Alex Smith
 

The rating is now sitting at 23.1. Somehow he managed to do awful enough this week to drop it from 24.7. Is he seriously this bad? Cause this has gotta be probably just about the worst performance by a starting QB in NFL History with over 100 attempts.

I'd say yes. Say what you want about his team, but he just isn't good.

I wonder what a QBs rating would if they just threw a hail mary every time? Better?

I'm not enthralled with him either, but I think you have to give him at least 2 years before anyone calls him a total bust. The 49ers will have an interesting situation this offseason, but they sure have to be happy that Houston won. Not sure what the tie-break formula for determing drafts picks is either.

Off Topic, but what is Houston doing winning that game. If this is ever a year to tank games, this is it. I guess its hard telling that to guys who don't know if they'll be with the team next year and are playing for jobs though.

Alex Smith will get David Carr benefit of the doubt but Carr isn't any good either. How long can he get to prove himself?

Neither are good.

Intentionally throwing games could cause problems. Besides that, players want to win. Who wants to go out there and get beat up for a few hours while not even trying to win?

I think Alex Smith (and David Carr for that matter) will be a good qb. He's no Eli Manning, but Eli had a similiar start to his career, with a much better team around him. Vinny Testaverde had several years of awfulness before he turned the corner. Even Peyton Manning didn't have a great rookie year.

People seem to be forgetting that football is a team game. The 49ers are terrible. They have a below average running game, no line, and average at best WR's. Sure, they'd be better if they had Manning, or some other established all-pro QB, but by how much?

Strength of schedule.

Going into today, SF had an easier schedule (.526) than Houston (.547), and it will remain that way. SF played Jax today, and Houston plays them next week. The current difference between St Louis and Arizona is only 1 game.

However, Houston and SF play each other in Week 17. The only way that game doesn't decide the first pick is if both teams win next week. The Jets look to be the only other team with a shot at it now.

Look at all the blame Harrington gets in Detroit. How come Carr is still a Golden Boy?

Team game or not, mental mistakes have nothing to do with the team.

SF and Houston meet the final week of the season. That will probably be the tiebreaker (unless they tie).

I haven't watched much this year, for various reasons, but every time I have, Smith just has no time to do anything. The 49ers need a better OL, and they need a better running game, I think, before you can do a fair evaluation of Smith.

I beg to differ. Mental mistakes are largely one's own fault. However, if a QB who is exceptionally raw is only getting 3, 4 seconds to make a decision, then it's monumentally harder to make a correct decision.

Smith has the detriment of having one of the worst offensive lines in the league, quite possibly the worst receiving corps, and absolutely NO running game. Defensive coordinators must love gameplanning for the 49ers.

You actually think people gameplan for the niners? If i'm the dcoordinator, i call everyone into the office on tuesday, tell them that we are running a max blitz every down, and to make sure to tackle. And then give them all the rest of the week off, while I go play golf or something.

Is Carr still considered a Golden Boy?

I think the perception of Harrington is that he was surrounded by a lot of weapons - three first round picks on WR and Kevin Jones - and still failed. What people fail to realize, however, is that all those weapons really aren't as advertised, at least at this time. First, they are all very young. Kevin Jones was hurt often. Roy Williams was hurt often too, not to mention wildly inconsistent (makes great plays, but can't make the routine). Charles Rogers has played all of a handful of games and has been plagued with injuries and loves the mairjuana. Mike Williams is a rookie who hadn't played football in over a year. I haven't even addressed the issues with the offensive line.

He also has very small hands.

As does Daunte Culpepper. It doesn't mean he can't play in the NFL.

Daunte's aren't that small. Alex Smith has the hands of an infant... apparently.

Texans would hold the tie breaker if they tied the final game of the season (they said it on TV, I didn't look it up myself).

I don't see how that's possible (see Crap's post earlier).

Maybe that spread offense hr played in Utah made him look like a better QB than he actually is? I know it is as far from an NFL offense as the earth is from the sun.

and you know what THAT means...

There's some poor confused 6 year old wandering around SF with stumps at the end of his arms???

Where did you get this information? I read in the paper that he has average to slightly above average hands.

I have my sources.

No way you can accurately judge him at this point. All any 49ers fan can hope for is that he has gotten some valuable experience and has maintained his confidence going into next year.

If none of the hail mary passes get intercepted, the QB rating would be quite a bit better than Alex Smith's.

Well, it has been a discouraging start, no 49er fan will disagree. Glimmers of hope have been few and far between, but the word here is patience. If, in Week 15 next year, we are seeing the same sort of play from Alex Smith-the same sub-30 QB rating-then I think people should feel more inclined to sound the alarm.

The offensive line is pathetic at best, but Frank Gore managed to have a pretty good day rushing the ball. Probably the best day for a Niners RB since Hearst and Barlow split time. I would have thought Smith would have a better day with a running game that actually productive, but this obviously didn't happen. I don't know if that is a strike against Barlow, Smith, or the offensive line. This was the first game of the season where the running game was atrocious, and I expected the offense to breathe a little bit more. It didn't happen.

Point is, a #1 pick is always a large investment, and, as much egg as the front office has on it's face, it can't pull the plug now. That would be ridiculously too early. Bill Walsh said that Jeff Garcia had the potential to be a pro-bowl quarterback right after he replaced Steve Young, and look what happened: Garcia made a few pro-bowls. If I were York and the GM (I can't even place the name of the 49ers GM right now..oy), I would just listen to whatever Bill Walsh has to say.

I am tired of hearing guys say a QB is done for in the league when it is still his rookie year. Give them time, and their teams time to build something up around them some. Yes Harrington and Carr and Boller at this point should be getting ripped some, they have been around a while. I still do not think they are a complete wash. All three of those teams have other offensive problems that don't help those QBs much.

And every first rounder is not going to be Elway or Marino, those guys were all-time greats.

Come on though. A 24 rating is horrific, regardless of how bad the team is. Even on a good team, that's a 40 or 50 at best. I remember watching the Seahawks-49ers game a few weeks ago where the ball kept slipping out of his hand and the announcers tried to make the excuse that it's because they use new balls all time and they're slippery. When you have announcers feeling sorry for you and making excuses, you know it's time to go back to the drawing board.

Did he not have a problem holding onto the ball this much in college? If he has THAT much trouble because of hand size I would think this would have been noticed a long time ago, and been a very large problem in college. So much so that he would never have been a #1 overall pick.

There are QBs in the Hall of Fame that weren't much better than that as rookies.

He was great in college, and was known as a ball-control type qb.

SF is 30 in the NFL in rushing. They are 32nd in passing. They have the fewest first downs in footall. (over 50 behind the next worst team)

And Alex Smith has thrown something like 120 passes this year, while other SF QB's have combined for 225 other attempts.

I think Alex and his issues are being a bit overblown here.

Alex Smith or Aaron Rodgers?

At least Smith is getting some playing time; I still have no idea why Green Bay is not playing Rodgers yet.

With 2 meaningless games to go in the season do you think Rodgers will get any playing time in Green Bay this year?

Unless the guy has Leaf-like attitude problems you should never judge them in the first season. Manning had a 70 QBR in his rookie year and I think a lot of people hold him as the standard, but he had a stud RB, stud WR, and stud LT already on the team. Roethlesburger had the best group of receivers in the league (and i say that as a Colt's fan) and a great running game. Guys like Carr and Smith are basically joining empty cupboard teams.

As a Niner fan it is truly painful to watch this team, but Alex Smith has ZERO help around him. He drops back about 1.5 steps and he gets hit. He rolls out and he gets hit because Kwawe Harris couldn't block a statue. He hands off to Barlow who gains 1 ypc. He throws the ball to Brandon Lloyd who will only catch it if he has to make a Top 10 ESPN highlight catch. Our best weapon, TE Eric Johnson has missed the whole season. And when you are losing in every game it is hard to throw since the other team knows you can't run even if you wanted to.

Not unless Brett Favre wants to rest.

Yeah, Favre isn't going to be benched unless he gets really, really hurt. And I was a lot more impressed with Smith's performance in college as opposed to Rodgers, but what the hell do I know.

Hey alright, why isn't Favre being benched so Rodgers can play? Another one of my favorites that keeps coming up on the radio and everywhere else.

First off, why are so many people concerned with how Green Bay chooses to develop their QB? I mean here we are with Phillips Rivers ending his second season on the bench yet no one cares. In fact the concern is so little that he will probably be traded for a pretty good pick in the offseason if the Chargers want to, and I am sure several teams will want him.

Not too mention that throwing a rookie in there with this offensive line and running game would make the offense look like the 49ers. The career of Aaron Rodgers is not going to be made or broken on if he gets to play in a couple games this year. He will succeed or fail in the end depending on his abillity and intelligence.

There are still huge, huge, huge financial implications here. The earliest they can realistically trade Rivers is after June 1st, and they'll still have flushed tons and tons of money down the toilet. My gut feeling is that he rides the pine yet again while Brees is franchised again.

That is very true too.

Kind of a shame that San Diego won today. If they had missed the playoffs then they could have even considered trading Brees. Getting into the playoffs though would make it pretty hard to justify.

Clarification on Philip Rivers...

The Chargers gave him a 14.25 million dollar bonus on a 6 year deal. That leaves 9.5 million of cap charge hanging out there.

If they traded him before June 1st, they would take a 9.5 million cap hit in 2006.
If they traded him after June 1st, they would take a 4.75 million cap hit in 2006, and a 4.75 cap hit in 2007.


Realistically, what could they even get for him at this point? I see him riding the pine again in 2006.


edit: Also, his base salaries are so low that it's not really too big an issue. The bonus money is already spent, so I say keep him around as the backup. And Brees has played too well for you to let him walk or trade him. I think you keep him at #1, keep Rivers at #2, and let Rivers pout. It's what's best for your team.

Well if he makes it he'll set the record for worst single season QB rating by any QB in the HF. Terry Bradshaw came close, but name another one.

The couple of former GMs they have on NFL network seem to think they could easily still get a 1st round pick for him. They would know better then me, but I don't see why they couldn't get that for him, especially with few first round QBs this year in the draft.

No comment on any of the quarterbacks (Smith, Rodgers, or Rivers), but the Chargers are not very likely to make the playoffs. Most likely, they'll need to win against Kansas City and Denver, and then they'd need some serious help.

All they have to do is win 2 games and hope pittsburgh or Jacksonville lose at least one. Those odds arent that long for the chargers IMO.

Go register over at the Clutchfans.net board and check out the Texans forum. Then come back here and try to tell me that Carr is a Golden Boy...

Most Texans fans have been fed up with Carr for at least a couple of years now.

There is a Huge Difference between Drew Brees and Brett Farve. You could say Brees is the future for a loaded Chargers team, while Brett is probably Arizona bound to get away from the mess that is turning out to be the Packers organization. But, I quess the Farve decision will come down to what the New Head Coaches plans are for the team.


I can think of at least 6 teams that would be better of trading their 1st round pick for Rivers. And, at the top of that list is Matt Millen and the Detroit Lions. I think if Matt makes this trade ASAP he may be able to save his job by bringing in this "golden boy".

Shannon Sharpe had a funny comment yesterday in cbs halftime show about the hail mary Smith attempted. he said "I can throw deeper than that" or something.

Here I will go one step further and make a stupid prediction so everyone can make fun of me.

The Detroit Lions next head Coach will be San Diego's OC Cam Cameron. And, Detroits next starting QB will be Phillip Rivers.

So it is written, So it is said. :D