After having a 30 minute conversation about this I told the person I talked to I'd dive into this soon. Now before we get started people need to know this. I'm not a Alex Smith hater, I'm a realist. I know his circumstances weren't the best until now and I know the Niners didn't have leadership until now as well. Nevertheless I do believe Smith holds back a team built to win it all now. And I'll tell you why in the blog. Let's go.
Smiths coming off his best season as a professional. He led his team to the NFC Championship game and that's saying a lot. He beat Drew Brees in a shootout the week before. And he showed he can play the position quite efficiently this season. The question is, is it worth it to bring him back with him being a free agent. I believe the answer is no. While he did move the ball more this year more than ever and it might have seemed like he threw a lot. These my friends are illusions. He completed 273 passes at 61%. Not bad unless you look to see where he ranks with the other starters in the league. His 445 attempts were the lowest number among players with 16 games played this year. And there are 5 players with less that 16 games played with more completions than him. To put this in more contrast Matt Schaub played 10 games and completed 178 passes this season. Some would say that the Niner defense was so good they didn't have to pass the ball a lot. True. But it does help you score and that wins you games.
It was also said during the season that there playbook wasn't really opened up because of the shortened off season. And that could be true. But I believe that new coach Jim Harbaugh wasn't going to start this season with a rookie and really there weren't many options last off season without bringing Smith back. To begin the preseason he actually let Smith and rookie QB Colin Kaepernick battle for the starting spot. That's maybe a way to motivate Smith or just not trusting him fully.
He did put together a great QB Rating this year as well. He didn't turn the ball over but he did take 44 sacks. This is a crazy amount from a team that ran the ball 498 times this season. The sacks hurt more when your QB isn't able to move the ball consistently. With 44 sacks he was sacked 10% of the time he dropped back. Unlike most I don't blame it on the O-line. Smith just looks uncomfortable in the pocket at times. And it gets worst the more he's hit. Not to mention its hard for me to believe a line that gives holes for Frank Gore to the tune of 4.3 yards per carry aren't pass blocking.
At times when Joe Flacco was a rookie and even on into his career early the Ravens seemed to coddle him. Not let him throw in the red zone or out the other end zone when backed up. And arguably he was a young QB then. Since things have changed though. Jim Harbaugh did the same thing with Smith it seems to me. Perfect example, in the New Orleans game on a third and less than 10 rather than let Smith run a bootleg instead of making a pass that seems simple to a veteran. On a bootleg there's less chance he'll turn of over because he's running down the sideline.
During the conversation last night we also talked about projected stats. If you were to double his numbers because of more plays being called for him. Like if they passed more. I agree that his stats might look much better. But take into account the number of sacks that were already there. 44 now lets double that as well because as good as Smith was be didn't show the pocket presence to avoid them this season. 88 sounds bad. And it is bad. Really bad.
Has Smith had a slew of coordinators in SF over the years? Yes. Has he had to battle through an unstable coaching situation? Yes. But are these good enough reasons to keep Smith and take yet another chance on him? No.
No comments:
Post a Comment