MELLINGER: Should The Chiefs Move On From Smith?

[OnTheWarpath15]

Yep, another Alex Smith thread - but a solid and fair read from Sam Mellinger.

The only way forward is through brutal honesty and realistic self-evaluation. No sport moves as quickly, or with such little empathy, as the NFL.

Only fools assume what happened in the past will continue to happen in the future, unless that assumption is “the Patriots will win every year from now until armageddon because Bill Belichick is an alien.”

And so it is that this particular group of Chiefs players and executives attempt to solve a puzzle that no group of Chiefs players and executives has solved since 1970, which is so long ago CBS erased the tape to save money:

Get to the Super Bowl.

And it’s hard to believe that will happen without addressing the quarterback situation.

This is not a call for the Chiefs to walk away from Alex Smith, even though this is the first offseason since his arrival in which they could do it without a fatal salary cap hit. This is a call for them to look, to try, to make sure they don’t have access to a better option — whether that’s Tony Romo in a trade, Deshaun Watson in the draft (which would almost certainly require a trade up), or anything else.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt...#storylink=cpy

[Snica]

In an era where later-round QBs like Tom Brady, Russell Wilson and Dak Prescott are quarterbacking their teams deep into the playoffs

Ummmm

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by arrwheader

Why the NFL kind of sucks and also why we are not a powerhouse because we don't have one of these.

A total of 4 different Quarterbacks.


Almost nobody has one of those.

Brady
Manning
Rapeface











Flacco

[RunKC]

It doesn't help that NE has HFA every year bc of that garbage divison. It makes it damn near impossible to beat them.

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by RunKC

It doesn't help that NE has HFA every year bc of that garbage divison. It makes it damn near impossible to beat them.

Well, AFCW > AFCE over the last 15 years, on average, certainly, but this year at least AFCE > both AFCN and AFCS

Pats 14-2
Dolphins 10-6
Bills 7-9
Jets 5-11

Steelers 11-5
Ravens 8-8
Bengals 6-9
Browns 1-15

Texans 9-7
Titans 9-7
Colts 8-8
Jags 3-13


I would say AFC East over AFC South most of the last 15 years also, where the South was usually the Colts and 3 teams of ultra-suck.

[Snica]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

Well, AFCW > AFCE over the last 15 years, on average, certainly, but this year at least AFCE > both AFCN and AFCS

Pats 14-2
Dolphins 10-6
Bills 7-9
Jets 5-11

Steelers 11-5
Ravens 8-8
Bengals 6-9
Browns 1-15

Texans 9-7
Titans 9-7
Colts 8-8
Jags 3-13


I would say AFC East over AFC South most of the last 15 years also, where the South was usually the Colts and 3 teams of ultra-suck.

The difference being there are generally always two teams competing for the division in the North and South but only one in the East.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by dls6501

Do you have proof of this? Because the way it looked on the TV broadcast, Maclin had his guy beat by multiple steps and Alex threw it in a place that couldnt be intercepted. If he led Maclin, its an EASY touchdown.

Let me go get the playbook that Andy gave me....

....shit, guess I can't find it.

What I can say is that yes, I did play WR in high school and to this day can still tell you my route tree. And yes, I know quite a bit about the game and am absolutely certain that EVERYBODY is taught to look to their outside shoulder on a flag route (again, unless it's a designed back shoulder throw and nothing Maclin did in running his route suggests that it was).

Again, just think of the physical machinations involved in looking over your inside shoulder on that route. Your feet follow your shoulders and your shoulders follow your head - it's virtually impossible to stay on the correct track for a flag route if you turn your head inside; you'll flatten out that route every time.

So sadly, as I seem to have misplaced my 2017 Chiefs playbook, the best I can give you is a circumstantial case. 1) That was a flag route with a DB that had inside position on the WR. 2) WRs are taught to look to their outside shoulder on flag routes due to basic body mechanics and the fact that the route is usually set up to draw the WR to the inside and thus give the QB the boundary to throw at (and the WR can shield the DB away from the ball). 3) The throw was perfectly placed at the flag. 4) Maclin did nothing as he attempted to find the ball that suggested that he was supposed to do anything other than run under it and bring it in over a shoulder (virtually impossible and 100x more difficult to do from the inside shoulder). 5) Maclin has made several odd mistakes in routes this year and has recently admitted that he simply hasn't been right this year mentally or physically.

Absolutely every bit of circumstantial evidence and basic reasoning suggests that the throw was designed to go to the outside shoulder. It's a basic staple play. I've actually presented a case for it and the best anyone has said in response is....well nothing really. You're asking me to just assume that the guy that's had a pretty poor year made the right play when in fact every readily available piece of evidence suggests the opposite.

If you think Smith screwed up, by all means, give me something other than "well Maclin was open" as your argument. Because Smith threw the ball exactly where an open Maclin would've caught it and strolled into the end-zone had he simply looked over the other shoulder. Smith led Maclin, Maclin just didn't locate the ball.

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by Snica

The difference being there are generally always two teams competing for the division in the North and South but only one in the East.

Sort of bootstrapping the argument, right? Because the Patriots dominate the division, the division sucks because nobody else competes for first place?

Even though the division as a whole had a better record than both the AFC North and the AFC South?

Yeah, that makes no sense.

The South wasn't any better during the Manning years, really.

And the Patriots have about the same W-L record inside the division as outside the division, so there's that too.

[Amnorix]

I do agree that the Chiefs/Broncos/Raiders/Chargers are at a disadvantage being in the AFC West, compared to the other divisions in the AFC. None of those has ever been a Browns powderpuff for 15 years, and usually at least 3 of those are very legit.

[Snica]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

Sort of bootstrapping the argument, right? Because the Patriots dominate the division, the division sucks because nobody else competes for first place?

Even though the division as a whole had a better record than both the AFC North and the AFC South?

Yeah, that makes no sense.

The South wasn't any better during the Manning years, really.

And the Patriots have about the same W-L record inside the division as outside the division, so there's that too.

No, just pointing out that the division hasn't really been up for grabs.

[KChiefs1]

Originally Posted by New World Order

Smith was absolute shit for 3 quarters after that first drive.

I'm still amazed how methodical & surgical that first drive was & how pathetic each preceding drive was after that.



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[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by Snica

No, just pointing out that the division hasn't really been up for grabs.

Yeah, can't argue with that. Pats tied the 49ers for a record, whatever, 14th division title in 16 years or something like that. Next year will (barring injuries) no doubt be 15 out of 17.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by KChiefs1

I'm still amazed how methodical & surgical that first drive was & how pathetic each preceding drive was after that.

Makes you wonder what might have happened had we got a stop at some point.

Or had the special teams unit come to play.

It's why I'm not going to blame Smith outright for that loss - everybody sucked. But one the drive where the Chiefs got favorable field position, they looked completely different than the subsequent 7ish drives where they were playing from deep in their own end.

Get a stop, force a punt, take over at the 40 and maybe we'd have seen a little more progress. Or have a single halfway decent return all night and maybe it gets things moving.

Just another failure in a game where pretty much nothing worked worth a damn.

[Mr. Laz]

If Andy had any intention of moving on from Alex Smith he would have had Dorsey be more aggressive about acquiring QB talent. They have acted like they already have their franchise QB by drafting 5th round and later with very little urgency in the developmental process. They didn't push the development much in the preseason and they added veteran QBs for depth instead of pushing the young guys. They cut all the young guys except Bray relatively quickly. So either Reid/Dorsey suck at drafting QB or they didn't think we really needed to develop one.

Dorsey seems like he has a good eye for talent at every other position.

I still think that Reid is the guy who makes all the QB decisions, except for the contract negotiations.

We have nobody to move on to, don't think the Chiefs even think they need to move on.

That leads me to believe that Alex Smith is doing pretty much everything that Andy wants him to do.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Mr. Laz

That leads me to believe that Alex Smith is doing pretty much everything that Andy wants him to do.

Spoiler!

God I hope not...

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Spoiler!

God I hope not...

I certainly didn't mean to imply that Alex Smith was playing great.

I just meant that if Alex Smith was considered a problem by Andy Reid we would have done more to find a replacement over the last 5 years. We passed on several possibilities in the draft and we continued to bring in a veteran backup instead of pushing the rookies we did acquire.