NFL 2013 Season Thread

[Tuberski]

There is suddenly plenty of room on the 49ers bandwagon.

Karma's a *****.

They done Alex wrong.

ACK!

[SlowwHand]

Yes, they sure did. Landry wouldn't replace someone permanently over an injury. SF is bush league.

[-Jrabbit]

That's just not how it went down. Smith's injury was a fortuitous excuse, not a cause. The Kaepernick change was going to happen regardless - just a question of when.

Not saying they didn't screw Alex Smith, but frankly, that happened on draft day 2011, not mid-season the following year. Kaepernick was the 46 overall pick. He was not drafted there with the thought of holding Alex's jock and clipboard.

Here's the NFL.com analysis of the pick immediately after that draft:

Pick Analysis: Jim Harbaugh takes a flyer on the athletic Kaepernick to be his quarterback of the future. He is an explosive dual threat and could be a dynamic player under Harbaugh's tutelage. While he will need time to transition to the pro game after excelling in a Pistol scheme, he might be a year or two away from being contributor as a starter. This likely means that Alex Smith is still a prominent part of the team's plans going forward.

People conveniently forget that SF gave Alex Smith a new contract ($16mm in guarantees) in March of 2012 - after Kaepernick was already on the team. And when they pulled the trigger, they even arranged a soft landing for Smith in KC.

So put your 49er HaterAde on hold, and shed no tears for Alex Smith. He got paid nicely as a #1 overall, proved he lacked the big arm most coaches require, and is in his 9th NFL season. Considering his talent level, I'm sure he's extremely thankful.

[snoopy369]

I don't buy that argument. If Colin had been just equal to Alex, sure. But you play who helps you win games, and Colin clearly did that better last year. He had two games to prove himself, and he did.

[-Jrabbit]

Smith was having a good year (70% completion, 104 QBR, 6-2-1) when he got hurt; that's the only reason there's any controversy.

[snoopy369]

Sorry, my post was x post to yours meant to address Sloww. I agree with your post fully.

[-Jrabbit]

Oh. Well all right then!

[Tuberski]

That's just not how it went down. Smith's injury was a fortuitous excuse, not a cause. The Kaepernick change was going to happen regardless - just a question of when.

Not saying they didn't screw Alex Smith, but frankly, that happened on draft day 2011, not mid-season the following year. Kaepernick was the 46 overall pick. He was not drafted there with the thought of holding Alex's jock and clipboard.

Here's the NFL.com analysis of the pick immediately after that draft:


People conveniently forget that SF gave Alex Smith a new contract ($16mm in guarantees) in March of 2012 - after Kaepernick was already on the team. And when they pulled the trigger, they even arranged a soft landing for Smith in KC.

So put your 49er HaterAde on hold, and shed no tears for Alex Smith. He got paid nicely as a #1 overall, proved he lacked the big arm most coaches require, and is in his 9th NFL season. Considering his talent level, I'm sure he's extremely thankful.

If he was ready, sitting on the bench 9 games in, he was ready at the beginning of the season.

ACK!

[-Jrabbit]

You are certainly welcome to believe that.

I'm more inclined to think Jim Harbaugh is better qualified to make that call.

[snoopy369]

If he was ready, sitting on the bench 9 games in, he was ready at the beginning of the season.

ACK!

It's more that they probably weren't sure at game 1; at game 9 they had to let him play, and he proved to be very good. He passed his trial by fire.

[Tuberski]

He didn't play any better than Smith in either the game he replaced him in or the game after, except maybe running the ball, I forgot to look at that stat. But, as we see now, running isn't always the answer.

ACK!

[snoopy369]

He had an 84.7 rating in a game where he replaced Smith (which is a very difficult situation for a backup QB), and then a 133(!) against the top defense in the NFC other than his own team following that. He then had a 90 and an 83 in the next two games, his 'worst' games until the SEA game week 16 (a 72, which still isn't all that bad). I'll take that any day (says the Bears fan, hello Rex Grossman of the single digit ratings). While Smith had a better rating overall (by a small amount), his QBR was actually worse - and that rating was clearly a 'best case' scenario, given the long past history they had on him. Most of his rating came in three games - BUF and ARI, plus the half a game at STL where he only attempted 8 passses - with the only other really good game versus GB, who clearly was not that good at pass defense last year.

Either way, I think the point is not Alex Smith's abilities or lack thereof. The point is Kaepernick was the *kind* of QB Harbaugh wanted, and once he proved to be roughly as good as Alex Smith, Harbaugh went with him. I don't think that's something anyone can really complain about. Sure, Alex wanted to play, but they certainly did alright by him at the end I think.

[SlowwHand]

A poll at ESPN overwhelmingly indicates the belief that Kaepernick was highly overrated coming into this season.

[MRT144]

But is this over rated compared to the elite Joe Flacco?

[-Jrabbit]

A poll at ESPN overwhelmingly indicates the belief that Kaepernick was highly overrated coming into this season.

A poll at ESPN overwhelmingly indicates that Kaepernick is two decent weeks away from being called highly underrated.