Alex Smith Thread

Originally posted by Baugh_Area:

Originally posted by Jakemall:
I thought Alex was pretty clutch in the lions game...those stats don't reflect that. Do you remember how many drops we had that game? It was enough to make me sick. Two of them were TDs...small change to the stat line, right?

Also, since when is # of throws = carrying a team? If I can throw 3 passes and score 21 points and hold you to 20 points on defense, I just carried the team on 3 passes. Granted, that's not what happens...but you should get my point.

Sorry Ghost...I'm not saying Alex is elite..because that implies doing it day in and day out season after season...but THIS SEASON, Alex is almost playing at that level. I hope it continues and even gets better.

Alex was very clutch vs. the lions, eagles and giants, I won't deny that. The thing is Tim Tebow has been clutch as well, but that doesn;t make him elite. Being clutch is definitely part of it, but it's not everything.

Don't focus as much on the dropped TDs unless you want to talk about dropped INTs (of which there are 2 or 3 I can recall) or almost fumbles as there have been a few. Almost is a word losing teams use to keep the hope. We ARE NOT an almost team, we're 10-2.

I will say this season Alex has mostly played well and has had elite moments. He's definitely trending in the direction of elite and with more consistency could get there, it's just the NFL doesn't always go like we expect it to.

Which is basically what I said...

Why did I bother posting in this thread. Someone kill me please.

Originally posted by Furlow:
Yes backpedalling. You've been going on and on all day about all sorts of "excuses" for Smith's good play this season. Now all of a sudden when I ask you what the solution to your "problem" is, you're stuck and backtracking. I haven't heard anyone on here say he is better than the elite QB's (although 3 of the 4 you just meantioned are no where near elite, and it's debatable as to them being better than Smith).

The bottom line is he playing excellent football, in a new offense, with a new coach, with no off season. He's still very young. He's been improving steadily throughout the year. The offensive line and WR's have a lot of room for improvement. What makes you think this trend won't continue? And if you do think this trend will continue, why do you still cling to this notion that Smith doesn't/can't/won't/etc?

I said he's in a near perfect position to succeed. I mentioned why he is in a good position. You can agree with that or disagree with that but don't bring up a bunch of s**t I've never mentioned or blame me for your own incorrect assumptions about my posts.

Dude I think the problem is you project Alex to automatically be this good for years. The NFL doesn't work like that. Philip Rivers has worse numbers than Alex this year despite being top 3 in QB rating for something like the last 3 seasons. s**t happens, guys can regress just like they can progress. Those 4 QB's have past success to fall back on while Alex has a little over one season and potential improvement to fall back on. Do you see why I say it's a little early/silly to begin debating Alex is better? You could say he's having a better season and that is correct, but saying he IS better, I don't buy that.

Just look at Josh Freeman last year, don't you think Bucs fans all were sure he was gonna just conveniently keep improving?

Originally posted by GhostofFredDean74:

Originally posted by Furlow:

Originally posted by GhostofFredDean74:

Originally posted by Furlow:

Originally posted by Baugh_Area:

Originally posted by LambdaChi49:
Fair enough but I still don't understand how that some how negates the fact that he's very efficient and...well...pretty good.

I didn't realize there was a NFL bible that said in order to be "elite" or "good" you have to attempt 30 passes/game, throw for 300 yards and 3 TDs, and your team has to rely on you...?

My point is: this is a circular argument based on everyone's view of what a QB "should be like."

I don't think anyone is saying this.

I think people are saying the more a team relies on you to win (as a QB), the more chances you are going to have to make mistakes. Not only are you being asked to throw more, you're often being asked to make more risky throws, especially if you're playing from behind every game and can't settle for 3 and outs, field goals etc.

Alex Smith's QB ratings from games with over 30 attempts-

Bengals: 85.6(30 att)
Eagles: 112.1(33 att)
Lions: 60(32 att)
Giants: 85.7 (30 att)
Cardinals: 81.8 (38 att)

Under 30 attempts-
Seahawks: 90.4 (20 att)
Cowboys: 99.1 (24 att)
Bucs: 127.2 (19 att)
Browns: 98.8 (24 att)
Redskins: 109.7 (24 att)
Ravens: 61.1 (23 att)

Okay, Baugh - you're right, he's not very good. What should we do? Same question to all the other Smith detractors. What do you guys think the answer is?

1.) Nobody with any common sense is saying Smith isn't good this year/hasn't played well
2.) There's nothing to do or no other answer at this point...Alex is the QB and we're going to live and die with him in 2011
3.) If we wins it all, he deserves all the praise due him including an extension to stay here (IMO)
4.) Should he falter in the playoffs, he should be re-evaluated (is he the long-term answer or can another QB take us to the next level)

Fair enough?

Sounds like a whole lot of backpedalling...

Question for you and the rest of the detractors. Let's say we have a shot at Peyton Manning next season, would you sign him? Understand it will cost us $25 million per year, when we could get Alex for $8-$10 million. So that eats up $15 million that we could have used to sign Carlos Rogers, Dashon Goldson, etc. Do you think Manning is worth losing $15 million worth of other players?

(Mods I have a point here about Alex, bear with me)

Your responses are childish, and you don't seem to get nuance, but I'll answer you anyway. I would sign Peyton Manning in a hot second if we could, because with him as our QB and the defense we have, we would be the odds-on favorite to win it all. What you don't seem to understand is that you can manipulate the cap to spread Manning's cost in such a way that would allow you to sign him and other critical players. Not to even mention that we wouldn't even need a dominating defense if Manning was our QB (see the Colts for the last decade).

So to your question, yes (a healthy) Peyton is worth losing whatever cap space he would eat up. That's hardly debatable.

True enough...IF Manning was healthy enough to come back to the game, you have to make that choice..it's not close. Watching the colts without him really shows just how much of a difference he makes. People talk about Aaron Rogers, Brady and whatnot...I don't think there's a QB in the NFL today who could take the Colts with the talent they have and get them to the level Manning did.

Originally posted by GhostofFredDean74:
Why did I bother posting in this thread. Someone kill me please.

I'll just take you to the Yard House and buy ya a shot and a beer. If you died, we wouldn't have these cool draft and football analyses. That just won't do.

Originally posted by GhostofFredDean74:
Why did I bother posting in this thread. Someone kill me please.

Yeah, I think it's about time to hit that dusty trail.

Originally posted by OnTheClock:
Pulled from the Dec. 1 Blog here, http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcwest/post/_/id/53013/dropping-the-ball-eagles-tied-for-nfl-lead .. and calculated by yours truly. After Sunday, 49ers drop rate increased again to 6.8%, despite Alex completing 74% of his passes.

Aaah, thanks a bunch, OTC.

Originally posted by Jakemall:
I'm not saying Alex is elite..because that implies doing it day in and day out season after season...but THIS SEASON, Alex is almost playing at that level. I hope it continues and even gets better.

Seems like a fair assessment. There are really only 2 or 3 "elite" quarterbacks in the league. So I say, "so what if we don't have one at this moment?" It's not like we can steal the elite ones from other teams... not like we can conjure one up with a snap of the fingers. We have to BUILD our elite QB... maybe that's Alex... maybe not. Maybe we don't need Alex to be a top 5 quarterback to accomplish our goal. This is year ONE for Alex in this system... and I see no reason to think he won't get even better. But even if he stays the same? Hey, we're winning!

Alex Smith explains why things are different with Jim Harbaugh.

Jim Rome Show...

Originally posted by ninertico:

Originally posted by GhostofFredDean74:
Why did I bother posting in this thread. Someone kill me please.

I'll just take you to the Yard House and buy ya a shot and a beer. If you died, we wouldn't have these cool draft and football analyses. That just won't do.

Deal!!!

Originally posted by Furlow:
Okay, Baugh - you're right, he's not very good. What should we do? Same question to all the other Smith detractors. What do you guys think the answer is?

they cant answer right now, they are still lamenting the loss of shaun hill

Originally posted by hofer36:

Originally posted by Furlow:
Okay, Baugh - you're right, he's not very good. What should we do? Same question to all the other Smith detractors. What do you guys think the answer is?

they cant answer right now, they are still lamenting the loss of shaun hill

Noodle Arm ftmfgdsobmfw!!!!

This thread is beyond pathetic now, we're 10-2 and yet, still not enough.

Some of ya's really need to grow up, for real...

Originally posted by King49er:
This thread is beyond pathetic now, we're 10-2 and yet, still not enough.

Some of ya's really need to grow up, for real...

Oh so this! Sad really that our own can't simply enjoy his improvement. They have to defend their POV to the end and just keep doggin' him. Some just like to focus on the negative no matter what.

It's time to let it go.

But, I will not stop questioning my own Bros on their POV when I read lunacy.

Who's going to stop this voice? Nobody!!!!!!

So there.

Originally posted by King49er:
This thread is beyond pathetic now, we're 10-2 and yet, still not enough.

Some of ya's really need to grow up, for real...

What's pathetic is the reading comprehension that is lacking in this thread. Again, nobody with any brains is saying that Smith sucks or that he's playing poorly or anything close, but the Smith nuthuggers read even the slightest questioning as hate towards #11.

This is a forum, so we're having discussions (that's what people do, they don't just agree on every single point), we're comparing Alex to other QBs and also offering up some explanation as to why Smith is doing so well this year as opposed to the way he played previously. Not all of it is favorable towards Alex (sorry, some of us just aren't completely sold on him long-term), but most are in agreement that he's doing pretty amazing things this year overall, and that's not really up for much debate.

But bottom line, we're trying to have an intelligent discussion here, but the fanboys need complete and total devotion to Alex, or they flip out.

So yah, it's pretty pathetic.

Originally posted by GhostofFredDean74:

Originally posted by Furlow:

Originally posted by GhostofFredDean74:

Originally posted by Furlow:

Originally posted by Baugh_Area:

Originally posted by LambdaChi49:
Fair enough but I still don't understand how that some how negates the fact that he's very efficient and...well...pretty good.

I didn't realize there was a NFL bible that said in order to be "elite" or "good" you have to attempt 30 passes/game, throw for 300 yards and 3 TDs, and your team has to rely on you...?

My point is: this is a circular argument based on everyone's view of what a QB "should be like."

I don't think anyone is saying this.

I think people are saying the more a team relies on you to win (as a QB), the more chances you are going to have to make mistakes. Not only are you being asked to throw more, you're often being asked to make more risky throws, especially if you're playing from behind every game and can't settle for 3 and outs, field goals etc.

Alex Smith's QB ratings from games with over 30 attempts-

Bengals: 85.6(30 att)
Eagles: 112.1(33 att)
Lions: 60(32 att)
Giants: 85.7 (30 att)
Cardinals: 81.8 (38 att)

Under 30 attempts-
Seahawks: 90.4 (20 att)
Cowboys: 99.1 (24 att)
Bucs: 127.2 (19 att)
Browns: 98.8 (24 att)
Redskins: 109.7 (24 att)
Ravens: 61.1 (23 att)

Okay, Baugh - you're right, he's not very good. What should we do? Same question to all the other Smith detractors. What do you guys think the answer is?

1.) Nobody with any common sense is saying Smith isn't good this year/hasn't played well
2.) There's nothing to do or no other answer at this point...Alex is the QB and we're going to live and die with him in 2011
3.) If we wins it all, he deserves all the praise due him including an extension to stay here (IMO)
4.) Should he falter in the playoffs, he should be re-evaluated (is he the long-term answer or can another QB take us to the next level)

Fair enough?

Sounds like a whole lot of backpedalling...

Question for you and the rest of the detractors. Let's say we have a shot at Peyton Manning next season, would you sign him? Understand it will cost us $25 million per year, when we could get Alex for $8-$10 million. So that eats up $15 million that we could have used to sign Carlos Rogers, Dashon Goldson, etc. Do you think Manning is worth losing $15 million worth of other players?

(Mods I have a point here about Alex, bear with me)

Your responses are childish, and you don't seem to get nuance, but I'll answer you anyway. I would sign Peyton Manning in a hot second if we could, because with him as our QB and the defense we have, we would be the odds-on favorite to win it all. What you don't seem to understand is that you can manipulate the cap to spread Manning's cost in such a way that would allow you to sign him and other critical players. Not to even mention that we wouldn't even need a dominating defense if Manning was our QB (see the Colts for the last decade).

So to your question, yes (a healthy) Peyton is worth losing whatever cap space he would eat up. That's hardly debatable.

Childish? This coming from you = funny.

You thinking that we can sign Peyton Manning AND have the defense we have is naive and foolish. When you spend that much cap space on one player, the rest of the roster takes a huge hit (see 2011 Colts as an example).

My point wasn't to compare Smith and Manning, of course Manning is better. I'm simply trying to s**t the detractor's argument of "Alex sucks" to give me a solution. It's easy for the haters to pick at this or that regarding Smith's game, but none of you ever offer a real life solution to your "problem."