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

[Discuss Thrower]

Originally Posted by bsroyals54

So what was the turning point that made everyone hate Alex Smith, and why did it take so long? The Pittsburgh playoff loss? It took you guys that long? The Smithers I mean.

Which is pretty comical.

But give it time; when the KC Star starts rolling out the training camp puff pieces most of those who are supposedly off the Smith bandwagon now will be back on-board and saying the Chiefs are a legitimate Super Bowl contender.

[In58men]

Originally Posted by Discuss Thrower

Which is pretty comical.

But give it time; when the KC Star starts rolling out the training camp puff pieces most of those who are supposedly off the Smith bandwagon now will be back on-board and saying the Chiefs are a legitimate Super Bowl contender.

I can see Tiger posting tweets from Terez


"Doubt Smith all you want " look at this

@TerezPaylor: Smith connects with Hill for a 53 YD TD pass, Smith drops it between two defenders. #money

[Discuss Thrower]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

This is a conversation you have to have with Discuss about once a month - bad arguments do a disservice to your good ones. There are good arguments against retaining Alex Smith but trying to point to that second clip as evidence that Smith is some cowardly jackass is just stupid. There are more reasons not to make that throw than there are reasons to make it.

Point is it's a yuge disservice to hand wave Smith missing plays because Rodgers or Romo or whomever make the same misses.

Just because I routinely two putt doesn't make me a good golfer by comparison to a near scratch guy because even those guys two putt sometimes.

No.

Rodgers misses wide the **** open guys, sure. Romo even more so. But they've also made plays that you can't expect an "average" QB to make.

Smith rarely makes plays with his arm that exceed what an average QB is capable of but brings in a lot more misses like the ones that have incensed the masses in the playoff game.

[DJ's left nut]

What does any of that have to do with either of those clips? The second shouldn't have been thrown by Smith, Rodgers, Brady or anyone else. The 'window', to whatever extent there may be one, will close the instant he so much as cocks his arm as he has at least 2 guys in short zones that can collapse into that space.

And the first one gif is cropped in a manner that sure as hell looks to be hiding something and openly acknowledges same when it admits there's a safety shading over.

Again - those are bad demonstrations of whatever point you may be trying to make.

[Discuss Thrower]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

What does any of that have to do with either of those clips? The second shouldn't have been thrown by Smith, Rodgers, Brady or anyone else. The 'window', to whatever extent there may be one, will close the instant he so much as cocks his arm as he has at least 2 guys in short zones that can collapse into that space.

And the first one gif is cropped in a manner that sure as hell looks to be hiding something and openly acknowledges same when it admits there's a safety shading over.

Again - those are bad demonstrations of whatever point you may be trying to make.

I'm talking in general and not to whatever GoChiefs recently posted.

It's not like it's been some recent revelation that Smith doesn't take shots downfield unless it's his first read or circumstances arose where a receiver was enormously wide open.

[Hootie]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

What does any of that have to do with either of those clips? The second shouldn't have been thrown by Smith, Rodgers, Brady or anyone else. The 'window', to whatever extent there may be one, will close the instant he so much as cocks his arm as he has at least 2 guys in short zones that can collapse into that space.

And the first one gif is cropped in a manner that sure as hell looks to be hiding something and openly acknowledges same when it admits there's a safety shading over.

Again - those are bad demonstrations of whatever point you may be trying to make.

Not only that, but it was said on the 1st one it was the deep pass to Kelce that hit Kelce between the 8 and 7 and he just dropped it - huge drop - and then a play later got a ridiculous penalty to totally kill our entire drive.

[Hootie]

...yeah, on second read, I don't even get it

Are they saying Maclin was more open? I mean, even if, he delivered the ball to Kelce and Kelce dropped it - game changing moment. That's on Smith for missing a different open guy because maybe Maclin doesn't drop it?

Just, what?

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Romosexual

...yeah, on second read, I don't even get it

Are they saying Maclin was more open? I mean, even if, he delivered the ball to Kelce and Kelce dropped it - game changing moment. That's on Smith for missing a different open guy because maybe Maclin doesn't drop it?

Just, what?

And now the next time Keysor is trying to make an 'evenhanded review' of Smith's game, stuff like this has to be in the back of your mind.

Because criticizing Smith for either of those plays is nothing more than ax grinding.

If your argument isn't helping your case, it's actively hurting it. Make it strong or don't make it at all.

[Discuss Thrower]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

And now the next time Keysor is trying to make an 'evenhanded review' of Smith's game, stuff like this has to be in the back of your mind.

Because criticizing Smith for either of those plays is nothing more than ax grinding.

If your argument isn't helping your case, it's actively hurting it. Make it strong or don't make it at all.

You can say the same for pointing out Kelce's drop in the Pittsburgh game -or any receiver dropping a singular pass- as having an ax to grind too. Notice that's always high on the list for the 9er apologists reasons: it's always the receiver's fault.

You can't say "Well, Rodgers misses open guys too" and then immediately blast a receiver for a specific dropped pass because of the double standard given no receiver is 100% perfect in 100% of games.

Now if Maclin or Kelce goes complete butterfingers in a game then absolutely they deserve specific blame.

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by Discuss Thrower

You can say the same for pointing out Kelce's drop in the Pittsburgh game -or any receiver dropping a singular pass- as having an ax to grind too. Notice that's always high on the list for the 9er apologists reasons: it's always the receiver's fault.

You can't say "Well, Rodgers misses open guys too" and then immediately blast a receiver for a specific dropped pass because of the double standard given no receiver is 100% perfect in 100% of games.

Now if Maclin or Kelce goes complete butterfingers in a game then absolutely they deserve specific blame.

There's a huge difference in dynamics between the two 'errors.' If a QB misses a 'more open' receiver he makes a mistake in evaluation of several variables.
If a WR misses a catchable ball, there's no calculus going on regarding whether or not he should catch it [as opposed to dropping it being the better play]. And there's no ambiguity with the ball delivered as to whether maybe the ball is going elsewhere.

[Dave Lane]

Originally Posted by Tuckdaddy

Keeping Smith is just plain old stupid. Another season with him is a total waste.

Says the man with Alex Smith Forever!! In red in his sig.

[Easy 6]

Originally Posted by vailpass

That's an off year for Smith. When he's focused he can go an entire season without throwing a TD to any of his WRs.

[dls6501]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

And now the next time Keysor is trying to make an 'evenhanded review' of Smith's game, stuff like this has to be in the back of your mind.

Because criticizing Smith for either of those plays is nothing more than ax grinding.

If your argument isn't helping your case, it's actively hurting it. Make it strong or don't make it at all.

Keysor isnt an anti-Smith guy though. Time and time again he has shown to be neutral on the subject.

[New World Order]

Originally Posted by vailpass

That's an off year for Smith. When he's focused he can go an entire season without throwing a TD to any of his WRs.

That's gold

[mcaj22]

I read that garbage article on AP of that Seth dude MNChiefswhatever big long defense of Maclin and trying to make Smith look bad with his terrible twitter video clips.

I'm not exactly a homer in support of Alex but that article was the biggest garbage joke of journalism I have ever seen, and it actually upsets me that I cheer for a team with fans like that allowed to write articles on a Chiefs blog sponsored by a big company. His argument couldn't have been more terrible and the clips he used showed his complete lack of actual football knowledge and displayed his entire slant and agenda for trying to blame the QB, which yes is sometimes the case, but not for the case he was trying to make.

I'm of the camp that the Alex Smith gets the blame for everything has shifted to a far extreme and he's the easy scapegoat for any little negative you want to pluck out of a 12-4 team with a home field playoff loss. I guess rightfully so, but it's still a weak argument now. For me to hop on the blame Alex bandwagon again he would have to fully regress in 2017 to point where the FO takes the blame for holding onto him too long and the fans look right. But the fans aren't always right and I don't think they will be right here, either.