Quote:
Originally Posted by Baby Lee
I get that you're scrutinizing Alex. My question is why is he the sole subject of criticism? Is everything else 'fine?' Is everything else 'going to improve' but him? Is QB play at this point the only thing anyone gives a shit about anymore? [again, I point out the pro bowl QB skills challenge, for those so inclined]
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He's the sole subject of criticism because he's the most important position and can never become more than he is, which is not good enough. The other 21 positions for any given football team are constantly in flux. Old guys decline, new guys come up, young guys impress, and superstars stay great for a few years.
So you have one mediocre known who plays the most important position on the field. And the other 21 spots that are going to be constantly shifting and changing. Some years will be better than others. Some years will be luckier than others.
But Alex for 4 years has not been playing with utter crap. The other 21 spots, even in injury-riddled years, have been overall AT LEAST fairly decent if you average everything out.
With Alex the game becomes all about making the other 21 spots outstanding so that you can take his dependable-yet-pedestrian play to the postseason and hopefully grind it out against the best teams, never able to deliver knockout punches and always hoping the other team makes enough mistakes for you to just barely play better than them.
That's why people were claiming Alex to be the #1 thing that had to be fixed/replaced for so long even though we were winning, and why they rejected the idea that we should use the 2017 draft to stock up on ILBs, CBs, and RBs. It's easier to be in a position to win those tough playoff games from year to year when you've got a better QB and the other 21 spots, while still pretty good, aren't as good as they are in any other given year. Maybe we run into some bad luck with injuries again. A better QB can still win those playoff games. Alex over 4 years has shown us that he can not.
So that's why he gets the blame so often, and that's why that gif gets reposted over and over again. I'm sorry it upsets you that we're always reaming Alex and not our 3rd string ILB who couldn't stop LeVeon Bell, but you need to realize that 3rd stringer is irrelevant and far easier to upgrade throughout the course of a season or from year to year. The 3rd stringer wasn't brought in to win the Pittsburgh game, and is not due to make $17 million next year. Alex is due that amount, and if he would play better, it wouldn't be as big of a deal that we had a 3rd string ILB on the field due because of injury.
That's why people don't give a shit about the running game or the defense. It's been dependable, even through injuries to all of its best players at some point (Houston, Berry, DJ, Hali, both DEs). It will continue to be dependable, because John Dorsey knows how to draft and dumpster dive as well as any GM in football. If we get lucky enough and all the clocks strike at the same time, when we field insane incredible defense and Alex is our QB, we can maybe reach the AFC Championship game. When we field an insane incredible defense and if Mahomes ends up being significantly better than Alex, we're winning a Super Bowl.