Quote:
Originally Posted by jspchief
As are the fans. "we're winning, all is fine!"
I'm not going to dwell on it this week because I enjoyed the win too much.
But this offense is not going to be a sustainable path to playoff football. Smith is not making good presnap reads. He's also clearly afraid to place a throw to the outside receivers. He has to be able to test the edges and not just rely on guys being open out of cuts. Defenses have 8 quarters worth of reasons to stack the box and crowd the middle of the field. They will continue to blitz with impunity if Alex is incapable of burning them for it.
Smith is a better QB than Cassel by miles, but what our offense is doing is not going to be a sustainable recipe for winning.
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This is a brilliant post.
Remaining wary of the flaws in Alex Smith's game and the limited upside that results from those flaws is not bitching. It's just having eyes open.
I thought when they acquired Smith that he was a solid NFL starter in the 15-20 range, who could win a decent number of regular season games with a good defense and running game around him. That would need a GREAT defense and GREAT running game around him to win at a playoff level.
I have thought from the beginning that was not good enough for long-term plans, and that the price was too high. I continue to hope I'm wrong about that. I keep hoping we're going to see what Andy Reid saw that made Alex Smith his dreamboat QB. That Andy Reid can unlock that ability he sees.
Just haven't seen it. So far, Alex Smith has been exactly what detractors thought he was. It's an upgrade. It makes the team better. It puts it in position to win 8-10 games.
That's just not enough for me, long-term. It's fine as long as they're actively trying to replace Smith this offseason (unless he starts playing at a higher level than he has so far) and don't "sit" at the QB position with Smith, Daniel and Bray.