ESPN's QBR Hating against Alex Smith

Originally posted by Jikkle49:
I think Smith's ceiling is Eli Manning level in that he's never going to blow you away with stats but is quietly productive and gets the job done. Whether he lives up to that ceiling or not is the million dollar question.

As far as QBR goes it's just another bogus stat that doesn't tell the whole story. I feel football in general needs a major overhaul in stat keeping because right now it's flawed and the best judge of how a player or team is doing is the eyeball test.

Eli Manning is arguable the 3rd or 4th best QB along with Brady, Brees, and Rodgers. Alex Smith will never reach that level...and that's not a knock against him.

Originally posted by Leathaface:
Eli Manning is arguable the 3rd or 4th best QB along with Brady, Brees, and Rodgers. Alex Smith will never reach that level...and that's not a knock against him.

Eli has a better arm, better accuracy, better pocket presence, and is generally more clutch.

Alex has better wheels.

Both guys are going to have good years, possibly both being the Pro-Bowlers. But I agree that Alex is not on Eli's level, regardless of how much better Alex can get. Eli's season last year would have been historic had it not been dwarfed by Stafford, Brees, Rodgers, and Brady.

Don't under estimate Alex's ability to scramble, extend plays, and pick up 3rd downs with his feet.

Originally posted by NinerBuff:

Originally posted by Leathaface:
Eli Manning is arguable the 3rd or 4th best QB along with Brady, Brees, and Rodgers. Alex Smith will never reach that level...and that's not a knock against him.

Eli has a better arm, better accuracy, better pocket presence, and is generally more clutch.

Alex has better wheels.

Both guys are going to have good years, possibly both being the Pro-Bowlers. But I agree that Alex is not on Eli's level, regardless of how much better Alex can get. Eli's season last year would have been historic had it not been dwarfed by Stafford, Brees, Rodgers, and Brady.

Don't under estimate Alex's ability to scramble, extend plays, and pick up 3rd downs with his feet.

as long as he plays better than Flacco we'll be fine.

He's an average starting QB. Get over it. No one is hating. They're stating the truth.

Fortunately, you can still win with an average QB.

blah blah blah same tired arguments. Smith was not an average QB last season. Last season he was a good QB. People keep acting like he was some middle of the road player, when in reality he was one of the top 10-12 QB's in the league last season. He did that with BY FAR the worst supporting cast offensively, and with the most conservative playcalling.


I am not saying that he is going to be great, but to act like you know what kind of a QB he is going to be is just idiotic. Nobody knows, and it could go either way. So stop making ridiculous statements about how good he is going to be. You don't know.

Originally posted by 49ersalldaway126:
Qbr is bs he got a 20 after eagles game

it is, what it is.....

Originally posted by dtcomposer:
blah blah blah same tired arguments. Smith was not an average QB last season. Last season he was a good QB. People keep acting like he was some middle of the road player, when in reality he was one of the top 10-12 QB's in the league last season. He did that with BY FAR the worst supporting cast offensively, and with the most conservative playcalling.


I am not saying that he is going to be great, but to act like you know what kind of a QB he is going to be is just idiotic. Nobody knows, and it could go either way. So stop making ridiculous statements about how good he is going to be. You don't know.

Nice.

Originally posted by susweel:

Originally posted by Psinex:

Originally posted by susweel:

Originally posted by oldman9er:

Originally posted by susweel:
I think Smith has improved a great deal last year but I also think he is probably close hitting his ceiling right now. I dont think he can play much better than he did last year.

Any particular reason for this thinking that you can share?

Not an aggressive player, and also lacks trust in his arm strength (maybe damaged goods from his shoulder injuries).

play it safe type of player, struggles when forced improvise when a play breaks down.

I'd like to point out a few games in Alex's career.

10/25/2009 The Houston game when he came back from the ashes to almost win the game when they were down by 21 points.
He threw for 3 TD's in a single half. We had never seen this kind of Alex before.

EAGLES 27, NINERS 24
SMITH STATS: 25 of 39, 307 yards, 3 TD, 2 INT
QB RATING: 92.8
HE'S ARRIVED: Trailing
24-10 with 11:10 left, Smith, perhaps emboldened by Singletary's
screaming, completed 10 of 11 passes for 99 yards and two touchdowns.
The first touchdown drive featured a beautiful 36-yard laser down the
middle to Davis.

THE KILLER MISTAKE: Trailing 17-10, the
Niners had a second-and-5 at the Eagles 35 with 13:40 left. Smith was
pressured while rolling left and, without being touched, fumbled the
ball, which was picked up and returned 52 yards for a touchdown by
Philadelphia safety Quintin Mikell.

SINGLETARY SAYS: "He plays well, most of the game. He plays well
as I look at him, and then maybe two or three times there's inconsistency
and there's no reason for it. I think when he's pressing, and when he starts
pressing a little bit too much, then that's when, that's when bad things happen.
And that's something that he has to obviously get better at."

Then finally the third game against the Saints last year that needs no explanation.

These three moments are the ones I remember most vividly when I think of Alex
as being the gunslinging laser beam QB that he can be. The reason why I have
hope that he can be that guy more consistently this year is because he's finally
in a stable coaching system that has already shown it can be successful.

When Alex was called upon to make big plays to win games from behind, he did so.
He came up short last year because his receivers were dogcrap and couldn't
get open against the Giants secondary apart from a couple missed opportunities.
He made those big passes to Vernon. If he can develop that kind of chemistry
with a second or third receiver ala Moss or Crabtree, then sky's the limit.

There's an old saying "The sun shines on every dog's ass once in awhile"

He's had some good games here and there but you gotta look at the overall body of work, you cant just ignore the bad.

That's all you got?

Originally posted by fly15:

Originally posted by 49ersalldaway126:
Qbr is bs he got a 20 after eagles game

it is, what it is.....

35 Td and 7 int since raye was fired

5 TD and 0 int in playoffs

more than 100 passer rating playoffs

it is what it is?

Originally posted by susweel:
poor alex he's always getting picked on

Ya gets wot ya's deserve..no mo, no less........sighhhhhhh

So? They're not wrong.

Since Jamie Dukes moonlights as ESPN's technical adviser for the QBR calibration, we can be sure that if Smith throws for 4000 yards, 45 TDs and zero interceptions those stats will be down graded. New stats will include waste size times neck size divided by IQ. Jamie will be elite but poor Alex...

16th is pretty reasonable considering he only threw 17 TDs

He definitely improved but he's still not a whole lot more than average. I look for the playcalling to improve and hopefully Alex will as well. 16th is a lot better than what he was in years previous. I'm not bashing so save mentioning the Saints game and his other highlights

Originally posted by susweel:

Not an aggressive player, and also lacks trust in his arm strength (maybe damaged goods from his shoulder injuries).

play it safe type of player, struggles when forced improvise when a play breaks down.

Tell that to the saints.

Originally posted by Leathaface:

Eli Manning is arguable the 3rd or 4th best QB along with Brady, Brees, and Rodgers. Alex Smith will never reach that level...and that's not a knock against him.

That is what is called an opinion and while you are certainly entitled to it, I wonder what you are basing it on.