Was That Alex Smith's finest half, last Sunday

Originally posted by SacRock14:
It's close between this game and the Seattle game in '06.

What puts the Seattle game ahead for me is that game was on the line. We trailed going into the 4th quarter and Smith put up 3 4th quarter touchdowns -- 2 passing, 1 rushing.

Plus the Seattle game was memorable. I remember where I was, and how it felt like he had officially become a legit NFL QB.

SF @ Seattle Game Recap

I remember that too. I ate costco pizza during the 4th quarter

This may have been the best half of any of our QB's over the past 6 years.

Originally posted by WINiner:

Originally posted by pd24:

Originally posted by fryet:
He has, of course, had better 4th quarter winning drives, but as a whole, that is by far the best I have seen Alex Smith play. My only complaints were the following:

1. The one short pass that I saw him throw, he missed (probably was better that he missed it, but still makes you wonder)2. Lots of delay of game penalties. Hopefully being the starter will mitigate that in the future (it wouldn't surprise me if Crabtree was guilty of illegal substitution, but that is just me guessing)

#2 should be easily corrected. #1 is an area that we will continue to have to watch as fans. But if he just continues to throw down the field, and ignores the short passes, I don't think we will care that much. (:

He missed that because Gore was running to the sideline and Smith threw it to try and lead gore up field. It was a prety good pass, but you can see Smith after telling gore to run upfield. Just a matter of him getting to play with the other guys.

Wrong...he missed it on purpose. He knew Gore would get tackled and there was pressure so he threw it short and save the time. Extremely heads up play on Smiths part. He only threw it out there to avoid intentional grounding.

agreed

Footballoutsiders.com does not rate Alex among the regular QB's because he has not thrown enough passes, but on a per play basis, his performance so far is twice as good as either Tom Brady or Peyton's this year. By far his best game, nothing else even close.

For those who are totally amazed by his performance, remember that he hasn't played healthy for 2 years, and is now only 25. It's not totally surprising to expect some improvement. People on the Zone have continually bashed him for stuff he did long ago.

Originally posted by danimal:

Originally posted by 9erfanAUS:
The Seachickens 2nd half was one to remember. The entire offense stinked in the rain for the first half. It was horrid. In the second half, out came a blazing Alex Smith. He did everything well that game.

I think this last half trumps the Seahawks game because he had no reps during the week and hadn't played a meaningful game in over 2 years. I can't remember the last time a QB looked so poised and delivered so many nice balls.

What I like the most about the last game was how much Smith seemed that he was in charge.

-9fA

you mean a Niner QB right? because around the league a 2-5 QB's is doing this each week

No kidding. It seems as though this 6 year drought of decent play has lowered our expectations. A "decent" performance by any other quarterback is now what us Niner fans aspire to see on our own team.

I was an Alex Smith fan, but Hill's recent gritty play won me over. However, his lack of an arm (really evident this season) has made me wonder how effective Hill can be over the course of several seasons.

Yeah, last Sunday was probably Smith's finest half, but he needs to string together 20 more good halves to have my confidence as a fan. One half in which he almost brought the team back won't cut it.

Yes and by a lot. The best previous game was in the second half of that Thursday night game up against the Seahawks back in 2006, but he looked much, much better this past Sunday. If he can keep playing at anywhere near that level, then we finally have a potential elite QB back on our squad. However, I still need to see some more games with him before I believe that he has really turned the corner.

Originally posted by TheHitman:
Naked bootleg night against the Seachickens... that was his best game. Remember Frank the Tank walking into his interview afterward and telling the fans to expect big things from #11?

This is exactly what I was thinking. The Seahawks were a better team back then. Not the rebuilding team that they are now... Not saying he didn't look good on Sunday. He looked calm, confident and ready to make some plays. I think there is something to be said to actually complete the comeback rather than coming up short.

IMO this was by far the best half of football Smith has played as a pro.

The hawks game was nice but this was flat out better.

Coming in cold and playing the way he did was very impressive.

He's got a long way to go but I'm happy for him and the team.

Smith was definitely playing well ... right up until that interception on the last drive.

I'm all in favor of starting him over Hill (I was at the beginning of the season) but let's be honest with our assessment of his performance:

1. Houston's defense is horrible and any quality QB should be expected to throw against them - more of a strike against Hill to be sure, but Smith needs to perform like this consistently and against better teams.

2. Houston played with a 21 point lead and was willing to allow the 9ers to chew up the clock to get their points.

3. Houston hadn't game planned against Smith or the spread offense.

4. Smith threw a pick on the last drive that was vintage Smith. Receiver open, underthrown ball into triple coverage. I know he's trying to make a play and it's 4th down, but that was a winnable (or at least tie-able) game and that play cost us the opportunity.

Having said this, he looked far better than I've EVER seen him play before. He had good zip on his throws and he has definitely developed a rapport with Davis and Crabtree. I'm rooting for him to succeed.

This may be a topic for another post, but am I the only one that thinks that with Smith starting the 9ers should go towards a spread offense as their base package? He's so much more comfortable in the shotgun with 4 to 5 wide. Brady does it. Manning does it. Roethlisberger, etc. Why can't we?

the best i've ever seen him play

Originally posted by midrdan:
Smith was definitely playing well ... right up until that interception on the last drive.

I'm all in favor of starting him over Hill (I was at the beginning of the season) but let's be honest with our assessment of his performance:

1. Houston's defense is horrible and any quality QB should be expected to throw against them - more of a strike against Hill to be sure, but Smith needs to perform like this consistently and against better teams.

2. Houston played with a 21 point lead and was willing to allow the 9ers to chew up the clock to get their points.

3. Houston hadn't game planned against Smith or the spread offense.

4. Smith threw a pick on the last drive that was vintage Smith. Receiver open, underthrown ball into triple coverage. I know he's trying to make a play and it's 4th down, but that was a winnable (or at least tie-able) game and that play cost us the opportunity.

Having said this, he looked far better than I've EVER seen him play before. He had good zip on his throws and he has definitely developed a rapport with Davis and Crabtree. I'm rooting for him to succeed.

This may be a topic for another post, but am I the only one that thinks that with Smith starting the 9ers should go towards a spread offense as their base package? He's so much more comfortable in the shotgun with 4 to 5 wide. Brady does it. Manning does it. Roethlisberger, etc. Why can't we?

i agree with you on the spread offense idea, we have a great group of receivers and a QB with a good arm that is used to the spread offense and shot gun formations. but to blame a QB for throwing an INT on the 4th and 10 with not even a minute left is ridiculous. even the best QB's have done this. the other team knows you have no time and you have to throw it deep. also the ball was under throw because the pocket collapsed and he couldnt step into it, he has more than enough arm strength to make that throw. even steve young and owens awesome throw and catch couldve easily gone the other way had T.O. not out jumped and out muscled everyone. lots of factors go into those last chance desperation throws.

Originally posted by midrdan:


1. Houston's defense is horrible and any quality QB should be expected to throw against them - more of a strike against Hill to be sure, but Smith needs to perform like this consistently and against better teams.

4. Smith threw a pick on the last drive that was vintage Smith. Receiver open, underthrown ball into triple coverage. I know he's trying to make a play and it's 4th down, but that was a winnable (or at least tie-able) game and that play cost us the opportunity.

Houston's "horrible defense" did a good job of shutting down warner and the arizona offense in the second half of their game.

Alex's was intercepted on a "underthrown" ball because the pocket collapsed and he took enough of a hit during the throw to affect the pass.

All things considered, I think that was the best half we have seen from Alex to date.