Anybody worried that Alex will rely TOO much on check downs to Gore?

Originally posted by Joecool:
I really don't care if Alex throws the ball to quite possibly our best player on offense every play as long as it is excuted for a good gain. If they can't stop it, then f**k em up.

Wait alex got the ball out on a blizt to frank in the flat! NO WAY!!!

right now im worried alex wont have time to throw check downs

I believe that today was a prime example of Alex's fear to throw the football down the field. A perfect example was when the 9ers were in the red zone, and Crabtree was wide open, and instead of stepping up in the pocket and throwing to a wide open Crabtree, he checked it out to Gore which amounted to nothing.

Originally posted by PatrickWillisHOF:
I believe that today was a prime example of Alex's fear to throw the football down the field. A perfect example was when the 9ers were in the red zone, and Crabtree was wide open, and instead of stepping up in the pocket and throwing to a wide open Crabtree, he checked it out to Gore which amounted to nothing.

People keep saying that, but right when alex was releasing the ball he had pressure on his left, and I think up the middle. Crabtree came out of his break open about 1-2 seconds after alex had already thrown the ball.

Granted, maybe alex could have THROWN crabtree open. I'd rather not have alex trying to make Aaron rodgers type throws just yet though.

Originally posted by unst4bl3:

Originally posted by PatrickWillisHOF:
I believe that today was a prime example of Alex's fear to throw the football down the field. A perfect example was when the 9ers were in the red zone, and Crabtree was wide open, and instead of stepping up in the pocket and throwing to a wide open Crabtree, he checked it out to Gore which amounted to nothing.

People keep saying that, but right when alex was releasing the ball he had pressure on his left, and I think up the middle. Crabtree came out of his break open about 1-2 seconds after alex had already thrown the ball.

Granted, maybe alex could have THROWN crabtree open. I'd rather not have alex trying to make Aaron rodgers type throws just yet though.

It's his 7th year. So exactly when should we expect him to make tough throws? that play was my only complaint about Alex yesterday. He's too jittery in the pocket at times to time to go through all his progressions. Part of the reason he hasn't been consistent. But the pass blocking hasn't been consistent either.

I just posted this in another thread but it is appropriate here as well:

RE: Checkdowns.
Those passes are an integral part of the Walsh offense. Their purpose was to draw the linebackers closer to the LOS to allow slant passes to be open BEHIND them. When the defense adjusts to stop the slant by dropping LBs into the slant zones (as Seattle was yesterday), the Walsh response is to throw a short pass in FRONT of them to a RB or TE. Those passes are designed to be 4-6 yard gains. They are a key part of the system.

When Walsh first began having success with that style of attack, critics were all over him for not throwing the ball down the field like all the other teams did. Walsh simply observed that they should think of checkdowns as "long handoffs;" the back winds up with the ball and gains 4 or 5 yards.

While slant routes LOOK simple, they are not as easy as they look. The receiver must break at exactly the right time and the pass must come out on time and go right over the center of the mass of bodies that are the two opposing lines. Timing is critical, not only between the QB and receiver but also with the OL driving hard into the onrushing DL to force them to get their hands down so as not be able to knock down the pass.

This team has just not had very much time to work on all of that. Edwards is new, Crabtree still hasn't practiced, Morgan has been more of a blocking WR until this year, etc. It will take some time to get everyone on the same page. A good passing game takes more time than a running game to develop. As hard as it is to be patient, once the receivers get their timing down on the deeper routes, we will see this offense open up more. In the meantime, a 4 yard pass is no different than a 4 yard run. Not every play is designed to score a touchdown. Some of them are designed to set up other stuff, while other plays just take more time to settle in.

Originally posted by lamontb:
It's his 7th year. So exactly when should we expect him to make tough throws? that play was my only complaint about Alex yesterday. He's too jittery in the pocket at times to time to go through all his progressions. Part of the reason he hasn't been consistent. But the pass blocking hasn't been consistent either.

I hear what you are saying, at this point regardless of it being his 7th year. Harbs is rebuilding his confidence, rebuilding teh player, fixing his old bad habits. We need to have patience and watch the flower blossom correctly this time.

Did anyone notice, he didn't really roll right and throw it out of bounds yesterday? And that I think he only threw high like once or twice? even on screens/ bubble throws he actually took a little bit off for once.

Good god, could the Mods stop that plz? Guys, you wanted WCO, checkdowns are a part of that offense. Period.

Originally posted by unst4bl3:

Originally posted by lamontb:
It's his 7th year. So exactly when should we expect him to make tough throws? that play was my only complaint about Alex yesterday. He's too jittery in the pocket at times to time to go through all his progressions. Part of the reason he hasn't been consistent. But the pass blocking hasn't been consistent either.

I hear what you are saying, at this point regardless of it being his 7th year. Harbs is rebuilding his confidence, rebuilding teh player, fixing his old bad habits. We need to have patience and watch the flower blossom correctly this time.

Did anyone notice, he didn't really roll right and throw it out of bounds yesterday? And that I think he only threw high like once or twice? even on screens/ bubble throws he actually took a little bit off for once.

Velocity was off on some short throws, but Smith's overall ball placement and touch looked very good yesterday. Refreshing change! Keep it coming!

Originally posted by lamontb:

Originally posted by unst4bl3:

Originally posted by PatrickWillisHOF:
I believe that today was a prime example of Alex's fear to throw the football down the field. A perfect example was when the 9ers were in the red zone, and Crabtree was wide open, and instead of stepping up in the pocket and throwing to a wide open Crabtree, he checked it out to Gore which amounted to nothing.

People keep saying that, but right when alex was releasing the ball he had pressure on his left, and I think up the middle. Crabtree came out of his break open about 1-2 seconds after alex had already thrown the ball.

Granted, maybe alex could have THROWN crabtree open. I'd rather not have alex trying to make Aaron rodgers type throws just yet though.

It's his 7th year. So exactly when should we expect him to make tough throws? that play was my only complaint about Alex yesterday. He's too jittery in the pocket at times to time to go through all his progressions. Part of the reason he hasn't been consistent. But the pass blocking hasn't been consistent either.

He made some very good throws yesterday. The back shoulder throw to Davis was perfection, the 24 yarder to Morgan, the pass to Edwards that drew the PI was in the perfect spot for only Edwards to catch it if there was no interference.

The only complaint I hear is about the ball he didn't throw to Crabtree in the end zone. OK. Crabtree did get open but with so little time between them this season, how was Smith supposed to guess that Crabtree actually WOULD get open. Remember; these guys have not had much chemistry in the past and almost NO practice time this season. Expecting Smith to have the confidence to "throw him open" in that situation is just not realistic at all!

Originally posted by communist:
Good god, could the Mods stop that plz? Guys, you wanted WCO, checkdowns are a part of that offense. Period.

He already does

Originally posted by PatrickWillisHOF:

I believe that today was a prime example of Alex's fear to throw the football down the field. A perfect example was when the 9ers were in the red zone, and Crabtree was wide open, and instead of stepping up in the pocket and throwing to a wide open Crabtree, he checked it out to Gore which amounted to nothing.

I also wouldn't exactly call that "down the field." Also, what would you say about the 26 yarder to Morgan, the back shoulder to Davis, and the roll and throw to Davis for 27 yards?

Quit trying to make up different threads in a poor attempt to mask your hate for smith.

" Yes. Smith checks down because he is indecisive when throwing downfield. The checkdown is his safety valvue. Now it's justified because the WCO promotes short yard passing situations by design, so when Smith does absoultely nothing but check the ball down because he can't throw downfield, Alexcuse #342 will be "well he's supposed to check the ball down! "

Remind me again, who was Alex Smith's first NFL OC? And what system did he run? Oh yeah, Mike MCCarthy. And yeah, that's right, he ran the WCO system!

Alex Smith went from playing in Urban Meyer's Shotgun/Spread Offense (in his 2 yrs. of college football) to learning the WCO his rookie season SF. Let's not forget that the ENTIRE team was in flux after the Donohue/Ericsson era ended and entering the Nolan & Co. who were building a whole new team, with a new foundation with starkly different mind sets than the previous GM/HC before them!

Don't quote me, but maybe, just maybe that's why people termed Alex Smith the master of the check-down! I would venture to guess that that's what he was instructed to do that year! In 2006 w/ Norv Turner as his OC Alex went downfield with the ball more, but his #1 target was Antonio Bryant because VD was still helping the Oline to block Alex took every snap in every game that year and Frank Gore had 1,695 or something yards, which was mainly due to the acquisition of Larry Allen and Jonas " I-can't-play-because-my-finger-hurts " Jennings. Even though Big LA was literally on his last leg and JJ was too lazy and took the money and ran. But one of the main reasons for Alex's and the team's success was that VD was a big weapon and go to guy who was ALWAYS a threat as long as he's on the field!

Originally posted by communist:
Good god, could the Mods stop that plz? Guys, you wanted WCO, checkdowns are a part of that offense. Period.

I'm sure I'm exagerrating, but it sure seems he relies on the checkdown way too much. he managed a pretty good game yesterday, btu he's still reluctant to throw downfield and to "throw his receivers open" as one poster mentioned. Did he even break 200 yds, and when's the last time he threw a TD pass? Just sayin'.