Does Roman not call any vertical routes or does Alex choose not to throw it down the field

I know some of you have seen the coaches film. Is Roman not calling any vertical routes or is Alex choosing the underneath routes instead of taking a shot down the field? What have you noticed?

I think we called 1 through like the first 3 or 4 games. You can probably count on your hand the rest of the post patterns for the rest of the games. Did we have three last game? Two?

BTW: You can watch coaches film as well...pinned on the front page.

I say both.

AS is not very strong for deeper routes the ball tends to float.

Originally posted by McLovinAlexSmith:
AS is not very strong for deeper routes the ball tends to float.

Wasn't the question.

It's hard to tell how many are called, but I think there was a decent amount called last game. I can recall Smith doing a few play actions and looking down field, but he wouldn't pull the trigger. I don't think we call enough and Moss needs to get on the field more.

Originally posted by Baldie:
I say both.

This

There have been PLENTY of deep routes called throughout Alex Smith's career where he decided not to pull the trigger.

I think the Moss deep ball is a perfect example of why we see so few of them from Smith.
Moss ran deep, ran past the safety, ran ten yards past the safety, THEN Alex threw the football to him. Moss had to establish that he was way past the safety, before it was "safe" enough to throw the football down field.
Waiting so long to throw the deep ball requires a LOT more time in the pocket, which obviously cuts down on opportunities.


The only deep ball I have seen Smith throw with good anticipation, is the wheel route to Vernon Davis. He let's go of that one nice and early. Everything else requires epic amounts of time in the pocket.

^^^^

it is true, but how often in his career has he got screwed by his receiver doing exactly what delanie did?


I do however believe it is a vicious cycle type of thing though. Alex gets burned by a received not fighting for it, he then avoids and the receivers are not used to it.

If he knows his qb is not good at/not wanting to throw vertical routes, why call them?

Originally posted by Garcia:
If he knows his qb is not good at/not wanting to throw vertical routes, why call them?

Two reasons:

1) Coaches expect their players to play like they practice. I'm sure Smith is very good on deep routes in practice.
2) You must use the entire field, otherwise the defense will jump all your short stuff (Giants game).

Originally posted by jdt84_2:
^^^^

it is true, but how often in his career has he got screwed by his receiver doing exactly what delanie did?


I do however believe it is a vicious cycle type of thing though. Alex gets burned by a received not fighting for it, he then avoids and the receivers are not used to it.

If a racecar driver has a car that stalls on him sometimes when he goes over a certain speed, does that mean he should avoid going too fast during a race? Or should he go as fast as he can and hope that the car holds up for him?

I think if the driver does not go as fast as he possibly can, he has no chance to win the race. If the car stalls out, then he also loses the race, but at least he tried to win.

I dont get to go to many games live but when i do im always infuriated when alex smith is the qb. Everytime i make it to a game i see someone running free and the guy doesn't even look.

Originally posted by PatrickWillisHOF:
I know some of you have seen the coaches film. Is Roman not calling any vertical routes or is Alex choosing the underneath routes instead of taking a shot down the field? What have you noticed?

I was thinking the exact same thing.

Common sense should lead you to the answer

they need to call more downfield plays. the short routes and trick plays are not gettin it done. i wanna see a more conventional offense rather than stupid gimmicks half the game