Welcome Back Alex Smith!!!
Ok Ok, I know he isn't a proven elite QB like Peyton, Drew, Aaron, or Tom, and that he's been a bust as a #1 overall draft pick for most of his career. But you know what, I'll take him over most of the QBs in the league right now and defintely another overall #1 pick, JaMarcus Russell. Sure he's not Aaron Rodgers who wanted to be a 49er QB growing up. But who's to say Aaron would be who he is without the QB training programs they have in Green Bay plus his time learning under a legend. Who would he have been in Alex's shoes? Alex had one great year of college football (32 Passing TDs, 10 Rushing TDs, 4 INTs, a 68% Completion Percentage, 3604 total yards), then came to the league and for the his first 3 years he was in out of the starting position, threw more INTs than TDs. His 2nd year was the only year prior to 2011 that he started all 16 games and his TDs & INTs were dead even at 16, not to mention a year off in 2008 (his 4th year) due to injury. Prior to 2011 he hadn't come close to 3,000 yards passing or 3,000 yards total. A different offensive coordinator every year, a carosel of couches, but each one gave him a chance. They could have easily discarded him like Tebow or and of the numorous Browns QBs when a new coach came in. They didn't draft him, he wasn't their guy. But some how, some way this dude charmed each one of them into believing that he could be that guy. Until last year he didn't prove that to be true, but last year his coach was a former QB and maybe they had a better understanding than had been there before. Definetly better than his former coach, you know that Hall of Fame Linebacker from the Bears...
But hey...we're glad thats over and the Alex Smith and Jim Harbaugh have a great working relationship...
I'm not saying that I would take Alex over Peyton, but I do think Alex is a better fit under the current coach than Peyton would be. Do we have a better chance at a Superbowl with Peyton, absolutely. But Peyton didn't like the pressure of the "Super Bowl or bust" weight on his shoulders with a team that appeared to be a few precise passes and two fumbled punt returns away from being there last year. We were obviously late to the Peyton party, I'm sure it was due to some indecisiveness on our part. Maybe Jim and the Yorks going back and forth about it, but who knows. Last time I saw a Owner go over the Coach and pick and older QB that experiment went pretty bad (McNabb/Skins), so with that said I'd rather all parties agree on the managers of the team, Owner, GM, Coach, O-Cord, D-Cord, QB, and MLB. Thanks Peyton for considering the 49ers, but I do think you made the best decision by going to the Broncos.
Unfortunately for Alex this year he will be under a microscope even more so than last year. He had a pretty decent year last year with a schedule that seemed hard at first but turned out to be a lot easier than it appeared. This outside of the divisional match ups that will include Matt Flynn, Sam Bradford, and Kevin Kolb (I think he's still a Cardinal *shrugs*), we will be facing the Saints (Drew Brees), Giants (Eli Manning), NFC North (Rodgers, Stafford/Megatron, Cutler/Marshall) and the AFC East (Brady, Fitzpatrick). With those match ups alone, minus a stellar Defensive performance, Alex will have to put up numbers to win. To his advantage it looks like the organization has decided to put some WRs around him. Braylon Edwards was a fail experiment, Crabtree hasn't really lived up to his draft status or his wannabe diva status, Josh Morgan showed some flashes of being a #1 guy then got injured and is now a Redskin, Ted Ginn Jr really wasn't supposed to be a starting WR, more so a returns guy, but he helped out some last year when he wasn't injured, who else is there Kyle Williams and Bret Swain, I'll leave those two alone. The 49ers went out and resurrected Randy Moss who hopefully is hungry for TDs and signed Super Bowl hero
David Tyree Mario Manningham to add to the weapons for Smith. Most likely they will draft a WR in the 1st round or early 2nd round as well. Previous to this year here's a list of his "top" WRs (RBs & TEs not included); Michael Crabtree 2009-11, Josh Morgan 2009-11, (Old) Isaac Bruce 2009, Darrell Jackson 2007, Arnez Battle 2005-07, Antonio Bryant 2006, and Brandon Lloyd for his very few starts in 2005. So yes we have had QB problems since Garcia, but I'd have to also so that we have had WR problems since T.O. Maybe that will change, the best WRs either want to be on a team with good QBs or a team that is actually winning, prior to last year we had neither. Smith just got a 3 year deal, which means if he doesn't show and prove this year then
Colin Kaepernick or a Free Agent QB (hopefully not Tebow) will end up taking his place in 2013. Good luck 49ers and good luck Alex Smith. I don't expect a 13 win season, I'd be a fool to do so, I expected 6 to 8 wins last year based on the schedule and the schedule looks worse this year. I think we can win the division with 9 wins and the fans will be happy and everyone keeps their jobs. Just don't let the defense get Steelers old without us at least getting to the big show...
So for now...
Because... "That's My Quarterback"
And I'm OUT! Hopefully no more 49er posts until PreSeason.
