Smith getting his own trainer, that is entirely a hindsight judgement that assumes he even knew what his technical flaws were. Hostler was terrible as QB coach and keeping him as OC was just another in a long line of terrible Mike Nolan judgements.
If you want to overlook all of these things, and call them all "excuses," go ahead. I don't care to go through all of this again. The fact is, AT THIS POINT IN TIME, Alex Smith is clearly the best hope for a decent QB for the upcoming season without giving up a high draft pick for a mediocre stop-gap. My hope is that Harbaugh is close to the QB coach we all hope he is, and can work his craft with Smith. I would be very happy to see Smith play at the 90+ level he did in the final 1/3 of the season when Raye was gone and he had a real OC behind him. That's all...
Do you blame Alex for anything or does everything fall on his shoulders.
It's funny how McCarthy is a bum with the 9ers, but a genius with the Packers. A good QB can either make you look terribly bad or terribly good.
Funny how Alex fans try to pick apart every little thing that wasn't "perfect" for him and completely dismiss anything that was done to help him succeed. The 9ers should only be faulted for not bringing in better receivers as well as not establishing an identity on offense.
You are relatively new here so let me tell you where I stand so you are not mistaken on my post.
I was one of the very first here to say that Alex Smith would leave the team of his own choice in order to start fresh in a new situation. I still think that is the best thing for him. Now we have a situation where the team is left with only David Carr and whoever else they may sign off the street, including Alex Smith. Therefore, given those circumstances, Alex is the best choice for the upcoming season, assuming the CBA is not signed before the beginning of TC, which is what I believe to be the case based on all reports.
So back to your question; Mike McCarthy was booed here for being too conservative, but at the time, the team was so short of talent that many observers claimed the expansion Houston Texans had more talent than that team. He got about as much out of that pathetic roster as anyone could. In the meantime, the plays he called and his background led GB to believe he could be a good HC. Time has shown them to be correct.
To your points; they 49er FO should be blamed for bringing in a coach who was totally unqualified to lead the team and who had no idea how to build an offense. Another "blame," is that Nolan's hiring occurred so late in the hiring cycle that all the decent assistant coaches had already committed to other teams. Nolan was left with junk. As proof of that, over the next three years he turned over most of the staff as he tried to entice better coaches to come here - he failed, with the one exception of Norv Turner, a very over-rated OC who attained his reputation from being in the right place at the right time with a Cowboys roster that was loaded with future HOF and Pro Bowl players. As we all know, Turner left for the SD job.
You should know all of this already so I'll just cut to the bottom line; if the 49er coaching staff was so good, why were they all fired? If they were so good, why has the last 6 years become the poster child for how NOT to handle a QB? Why have every player drafted here not named Willis, Gore or Davis struggled but failed to reach anything close to their potential?
I don't know what Smith can, and cannot do, and neither do you or anybody else here. My point is only that until he actually has some quality coaching, none of us will know how good he might be. For those who actually watch the details instead of just the ball, it is clear that once Johnson became QB coach, Smith's mechanics became better. It is also clear that once Johnson took over the offense, Smith's QB rating jumped into the top 1/3 of the league as play design and game plan allowed him more targets and better options.
So take that for what you will. Everyone, including Smith, has been disappointed in the lack of production. He has always manned up and said he needed to do better, but those who really study football do not even come close to putting all the blame on him. You do with that what you want. I won't enter a long debate. I am fully convinced that he is the best option considering the conditions and that is not an issue at question in my mind.
Cheers.
[ Edited by dj43 on Feb 14, 2011 at 19:00:30 ]
