Quote:
Originally Posted by Sandy Cheeks
Sorry to condense, but trying to cut to the heart of it.
See, this feels like hyperbole to me. I don't think "the team needs to play extremely well" for the desired results. They just need to not suck.
We can give the defense its pass... just on points allowed alone. We can disregard that they tore us up on the ground for 171 yds and a 5.7 avr. We can overlook the 191 yards from Brown and some TE named Jesse James. We can overlook the disparity of offensive plays 66-49, and overwhelming TOP of 34/25.
What did it come down to?
a 14 play, 75 yard TD drive... and a 2 point conversion that was successful... until it wasn't.
Am I saying Smith had a great game? absolutely not. But did the pass pro, run blocking, or ANY other aspect of the KC team play well? Nope. Add in the two (or five) critical dropped passes.
.. and they STILL were right there in the end.. on Smith's arm.. a tied game.. until it wasn't.
This whole mantra of "he needs everything around him to be perfect to win" is absurd exaggeration. He just needs others not to suck. Only few QBs in the league (if even them) can overcome a team that plays that poorly in so many facets.
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And yet we ran into the same problem in NE last year. And in Indy the playoffs prior.
And let me be clear - in neither of those losses am I blaming Smith, in fact Smith played his ass off in that Indy game. But there were plays to be made in both that could've advanced the Chiefs and Smith didn't make them. Nor do I think it's likely that he'll ever actually make them. You keep saying that the team around him has to just 'not suck' yet here we sit for a 3rd time in 3 playoff years with a team that lost because it sucked. I suspect it's because pretty much every playoff team has a bad game and for the championship teams, their QB can pull them from the fire. And like I said - I don't expect it every post-season game, but I think asking for a QB that can give you a mulligan, if only one, isn't asking too much.
In 3 games where he's been within a score of moving forward, he hasn't. And in the one game where he did, it was an unholy massacre. Smith had 3 opportunities to provide his teammates a mulligan and he managed zero. And I firmly believe that had he gotten either this year's squad or last year's into the AFC championship game, they'd have won it. But he just couldn't get them that second bite at an apple. In win or go home situations, you desperately need someone under center that can at least occasionally provide that and I don't think Smith is that guy.
It's the whole 'a brick is not a wall' concept - add enough bricks and it's a wall you end up with. Smith's now 0-3 in one-score playoff games in KC and that's extremely disconcerting. As is the fact that he's getting older and isn't advancing in terms of how he operates the offense. If anything, the version of the offense we ran this season was simpler than anything we ran in years past.
I don't need a reason to fire Smith - I need a reason to keep him (or at least not actively explore alternatives). That margin is never going to be terribly broad for a 'game manager' with no real post-season achievements on his resume as it is. I have enough bricks for my tastes and I think it's time that we find someone else.