You can not put the elite QBs is the same boat with mediocre QBs, and you can not even match up Wilson and Flacco with the Brad Johnsons and Trent Dilfers of the world.

I personally think that we might have seen the beginning of the evolution of Smith into more than he has been, but to win SBs with the Dilfers and Johnsons of the world, you have to near historic defense.

With the continued emphasis of creating and enforcing rules to give offenses every possible advantage, winning in that manner is going to be more and more problematic.

This is made pretty obvious (reid's love of throwing deep) based on the types of WR's he uses.

Most coaches who run that walsh style short passing offense use bigger possession type WR's. Andy favors smaller shifty WR's.. which is why we nabbed Avery and traded Baldwin straight up for AJ Jenkins.

Reid expressed in training camp last year that Smith didn't take enough chances in practice. Take all the chances you can in practice, so you can find out what you can get away with by game-time. Alex has been coached by so many of the 'never make a mistake!Just take a sack! Dont' **** it up!" (nolan, Singletary) Type of defensive coaches that it's ingrained in him. I think coaches like that ruin a lot of QB's.

I have my doubts that Andy can break him of it entirely, but Alex did open it up later on and I've always said that Alex has the ABILITY to be really good. He just hasn't had the mentality. I don't think Andy will want to keep him around if he can't break him of his timidity.

Yeah, you and I have been on much the same page on this since the trade was consumated.

Honestly Alex showed more progress in this area last season (being more aggressive and more decisive) than I expected him to show at any point in his career.

I'm far from sold on him long term or anything, but it does make the upcoming season more intriguing.

if you can't appreciate what Alex has done for this team by now you're an idiot.

why are we still posting these threads?

I was quite underwhelmed with Alex the first 10 games or so.

When our defense started to suck asshole, I started becoming quite impressed with Alex the last 7 games.

The best compliment I have for Alex is it seems to me the only thing he really cares about is getting that W. The first 9 games, the only thing we didn't need Alex to do was turn the ball over. Our defense was that dominant. He did that. He overdid that.

When the defense started to suck and we needed our offense to start winning games...Alex did a pretty good job of that, too.

I'm optimistic for Smith this year. I think he's about the 13th best QB in the NFL...and that's a good thing. I wish we had an elite QB, but clearly those don't grow on trees.

Alex will have to be first half playoff game right out the gate Alex for this to have any chance this year. The shitty rule changes plus our shitty corners equal needing over 30 points scored to have a chance to win the games we have this season.

No, I think defensive success comes down to one major thing, regardless of rules changes.

Tackling.

The Seahawks didn't win the SB because of outstanding coverage in the secondary.

They won because of outstanding tackling in the secondary after the catch.

Wait so no other QB's had anything but perfect teams around em?

Every team has negatives and positives. The dude played the way he played. Dont try to gussy it up. He wasnt even that bad so why are you jumping right into the excuse bin?

Utah.

Near historic is not what the Bucs defense was nor the Ravens with Flacco. Defense still wins the big games that's why Denver got the FA's they got and so did the Pats. Their elite QB's are not enough. If our defense did not collapse it's not a stretch that we would have hosted the AFC title game after being a div Champ with a bye week.

I really dislike it when people lump all non-aggressive QBs in the same category.

Eli, Flacco and Wilson win a lot of games because they are very efficient. They make big plays when they need to and they can keep drives moving. That's very different from a QB like Alex Smith was early in the year and especially different from a QB like Matt Cassel who are conservative because they don't want to take chances. For as dominant as our defense was, there was no excuse for us to be barely winning time of possession last year.

The Ravens won the Super Bowl in spite of Dilfer. Their defense was that good. Eli, Flacco, and Wilson, on the other hand, really complemented their defenses nicely.

Whats he done? Won a few games as the leader of the team? Should we bow down and kiss his ass now like hes Lenny Dawn or Tom Brady?


**** no. He is what he is. A QB half as good as the really good ones. Who has had maybe 15 good games in a 100+ game career (a lot of which he has been benched or injured )

Why the **** do people always have to just settle for whatever QB the Chiefs trot out, and they expect any dissenting opinions to STFU?

WHY IS WANTING MORE IN THE MOST IMPORTANT PLAYER ON THE TEAM BAD?

The Bucs defense was outstanding, among the best in the last 20 years.

I also said that you can not put Flacco in the same category as the likes of Dilfer and Johnson.

He isn't elite, but he makes big plays, especially in the playoffs.

I wouldn't really want him as my QB, because he lacks consistency, but if I had to win a playoff game, he's a guy that can get it done.

I don't think there is a single person in this thread who thinks Alex Smith is Tom Brady. I've already said many times that I don't yet trust Smith to close games.
It is obvious to anyone who actually watched Chiefs games last year that December Alex Smith was a hell of a lot better than the Alex Smith we've seen throughout his career.

So yeah, in response to this article and to your commentary, it doesn't make sense to say Alex Smith will always be a conservative QB when we saw him progress into a more aggressive QB last year.