Andy Reid on Mike & Mike: "Alex is our quarterback by the way"

[pugsnotdrugs19]

Don't want to read too much into the conversation but just watched Andy on M&M this morning and he made it clear that Alex was the QB. Mentioned that he could still play, was at the Pro Bowl (), and can do all the things he wants his guy to do.

In essence, we can put any talk of Tony Romo, Nick Foles, or any other retread to bed. But, they did talk about college system QBs briefly (no one specific), and he said that as long as they feel like a guy can learn, it is their job to transition a college system QB and that it doesn't effect their decision on which type to take.

So, will we draft a QB? Idk, my bet is on yes since Foles is apparently gone.

[bricks]

Originally Posted by BossChief

That Pittsburgh game was the end of my backing of Alex Smith.

The whole offense is built on forcing teams to spend all of their resources on stopping the quick passes and making the sure tackle, so it opens up the deeper throws and the scheme had worked perfectly against Pittsburgh and Alex was scared to take the shots that the defense was literally giving him.

That gif of Hill running wide open was one of at least 2 times that happened in the game. Tomlin KNEW Smith wasn't going to take those shots, so he cheated corners and backers up all game long to blitz and keyed his defense on the short stuff.

Alex Smith simply refused to make that defense pay by being agressive and we lost the game because of it.

It's as simple as that.

That gif pisses me off every time I watch it because you can clearly see Alex never even looks at Hill. He simply doesn't trust himself to make the throw.

Watch his helmet...he immediately looks at Maclin and the. Scans to see the defender cheating and looking to break up the pass....never even looks at Hill.

For a QB to win a superbowl, he needs to ability to diagnose coverage. Smith should have seen presnap that it was zone and that he had to get the ball to either Maclin or Hill unless the safety cheated over...once the safer stayed put and the corner sat on Maclins route, he NEEDS to have the anticipation to just throw it up to Hill.

I'm surprised the other gif hasn't been posted, Hill was wide open like that twice. You could see it clear as day from the stands.

Excellent post bosschief

That's good thinking on your part by saying "diagnosing the coverage." I remember Manning being the master at exposing the holes in coverage. That's what separate a great QB from a decent to average QB. It's just exploring your receiving options and choosing what's best rather than doing what is designed in the play.

Not even just that, but having that knack and skill to spot open receivers quickly and getting rid of that ball quickly. Alex Smith doesn't have those attributes.

[stevieray]

Originally Posted by RunKC

It sucks that the defense has to be the 2000 Ravens and the offense can't make 1 mistake in order for us to even have a chance to win.
It would be nice to have a QB carry the team for once.

that's' over the top....and he did lead us back to wins.

[BossChief]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Smith's performance against Pittsburgh lost him Boss, Dane and Me, three of his more vocal supporters over the last 2-3 years.

And some folks are still confused as to why many of us are eager for a new direction.

This isn't the 'Smith-haters' fueling a mob, folks. These are some of the more level-headed posters when it comes to Alex Smith in the recent past that have given up on him.

That absolutely has to say something, doesn't it? To make a political analogy, the dude's lost the swing states.

Im on record before the trade for Alex as backing it (before the compensation had been released) and I was fine with moving a 3rd for him. My caveat was that I wanted the team to also draft a QB high in the draft to groom for 2 years to take over.

I don't have a problem with Smith. He's an above average QB that protects the ball fairly well...but this team will never win it all with him because of his physical and mental limitations that were on full display against Pittsburgh.

That defense set the stage for Alex to have a truly career defining game -one way or another- and Alex failed to take advantage of that opportunity.

There were 3 plays out there that should have been scoring plays that put us in the AFCCG...the reason they weren't was #11

[rico]

Originally Posted by RunKC

I remember seeing Alex make these throws a few years ago. The Donnie Avery playoff deep throw TD in Indy comes to mind.

At this point it's clear as day Alex has declined significantly from where he was even in 2015.
His running is no more, his arm strength won't get better, his accuracy won't get better and he's never been a type of leader that leads the entire team.

2015 was Alex's highest peak with this team and 2016 is the highest peak we'll see with him at QB.

The excuses are just that at this point: excuses. The OL is a top pass blocking unit, Kelce was the best TE in the league, Maclin looked like the old Maclin in the playoff game and Hill is a monster.

It sucks that the defense has to be the 2000 Ravens and the offense can't make 1 mistake in order for us to even have a chance to win.
It would be nice to have a QB carry the team for once.

This isn't directed really towards you, Run...just kind of directed towards the whole Alex-Avery-Indy-playoffs play.

I have gotten to the point where I despise that Donnie Avery/playoff/Indy pass. Yeah, it was fun when it happened. However, we have had Alex Smith for 4 full seasons now. And yet that one single pass is constantly referenced when the debate about whether or not Smith can successfully execute a deep pass play with any sort of accuracy...and it's used in defense of Alex... Example: "We know he's capable of making those plays...we all saw the Avery pass vs. Indy!!!"

Most QB's don't have 1 single deep pass play that sticks out above others...because they've successfully made so many of them...especially in a 4 year time frame. The deep pass plays (ones that are just as good or better than the Avery play) just gets lost in the shuffle with the other deep pass plays. Not for our Alex, though. For Alex it's: "There was this one time in the 2013 playoffs vs. Indy where Alex actually connected with a bomb!!! No seriously, no joke!!! We all saw it happen! It actually happened!!!!"

Ugh, **** Alex.

[BossChief]

To me, that was a career defining play that was a true microcosm of him as a player.

Stares at the hitch route and when it doesn't look to break wide open (the corner not following Hill prohibited that) he doesn't even look at Hill AT ALL and instead goes to the short stuff on the other side of the field.

Matt Ryan, Tom Brady, Ben Rothlisberger and Aaron Rodgers all routinely make that throw and force the opposing defense back the coverage off and force the safeties to cover deep and the ZlBers to cover the intermediate middle.

With Alex out there, defenses don't need to respect the deep zones and in turn are able to play downhill and agressive towards the short stuff.

It's a formula that won't change and will continue to prohibit the team from advancing.

Pittsburgh "took away what we do best" and dared Alex to beat us outside of his comfort zone and simply put...he couldn't.

Truth be told, Alex regressed BIGTIME this year as defenses did exactly that.

He was given opportunities all year to be agressive and take advantage of what defenses are giving him and he wasn't able to do so...he just went deeper into his shell of being overly conservative.

We lost to Tennessee and Tampa because of his picks in the EZ and games like Carolina, Atlanta and a couple others would have been clear losses (that he did little to help win) if it weren't for all world plays by all world defenders.

[ct]

nick foles is NOT a better qb than alex smith

does he have a stronger arm? you bet
is he more willing to sling it? you bet
will he throw 5x more INTs and kill your team? you bet

not saying we can win a sb with alex, i dont think we can. but foles is not better.

jmo

I wanted to add, post-post, that i am totally on board with dumping, trading, or whatever alex smith right now, pick up foles option, and draft a QB right now in 2017 and let's regroup. but i still dont' think foles is better.

[Ebolapox]

Originally Posted by jettio

...
A lot of Alex Smith critics are guys that were never even close to being a good football player themselves. ...

what in the blue haze of ****nuttery does this have to do with ANYTHING?!?

[TigeRRUppeRRcut]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Smith's performance against Pittsburgh lost him Boss, Dane and Me, three of his more vocal supporters over the last 2-3 years.

And some folks are still confused as to why many of us are eager for a new direction.

This isn't the 'Smith-haters' fueling a mob, folks. These are some of the more level-headed posters when it comes to Alex Smith in the recent past that have given up on him.

That absolutely has to say something, doesn't it? To make a political analogy, the dude's lost the swing states.

So you let a couple of gifs swing your opinion and bought into the comparisons with him to Brady/Rodgers....

Yea. Very level headed

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by ct

nick foles is NOT a better qb than alex smith

does he have a stronger arm? you bet
is he more willing to sling it? you bet
will he throw 5x more INTs and kill your team? you bet

not saying we can win a sb with alex, i dont think we can. but foles is not better.

jmo

I wanted to add, post-post, that i am totally on board with dumping, trading, or whatever alex smith right now, pick up foles option, and draft a QB right now in 2017 and let's regroup. but i still dont' think foles is better.

Even if I give Foles zero credit for his 2013 season where he had an amazing INT rate, his int% for his career is 2.6%. And even if I ignore Smith's garbage performance early in his career, his int% in KC is 1.5%.

Now Reid's offense is a little erratic in the number of throws they attempt, but I think 500 passes in a season is a fair baseline. He's been under that twice, over it twice and in the process averaged right at 500 passes/season in KC.

Over 500 passes, giving the most credit possible to Smith and the least credit possible to Foles, you yield 13 interceptions for Foles and 8 for Smith.

So not 5 TIMES the interceptions Smith throws, 5 MORE interceptions than Smith throws.

And Smith murdered more than 5 drives with his bare hands by simply being unwilling to make a throw last year. He killed 3 in the goddamn playoff game alone.

I'm sorry, but that argument doesn't wash at all. It fails under even the slightest bit of scrutiny.

[ptlyon]

Originally Posted by TigerUppercut

So you let a couple of gifs swing your opinion and bought into the comparisons with him to Brady/Rodgers....

Yea. Very level headed

Those gifs are facts, not fiction.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by TigerUppercut

So you let a couple of gifs swing your opinion and bought into the comparisons with him to Brady/Rodgers....

Yea. Very level headed

I'm a season ticket holder, dickweed. I've watched every game the guy's ever played for this team. I've not missed a game since the season before we traded for Cassel.

Gifs didn't change my mind, having a close up view of a game that Smith wrung the life out of did.

[BossChief]

It has nothing to do with Gifs...it has to do with tons of fans in the stands (myself included) pointing things out presnap that Alex can't see.

For a "cerebral QB" that's inexcusable when it costs us huge games that should have been wins, but we lost instead.

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Over 500 passes, giving the most credit possible to Smith and the least credit possible to Foles, you yield 13 interceptions for Foles and 8 for Smith.

Most NFL fan bases wouldn't bat an eye at a starting QB throwing 13 INTs.

Only in Kansas City, where the fan base has been suckered by 2010 Matt Cassel (only 7 INT! He rules!) and Alex Smith into believing that if you throw more than 10 INT in a season you are horrible, is that considered unacceptable.

Trent Green averaged 13 INT during his four best seasons and no one gave a shit.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Spider2YBanana

Most NFL fan bases wouldn't bat an eye at a starting QB throwing 13 INTs.

Only in Kansas City, where the fan base has been suckered by 2010 Matt Cassel (only 7 INT! He rules!) and Alex Smith into believing that if you throw more than 10 INT in a season you are horrible, is that considered unacceptable.

Trent Green averaged 13 INT during his four best seasons and no one gave a shit.

I've kinda been of the mind that 15 picks is a red flag. Stay under it and you're probably doing okay. Get over it and you're hurting your team too often.

13 isn't good but it's not enough stand-alone to say that a QB is unequivocally bad. There are a ton of ways that Foles could make up for that int rate.

And for what it's worth, Smith's int% was 10th in the league. It's not like he was even superb in protecting the football. He was good, yes, but merely good. He wasn't excellent at it and he was poor in most other areas.

The guy just didn't do anything to establish that he should be the unquestioned QB of a championship caliber roster as he enters his decline years.

[stumppy]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I'm a season ticket holder, dickweed. I've watched every game the guy's ever played for this team. I've not missed a game since the season before we traded for Cassel.

Gifs didn't change my mind, having a close up view of a game that Smith wrung the life out of did.

Careful, I'm sure you still fall under his definition of a fair weather fan.