Alex Smith Total QBR for week 6: 10.3

I'll give Alex a bit of a pass this week because that's what this Lions D does. They make life hell for a QB. Not shocking at all that he had a bad game. Most QBs playing the Lions this year have had off weeks.

But in spite of the game opening fumble/TO, and the late game overthrow INT, he held it together and made the plays he need to make in order to win. Even with Ginn being unable to catch and Crabs unable to make that extra effort when needed. Not to mention VD being shut out of the game because he spent all his time blocking.


This is what you get with Smith. When situations are ideal, he can carve them up. When not, he will struggle. He isn't an elite, game changing QB. But the difference this year is that even when times are tough, he avoids or atones for mistakes and plays the part he needs to help us win. He is finally a part of the reason we win, not the reason we lose.

I don't care about his stats yesterday. He played a perfect "Alex Smith" game under the circumstances. Sure, he had mistakes. But he made the plays he needed to atone for them. And he avoided any further mistakes down the stretch when it would have been deadly.

Originally posted by unst4bl3:
I wonder how much work CK and TOLZ will get in the bye week. I see now that in a close game, (future close games) Alex might not be good enough to eek out the win.

3 road comeback wins makes you think that? that's weird, it makes me think the opposite.

Originally posted by HessianDud:
3 road comeback wins makes you think that? that's weird, it makes me think the opposite.

We still haven't played a good team IMO... If he does it to the packers, or ravens or something......

Originally posted by 76Razor:
haven't read through all the posts. but has anyone mentioned the one thing Alex did yesterday that does not show up on stats? KEEPING HIS TEAM POISED WHEN ON THE FIELD! Last year (and beyond), if we were to start off a game as bad as we did, this team would have been blown out. Alex kept his poise, got his team to calm down and settle in. He took what the defense gave him and correctly audible into plays that took advantage of the lion's d. No stat will ever show that, but if you watched the game, you can see that he had full command of that offense and the players in that huddle.

boom! headshot.

the QB position is about a lot more than numbers. Does Alex need to improve? Absolutely. But he's doing a lot of other things that a QB needs to do in order to help his team win, but they don't show those things on ESPN so a lot of fans don't know what to think about them.

Originally posted by unst4bl3:

Originally posted by HessianDud:
3 road comeback wins makes you think that? that's weird, it makes me think the opposite.

We still haven't played a good team IMO... If he does it to the packers, or ravens or something......

lolwut?

Originally posted by unst4bl3:

Originally posted by HessianDud:
3 road comeback wins makes you think that? that's weird, it makes me think the opposite.

We still haven't played a good team IMO... If he does it to the packers, or ravens or something......

No good teams? . Basically anyteam we beat isnt good then?

Originally posted by unst4bl3:

Originally posted by NinerBuff:
Like Lieut said, statistically, Alex didn't have a good game. But he made the play that won the game.

THAT'S ALL THAT MATTERS.

Not true, if our running game had been effectively shutdown, and the teams were trying to make smith win the game, this game showed he might not be able to put the team on his back.

RIght on Unst, these guys can't have it both ways. "Statistics dont matter," this week, but every other week it's, "look at his QB rating." To be fair, our WR core has been gutted. But, if it wasn't for our run game, we lose yesterday. I think Smiths biggest test will be against Bmore, because I doubt we can run the ball. Smith has been good up until yesterday, but he will have to be much better than that if we are going to make noise in the playoffs.

good game alex!!! Go Niners!

Originally posted by DRUSTOPO:
jakemall...yup, yards per is that 20th in the league ranking I posted He doesn't need to throw for 300 yards per game ( wouldnt that be nice though ), but its pretty evident that Alex is not a threat to throw downfield. Our offense would be so much more dynamic if he could just complete a big play or two down the field to keep the defense honest. Is is the lack of a deep threat? Is it Jim knowing his QB's limits? Is it both? Not sure, but Ive not seen any evidence that the reward of Alex chucking it down field outweighs the risk. Gotta give it to our coaching staff for knowing their players and designing their system to fit them instead of the opposite.

I think since Colin is such a project that Alex is not in any danger of losing his gig. I wonder though, if Carson Palmer was starting for the Bengals instead of holding out...and we got a more NFL ready Andy Dalton instead of Colin, who would be starting for this team.

If you had the choice of starting one QB this year...Alex or Dalton, who would you prefer???? The fact that it's even close is very telling.

Uh, it's NOT close. Smith all the way!

Originally posted by Oakland-Niner:

Originally posted by unst4bl3:

Originally posted by NinerBuff:
Like Lieut said, statistically, Alex didn't have a good game. But he made the play that won the game.

THAT'S ALL THAT MATTERS.

Not true, if our running game had been effectively shutdown, and the teams were trying to make smith win the game, this game showed he might not be able to put the team on his back.

RIght on Unst, these guys can't have it both ways. "Statistics dont matter," this week, but every other week it's, "look at his QB rating." To be fair, our WR core has been gutted. But, if it wasn't for our run game, we lose yesterday. I think Smiths biggest test will be against Bmore, because I doubt we can run the ball. Smith has been good up until yesterday, but he will have to be much better than that if we are going to make noise in the playoffs.

If it wasnt for pass game against the eagles, we lose that game too

Originally posted by unst4bl3:
Not true, if our running game had been effectively shutdown, and the teams were trying to make smith win the game, this game showed he might not be able to put the team on his back.

Yeah, if my Aunt had balls, she'd be my Uncle. The fact is the game was squarely on Smith's shoulder's and he CAME THROUGH. It can't get any more intense than 4th and goal with no time left. He made the play! Get used to it. It keeps happening.

Alex didn't have a very good game but he did come through in the clutch & we walked away with the win. 5-1
This game shows he CAN put us on his back & carry us when needed.

Originally posted by Archie:
Alex Smith did not play well most of the game plain and simple but he did play well on the final drive. Alex needs to be a better quarterback because that position with the rules the way they are now are what's keeping us from being an elite team. I knew the Patriots were going to drive 80 yards yesterday and beat Dallas because Brady is an elite quarterback. I was not sure Smith could drive 35 yards and get us the win but he did do that. When you throw for less 150 yards in today's Nfl you're sorry but give credit to the coaching staff for designing plays that don't depend on the quarterback to be consistently good. Alex Smith is a mediocre quarterback but the 49ers are very good on defense and the running game is very good so and the special teams give us good field position so Smith doesn't have to be good all game long just good in spurts.

Alex Smith is NOT a mediocre QB this year. His results have shown him to be a top 10 QB.

Matthew Stafford was a mediocre QB yesterday. He had numerous chances to connect on throws that would have won the game for his team...but he missed. Alex did not miss. That is the difference.

Originally posted by HessianDud:

Originally posted by 76Razor:
haven't read through all the posts. but has anyone mentioned the one thing Alex did yesterday that does not show up on stats? KEEPING HIS TEAM POISED WHEN ON THE FIELD! Last year (and beyond), if we were to start off a game as bad as we did, this team would have been blown out. Alex kept his poise, got his team to calm down and settle in. He took what the defense gave him and correctly audible into plays that took advantage of the lion's d. No stat will ever show that, but if you watched the game, you can see that he had full command of that offense and the players in that huddle.

boom! headshot.

the QB position is about a lot more than numbers. Does Alex need to improve? Absolutely. But he's doing a lot of other things that a QB needs to do in order to help his team win, but they don't show those things on ESPN so a lot of fans don't know what to think about them.

I'm going to eat crow again here. Plenty of it to go around today.

People -- I've been the biggest Alex critic in the house. You know me (well, you used to know me as billbird2111 before I made a stupid bet with Rubberneck). But I never thought Alex would be any good. I turned against him YEARS ago.

Alex had some "Alex moments" in yesterday's game. The sack and fumble? Lack of pocket awareness? High passes -- including one that got picked? The old Alex was on full display yesterday against the Lions.

Except for one eensy, teensy thing: Games like that, in the past, would have destroyed Alex Smith. It would have destroyed his confidence from the get-go. One mistake would multiply into a highlight reel of one blunder after another. You know this to be true. We've all seen it happen before. We've seen Alex play some horrific games.

Not anymore. Not this season. Something is different with the kid -- and I'm going to put this all on Harbaugh. Quite simply? It doesn't matter if he makes a mistake. The defense picks him up. If he throws a pass destined for pickoff -- the receiver breaks it up. We've seen this time and time again this season. And Alex Smith bounces right off the field and gets right back at that line of scrimmage and keeps chuckin.

I haven't seen this out of him before. Nobody has. One killer of a mistake isn't translating into a highlight reel of blunders. It's one mistake. That's all it is. It doesn't mean we're in for a horrific afternoon of Alex Smith football. Alex moves on. And that's the big change. He couldn't "move on" before. Now he is.

Dammit! Alex Smith is pretty darn good, ladies. It's about time we backed our man the way Harbaugh is. I'm man enough to stand up and say I was flat wrong about Alex Smith.

I hope others can do the same -- because this kid is going to lead us into the playoffs -- guaranteed.

And I thought I'd never see that day.

Alex did have a bad game. But the play calling in the second half was terrible. We were running all over them but for some reason at one point late in the 3rd or early in the 4th we passed like 10 out of 12 times. Don't know what that was about. Almost cost us the game.