drummer
Footballguy
It wasn't that long ago when Smith started to look like he was regressing back into "WE WANT CARR!" mode. Fans were even booing him like they did that game. Those Boos IMO will be always in his head. There are times when he plays like they are, and there were a few games when the offense looked totally confused, even during the game where he was 19 of 20, where the offense went into some real bad 3rd down situations (one where they had a delay of game, I think a false start along with it, then a sack on a 5 step drop that was over as soon as the ball was snapped). His stat line is more smoke and mirrors than what the real passing game is. They are still near the bottom in passing yards, and still poor on 3rd down. Kaep can have games like that too. But he doesn't have the past baggage in his head like Smith has. What can make Smith's head worse is the expectation of the offense Kaep already has established. The bar has been raised in the offense Monday night. If Smith goes out and runs it as well or better than Kaep did then there is no discussion anymore of who should start the rest of the way. The 49ers have a loaded expensive team (they are fast reaching the ceiling of the Salary Cap, with little cash to spare) that has a lot of weapons at any QBs disposal. If Kaep can take command of that offense already and cause a small controversy, than that says more about Smith than anything I can post.He's going to wish that he had hid them, that's for sure. He was playing fine, so no one would have noticed if he hadn't volunteered the information himself.Look, I understand the reasons to stick with Smith. He's very safe and doesn't make many mistakes. He can be very accurate and at times even dynamic (see last year's divisional playoff against the Saints). But I also can't forget 1 pass for 3 yards to our wide receivers in last year's NFC Championship Game. People are acting like the Kapper is the only risk here. I would argue that there's a huge risk that Smith has another one of "those" games in the playoffs this year where he converts 1 third down all game and we lose because a ball bounces the wrong way. Sure, the Kapper is a risk too, but at least he comes with a ton of upside potential as well. And if we find ourselves down 14 in the NFC Championship Game this year to the Pack, from what little I've seen, I can already say I'd rather have Kaepernick back there to pull off the comeback.Well he certainly has motive to hide them now, doesn't he?So what is the story on Smith?While Kaep looked good, it is a very small sample size. Obviously a good QB of the future can start out with a good game, but so can some random mediocre to bad QB like Kolb, Leinart, and Henne. Not to mention that once there is more film on a young QB, sometimes they regress quite a bit (Newton, Freeman). I think Harbaugh said they will go with the hot hand to throw off NO's planning, since they need to spend a little time focusing on each QB. I feel like Smith will be allowed to start the rest of the year, with maybe a few more plays going to Kaepernick than there were before Smith got injured. Now Harbaugh will be blamed for every loss because he played the wrong player (kind of like fantasy football). Play Smith and lose? Half the fans would blame him for not playing Kaepernick. Play Kaepernick and lose? Still blame from half of the fans. Plus, with all the new emphasis on concussion safety, it sets poor precedent for someone to lose their job by obeying the new rules. Smith could have probably stayed in the game and played this week if he hid the symptoms.
Are the 9ers playing coy with the concussion results? It sounds like Smith was good to go until the last day vs the Bears.
Is the idea to keep the Saints guessing in prepping for two completely different QBs and they really are just going with Smith?
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000098571/article/jim-harbaugh-alex-smith-should-be-cleared-this-weekIt looks like he'll have two available quarterbacks for the game, as well. Harbaugh says he believes Alex Smith will be cleared for contact by the end of the week.