mario8723
Footballguy
LINK
Developing QB Alex Smith paramount to 49ers' revival
By Glenn Dickey
July 15, 2006
Many 49ers fans gave up last year on rookie QB Alex Smith, who looked terrible for much of the season before showing flashes of competence in the last few games. Having witnessed the beginnings of many pro quarterbacks, I withheld my judgment — and I also took note of the fact that for much of the year, Smith played behind a porous offensive line and had inadequate receivers. That’s no recipe for success.
Norv Turner, now the 49ers offensive coordinator, saw the same things, and he’s bullish on Smith.
“People ask me all the time if I think Alex can be a decent quarterback,” Turner said when we talked before he took a brief vacation to his second home in Maine. “I think he can be much better than that. I think he can be very good.
“There’s no question about his physical skills. We’ve been working out since mid-March in informal drills, and he’s made all the throws — short, medium, long. There’s no doubt in my mind that he can throw the deep ball.
“People think all it takes is a strong arm, but you have to be accurate, too, and Alex is very accurate. There’s a reason he was taken No. 1.”
There was another reason Smith struggled last season: The 49ers’ offensive coordinator, Mike McCarthy, didn’t utilize Smith’s running skills. Smith played out of the shotgun at Utah, but the 49ers only occasionally used that formation or even let Smith roll out.
Turner won’t make that mistake. He plans to use Smith’s athleticism by moving him out of the pocket.
“We aren’t going to be a bootleg team,” he said, “but there will be times when we run a bootleg. Alex has the ability to move outside and throw well on the run.
“People forget, but that’s a lot like the way Joe Montana was used at the start of his career,” said Turner, who was an assistant with the Rams when Montana started his 49ers career.
Making use of Smith’s running ability sounds like a no-brainer, but McCarthy didn’t do it. Fortunately for the 49ers, the Packers hired McCarthy as their head coach, a reward for running the NFL’s worst offense last season. Go figure.
McCarthy is not alone in mishandling quarterbacks, though. Given the importance of quarterbacks, I’ve always been amazed at how many top NFL executives can’t evaluate them, and how few coaches know how to handle them.
Montana, for example, was chosen on the next-to-last pick of the third round in the 1979 draft. Tom Brady, often compared to Montana, was taken in the sixth round. Meanwhile, there is a long list of busts among quarterbacks taken in the first round.
Al Davis is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but he’s really made only one successful choice of a quarterback, grabbing Jim Plunkett after he had been released by the 49ers. Plunkett ultimately won two Super Bowls for the Raiders, but the other top Oakland QBs were somebody else’s idea.
John Rauch and Scotty Stirling executed the trade for Daryle Lamonica. Ron Wolf (who later traded for Brett Favre in Green Bay) talked Davis into drafting Ken Stabler in the second round, but Davis’ first-round pick, QB Eldridge Dickey, was a bust. Davis later drafted Marc Wilson and Todd Marinovich and signed Jeff George as a free agent. Jon Gruden talked Davis into letting George go and signing Rich Gannon, but as soon as Gruden was gone, Davis reverted to his natural tendencies and signed Kerry Collins. He never learned that the most important attribute for a quarterback is not a strong arm but good decision-making.
Two years ago, when it was clear the 49ers would take a quarterback with the No. 1 pick, there was a question whether they would take Smith or Cal’s Aaron Rodgers. When they chose Smith, Rodgers fell to the Packers at No. 22.
This year, the debate was over Vince Young, a great athlete who played out of a spread offense at Texas, and Matt Leinart, a classic pro-type quarterback from USC. Tennessee took Young at No. 3, but nobody knows whether he’ll be a great quarterback or a player who has to be shifted to another position. Leinart, who would have been the No. 1 pick if he’d come out the year before, fell to No. 10.
It isn’t just evaluating quarterbacks but coaching them. Incredibly, some coaches don’t even understand the importance of footwork. Hall of Fame QB Steve Young used to say that he could tell what kind of game he’d had just by watching videos that showed him from the waist down.
Bill Walsh, of course, was a great coach of quarterbacks. He carefully orchestrated Montana’s career, and he made a quarterback out of Young, who was widely regarded as a great athlete who would never be a quarterback.
Mike Shanahan is another great QB coach. When he was the offensive coordinator for the 49ers in 1994, Young had his best season, culminating with a Super Bowl- record six TD passes. Now, Shanahan has resurrected the career of Jake Plummer, who was compared to Montana when he came into the league but had hardly played like him. In Seattle, Mike Holmgren identified Matt Hasselback as the QB he needed, and he brought Hasselback along nicely.
Charlie Weis was like that in New England, developing Brady, and it’s no coincidence that Brady Quinn developed at Notre Dame when Weis arrived. Of course, he got a little help from a fellow named Montana in spring practice.
There’s one common theme that runs through all this: The coach realized what special abilities his quarterback had which could help the team, and he developed them.
That’s what Turner is trying to do with Smith right now. His work with Smith is the single most important factor for the 49ers as they attempt to climb out of the bottom of the NFL.
Developing QB Alex Smith paramount to 49ers' revival
By Glenn Dickey
July 15, 2006
Many 49ers fans gave up last year on rookie QB Alex Smith, who looked terrible for much of the season before showing flashes of competence in the last few games. Having witnessed the beginnings of many pro quarterbacks, I withheld my judgment — and I also took note of the fact that for much of the year, Smith played behind a porous offensive line and had inadequate receivers. That’s no recipe for success.
Norv Turner, now the 49ers offensive coordinator, saw the same things, and he’s bullish on Smith.
“People ask me all the time if I think Alex can be a decent quarterback,” Turner said when we talked before he took a brief vacation to his second home in Maine. “I think he can be much better than that. I think he can be very good.
“There’s no question about his physical skills. We’ve been working out since mid-March in informal drills, and he’s made all the throws — short, medium, long. There’s no doubt in my mind that he can throw the deep ball.
“People think all it takes is a strong arm, but you have to be accurate, too, and Alex is very accurate. There’s a reason he was taken No. 1.”
There was another reason Smith struggled last season: The 49ers’ offensive coordinator, Mike McCarthy, didn’t utilize Smith’s running skills. Smith played out of the shotgun at Utah, but the 49ers only occasionally used that formation or even let Smith roll out.
Turner won’t make that mistake. He plans to use Smith’s athleticism by moving him out of the pocket.
“We aren’t going to be a bootleg team,” he said, “but there will be times when we run a bootleg. Alex has the ability to move outside and throw well on the run.
“People forget, but that’s a lot like the way Joe Montana was used at the start of his career,” said Turner, who was an assistant with the Rams when Montana started his 49ers career.
Making use of Smith’s running ability sounds like a no-brainer, but McCarthy didn’t do it. Fortunately for the 49ers, the Packers hired McCarthy as their head coach, a reward for running the NFL’s worst offense last season. Go figure.
McCarthy is not alone in mishandling quarterbacks, though. Given the importance of quarterbacks, I’ve always been amazed at how many top NFL executives can’t evaluate them, and how few coaches know how to handle them.
Montana, for example, was chosen on the next-to-last pick of the third round in the 1979 draft. Tom Brady, often compared to Montana, was taken in the sixth round. Meanwhile, there is a long list of busts among quarterbacks taken in the first round.
Al Davis is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but he’s really made only one successful choice of a quarterback, grabbing Jim Plunkett after he had been released by the 49ers. Plunkett ultimately won two Super Bowls for the Raiders, but the other top Oakland QBs were somebody else’s idea.
John Rauch and Scotty Stirling executed the trade for Daryle Lamonica. Ron Wolf (who later traded for Brett Favre in Green Bay) talked Davis into drafting Ken Stabler in the second round, but Davis’ first-round pick, QB Eldridge Dickey, was a bust. Davis later drafted Marc Wilson and Todd Marinovich and signed Jeff George as a free agent. Jon Gruden talked Davis into letting George go and signing Rich Gannon, but as soon as Gruden was gone, Davis reverted to his natural tendencies and signed Kerry Collins. He never learned that the most important attribute for a quarterback is not a strong arm but good decision-making.
Two years ago, when it was clear the 49ers would take a quarterback with the No. 1 pick, there was a question whether they would take Smith or Cal’s Aaron Rodgers. When they chose Smith, Rodgers fell to the Packers at No. 22.
This year, the debate was over Vince Young, a great athlete who played out of a spread offense at Texas, and Matt Leinart, a classic pro-type quarterback from USC. Tennessee took Young at No. 3, but nobody knows whether he’ll be a great quarterback or a player who has to be shifted to another position. Leinart, who would have been the No. 1 pick if he’d come out the year before, fell to No. 10.
It isn’t just evaluating quarterbacks but coaching them. Incredibly, some coaches don’t even understand the importance of footwork. Hall of Fame QB Steve Young used to say that he could tell what kind of game he’d had just by watching videos that showed him from the waist down.
Bill Walsh, of course, was a great coach of quarterbacks. He carefully orchestrated Montana’s career, and he made a quarterback out of Young, who was widely regarded as a great athlete who would never be a quarterback.
Mike Shanahan is another great QB coach. When he was the offensive coordinator for the 49ers in 1994, Young had his best season, culminating with a Super Bowl- record six TD passes. Now, Shanahan has resurrected the career of Jake Plummer, who was compared to Montana when he came into the league but had hardly played like him. In Seattle, Mike Holmgren identified Matt Hasselback as the QB he needed, and he brought Hasselback along nicely.
Charlie Weis was like that in New England, developing Brady, and it’s no coincidence that Brady Quinn developed at Notre Dame when Weis arrived. Of course, he got a little help from a fellow named Montana in spring practice.
There’s one common theme that runs through all this: The coach realized what special abilities his quarterback had which could help the team, and he developed them.
That’s what Turner is trying to do with Smith right now. His work with Smith is the single most important factor for the 49ers as they attempt to climb out of the bottom of the NFL.
