At the end of last season I was pretty excited with how well Alex Smith had been playing and was interested in seeing if he could keep up the steady play this year. I was very disapointed that he did not. While I will admit Alex showed me a few bright spots here and there not enough for me to feel comfortable having him as the starter. I feel like with his rocky start to his career and under the strict coaching of Singletary he plays way to gun-shy. Which is kinda a bummer because hes a very smart guy and a good football player just seems to play scared. Scared of getting hit, scared of making a mistake, and just scared to lose the game for the team. I do like that he tries his best to keep from turning the ball over and managing the game well but playing scared is not gonna get it done in the NFL. Way to late on most of his reads and holds the ball too long at times forcing him to check the ball down has earned him the nickname Captain Check Down in my book hahaha.
Alex played.... ok at best. Didnt get a ton of help from his team early on though either with a lot of dropped balls and tipped passes ending in easy picks for the other team. While he did win one game for us against the Raiders the season didnt truely turn around until Alex went down with a separated left shoulder against the Carolina Panthers. After a piss poor pathetic performance by David Carr to finish out that game Mike Singletary decided to go with the unproven Troy Smith the next week. Troy exploded out of the gates against the Denver Broncos going 12 of 19 for 196 yards and a TD and leading the team to their second win. Then followed it up with an even more impressive win over our division rival St. Louis Rams where Troy went 17 of 28 for 365 yards and a TD. Back to back weeks boasting a QB rating of over 100. Something a Niner QB hasnt done for a while. Slight mistep against the solid and underrated D of the Tampa Bay Bucs where he looked very lost and confused in the pocket and couldnt get anything going. But righted the ship nicely last night playin very solid and doing what he had to do as the running game pretty much took over and took the ball out of his hands most the night.
So do we have the right Smith playing now? If you ask me yes!! Not only did Troy match Alex in wins in his first start in three years but passed him the next week with another win. Troy has shown that hes a gutsy player willing to do whatever it takes to win the game at hand. I love the way he moves in the pocket and keeps his eyes down field looking to pass and not just running from the defensive players. Has resulted in a few sacks but I dont mind if he keeps his eyes down field unlike Alex who was sacked just as much but seemed more willing to just give up on a play and go down. Troy is very accurate on the move which is essential behind the young line of the Niners who arnt the best a pass blocking yet. Another thing I'm really enjoying is the leadership he brings by playing with out fear and showing his team that they can be an explosive offense. While its not always advised he does not shy away from throwing into double coverage or deep down the field in attempts to stretch the defense. So far he has been accurate and has worked out well. Alex thinks too much and talks himself out of the deep ball or is just to afraid of making a mistake to really even attempt a high difficulty pass.
All that is well and good and stats are fun but the only stat that truely matters are wins and losses. And as a starter Alex is 1-6 this season while Troy is 3-1. Thats all I really need to know for me to say keep Troy in there and lets see what he can do. If this is what hes doing after not playing in the NFL at all really just imagine whats to come... hopefully.
other stats for the stat heads lol
Season stats
Alex Smith- 143 of 242 for 1,554 yards. 9 TDs 9 Ints QB Rating- 75.0 after 7 starts
Troy Smith- 56 of 101 for 829 yards. 3 TDs 2 Ints QB Rating- 84.1 after only 4 starts
What yall think?
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