Smith...Who Would You Have Picked? - Reaction

The interesting thing about opinions is that everyone has one, however, the unfortunate thing is, not everyone should. In reaction to my post of Thursday, November 8, 2007
Smith, Rodgers, Campbell or (Insert Name Here)... Who Would You Have Picked? , an anonymous reader left the following comment. Normally, I wouldn't react to a single comment, however, the content of this "rant", while so elequantly worded, is absolutely misguided in its direction and reasoning.

Anonymous said...

I'm hoping that whoever wrote or contributed to this post is not involved, professionally, in an occupation or role which depends on the ability to analyze and review data or events with a deep and honest enough perspective on the matter at hand. Your denigration of Alex Smith was done with a sheen of objectivity, but as with most sports fans, you failed to give the proper weight to those factors which control the young man's development as an NFL QB. If my tutoring was subject to so many poor decisions and inexperienced coaching (from Mr. Nolan and Mr. Hostler) and terrible execution from my offensive teammates, I'm sure any type of rating on my performance would be dismal.Why do so many armchair 'players' offer hit-and-largely-miss comments on their teams and players? When was the last time a modern day QB or skilled position player free-lanced his way to fame? When you ignore or dismiss coaching, teamwork and motivations, you might as well move away from the keyboard, because your not adding much to the discussion. Pray that Mr. Smith and other talented men on this team find their best roles, even if their skills and talents take them prematurely off-field, and stop wasting time and energy playing a childish game of what if with the 2005 Draft.

-- To whomever wrote this crap...

Number 1. To put all the blame for the progress or lack of progress made by "Mr. Smith" to this point on the coaching staff and absolve him of any share of the disappointment, tells me that you are blind with optimism and failing to be properly critical of the aspects of the game that Smith has control of and the intangible qualities that he continues to lack after 30 plus NFL starts.

Number 2. Being chosen with the first overall pick in a NFL draft does in fact mean, that the team selecting that player considers him to be the best college player, and in particular, quarterback available throughout college football for that year. It is the same position that quarterbacks such as Peyton Manning, Carson Palmer, Troy Aikman and John Elway were selected in. ALL OF THESE QUARTERBACKS WERE PICKED BY THE TEAM WITH THE FIRST PICK MEANING THEY WENT TO THE WORST TEAM IN THE LEAGUE. Of course not in the first year, but at least by their third season, all of these QBs had taken their team on their back and "free-lanced", as you put it, leading their team to at least a victory or two by themselves with little help. That's what you do when you are a first overall pick, worth all that money, with all the "supposed" athletic ability. You make chicken salad out of chicken sh*t and lead your team regardless of what you have to work with. You don't overthrow open receivers, constantly misread coverages, and fumble every time you get sacked. No one is saying he has to be Brett Farve, the riverboat gambler throwing caution to the wind every game and leading his team against all odds every game without help, but to do it once, for a quarter or even a drive, might be nice!

Number 3. Your point of putting all the blame on "inexperienced coaching and poor decisions" is a moot one as well. Either Smith is not good enough and not executing the game plan as called (true because he doesn't make the plays when he DOES have time), or the ultra conservative play calling and coaching is done so, because as I have said before, Nolan is trying to hide him in this offense with smoke and mirrors and limit his throws because he doesn't trust or have faith in Smith to get it done with his arm and already realizes what we are debating here - Nolan probably is thinking that Alex Smith is not good enough for the NFL, but "I picked him so I better play him or look stupid."So , take your pick. From what we have seen, can you blame him?

Number 4. My "childish" game of playing what if with the '05 draft is completely valid. First of all, I'm not saying "what if", I'm saying.."here's who they took...here's who they could have taken". After 3 years with this team, and his job being on shaky footing, it is completely valid to review all of Mike Nolan's moves as head coach, including his initial draft pick. If it was a mistake, AND SO FAR IT LOOKS LIKE IT IS!, it was a 24 million dollar mistake. Ownership will be looking at that as part of their review on whether to keep Nolan, even if you aren't, and when you pick a "face of the franchise" player with a first overall selection, there is an expectation level attached to all that money. There has to be. This wasn't a free agent they took a flyer on or even a mid-to-late rounder. They deemed him to be not only the best college quarterback, but the best college player available. They panicked when Leinart went back to college. I'm sure they had him teed up to be picked from Thanksgiving on ,the year before. When he didn't come out, they felt they had few options and were tunnel visioned on taking a quarterback then, when all areas needed help. Well, all I'm saying with this, is that here's a laundry list, including another quarterback , of players they could have, and should have taken and didn't. I can understand the gamble associated with the draft and that you "never know", but with the first pick, you better have a dam good idea, and it has never appeared that they did that Smith really should have been "their guy". Otherwise, how do you explain taking a shotgun spread-offense quarterback and putting him into their run oriented- under center, dropback offense. Smith did not run a pro-style offense at Utah and was a mismatch for what Nolan's plans were. Also, where is all this athletic and scrambling ability we heard so much about? Scrambling doesn't mean avoiding a pass-rusher to head for the sidelines everytime only to feebly toss the ball down the sideline behind the benches.

In closing, I'm just trying to tell it like it is. I hope, rather than wasting prayer, as you had suggested, that Smith develops into the quarterback that he is being paid to be and WAS EXPECTED to be. However, I am trying to be realistic. He has not shown anything yet of this potential that Nolan was touting when he was picked and they have invested three years into him. Its nice to be patient, but in the win-now NFL , results are all that matter. It's one thing to wait 5 years for a defensive tackle , a linebacker, or even a wide receiver prospect to develop fully but this is the starting quarterback. Smith doesn't even look like he has the abilities to be a NFL caliber backup QB. With the crop of college quarterbacks who will be available in April, the 49ers need to take a long look for the rest of this year at whether they are going forward with this guy. FYI: Fans and media alike are taking a critical look at Smith, so my views here are not unique by any stretch of the imagination. No one is asking for Smith to channel Joe Montana or Steve Young, but we haven't even seen Jeff Garcia or Tim Rattay out of this guy yet. How much longer are we supposed to wait?
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