Originally posted by dtg_9er:
Originally posted by Joecool:
This has been an issue with Alex since he's been in the league. It isn't a coincidence that most of his completions this year have been wide open due to excellent play design. I just don't think he has the throwing ability to make the instantaneous "looky what I found" or "Oh s**t" throws.
Funny thing! The Smith supporters are accused of never saying anything against him and yet almost every post from the anti-Smith folks is about how bad he is. Your comment "isn't a coincidence that most of his completions this year have been wide open due to excellent play design" is bogus. Smith has thrown very good outs to covered WRs where they were the only ones who had a chance to get to the ball. He has also thrown receivers open and placed the ball perfectly to win games. But his throws to wide open receivers are usually dropped...VD in the end zone, Ginn for a sure TD.
Originally posted by Young2Rice:
I think the drop argument has been overblown. the league average for drops is 22. We have 26. Not great but it is right about average...
Drops per pass is quite a different story. Since the 9er offense is predicated on efficiency, not bombs away, every drop is magnified in importance. That goes for every penalty as well.
It isn't possible to quantify exceptional catches per pass but it seems unlikely that any viewer could dispute that most teams with 10 wins have a better rate than the 9ers. There are few catches that have had any wow factor for SF this year. Watching GB and other good teams you see several of these great catches per game.
Drops are drops on any team. And penalties hurt all teams, no matter what. They both hurt you. We aren't the only team who relies on efficiancy...I'm pretty sure all the top teams rely on that. And we have been bombing away....Smith threw the ball deep quite a few times last week and were almost picked or out of bounds. THe deep pass to Ginn who didn't locate it Smith was hit and the ball fluttered. Can't really blame Ginn for that like you can't blame Smith for getting hit while throwing it.
Exceptional catches? I've a seen few. Not anymore then i've seen exceptional throws.
I do watch the GB games and i see Jamarcus Finley dropping it alot. They are a team that hit short passes and occasionally run. Then when the D comes up they throw it deep. Pretty much what we try to to except we run it more and we miss on our long balls due to whatever.
[ Edited by Young2Rice on Dec 13, 2011 at 8:12 PM ]