I was referring to other games where Alex locks in on one receiver and never sees the other receivers that are wide open. I agree with you that on this play he just shits his pants and runs like a school girl.

Should have been hands to the face penalty on Harrison there, you can see Kelce's head turn to the side.

A team should always be looking to upgrade their QB position unless they have an Aaron Rodger-esque player.

It's why I've been pissed that Andy Reid hasn't appeared too eager to develop one. We passed on a few guys in the draft and we've cut almost all the guys we did draft. Bray has hung around because he was easy to keep on IR most of the time.

In another thread I mentioned Reid's resolve to draft and groom a rookie given he is 58 and has nothing to prove in the W-L column during regular season. Maybe he truly believes that Smith is his best chance to go back to a SB in which case he should separate himself from the playcalling.

What we saw from Smith this year is what he is going to be moving forward. He's not going to throw the ball more. He's not going to run more. He peaked last year.....and now he's on the downhill slide.

Yup. That's probably accurate.

To whatever extent Alex Smith may have been capable of winning a Super Bowl at one time, he no longer is.

We saw him get more and more skittish this year in the pocket. His arm certainly won't be getting better and I see no reason to believe he's ever going to learn any more of the offense.

So we've seen a guy who understands this offense as well as he ever will getting shell-shocked and physically declining.

There's nowhere to go but down from here with Alex Smith. Time to move on.

I would agree if Smith had performed the same all the time.

Look at the Pittsburgh game:

2 good drives to start the game with Smith looking smooth and like an upper tier type QB.

Then nothing but crap until the 4th quarter

4 quarter we are behind and suddenly the offense opens up and Smith looks better again.

This same pattern has happened over and over again all season long.


Get a lead, shut it down until we get behind and have to open it up again.


Now the question is, Does Andy Reid shut the offense down because he doesn't think Alex Smith can run an open offense for an entire game OR does Reid do it because he has some Schottenheimer in him?

Play calling is shit and that keeps us from knowing whether Smith can be the 'Good Smith' for an entire game or not.

Alex Smith is not an elite quarterback, never will be. We should continually be looking for a replacement in the draft. Our play calling still makes the situation worse.

I can't shit on play calling when we see gifs like the one above.

I'm more inclined to think the play calling is what it is because of alex

Think about it. Alex Smith is the one shutting down the offense. He literally won't do shit until his back is against the wall. Hence the come from behind in Week 1 and what you saw against Pittsburgh in the 4th quarter. He has no choice but to make tough throws. If it's a close game....he's so ****ing scared that he's going to make a mistake....that he ****ing shuts down and goes fetal.

So then it's just a coincidence that throughout the entire season the same pattern has occurred.

start the game - good offense,good smith

middle of the game - shit offense,shit smith

End of the game with the lead - shit offense,shit smith

End of the game without the lead - good offense,good smith

All year long we have shut down our offense after getting a lead.


That's absolutely on Reid.

Yep, this was not the same offense we ran during Reid's first three years here.

I thought Andy/Dorsey said they liked to draft a QB every draft. I think they have all but this year, correct?

2013: None drafted but signed Bray.
2014: Murray in the 5th
2015: None but brought in Pryor (I think)
2016: Hogan in the 5th or 6th.

How do they shit the offense down? I mean shit, it's not as if it's run run pass punt shit.

I dunno, who knows

You switch QBs for sunday's game, Steelers would have won by at least 10

Alex Smith is not the one calling sideway plays over and over again once we get a lead. Smith is not the one calling bubble screens.

Some play has reads where Smith can chicken out but several of the plays we have are catch/throw plays where Smith is not making reads to not throw it deep.

Hell, some plays we call don't have a single receiver beyond 5 yards from the Los.

No shit. Why do we have to run plays that require a lot of setting up and time to develop? I mean those TE tosses seem really desperate.

We gain the lead by throwing the ball where the receivers are moving forward and are down the field. The receivers catch the ball while running and are already 5-15 yards down the field. Mix in some runs and our offense looks great.

We shut our offense down when we start getting cute and throwing the ball sideways. Our receivers are stationary when catching the ball and they are within 5 yards of the LoS, often even behind it. No Yac, no play mixture ... defense gets aggressive because every play is in front of them.

Watch the tape, as soon as Reid start "going sideway" our offense turns to complete shit.

I'm not absolving Alex Smith from bad plays. His vision and accuracy are mediocre. Doesn't change that our play calling is inconsistent as hell and is a big part of the problem.

When don't need all that cute bullshit.

Our offense is best when we run basic slants and outs mixed in with some run plays. Playaction passing should be the heart of our offense, not bubble screens.

The ceiling was 2015.

That was by far Reid's best Chiefs team. They had the best running game (6th), the best defense (3rd in pts, 7th in yards), pretty good special teams, and Smith's scrambling was a huge asset.

Smith posted his highest YPC, highest YPA, highest QBR and the offense scored plenty of points to be considered SB caliber in combination with a top 5 defense.

You can probably argue that had the team not been absolutely wrecked by injuries - Houston, Maclin, Morse, Charles - they could have gone into Foxboro and beaten the Patriots, and beating the Broncos the next week was certainly a possibility.

Everything has gone downhill since that moment, except Tyreek Hill, who basically propped up a mediocre 2016 team that never had any realistic shot at a Super Bowl.

It's anyone's guess what happens next season, but fixing the QB, the running game, the middle of the OL, the run defense and re-signing guys like Poe and Berry seems to be a tall task, and a difficult schedule looms. They'll probably have a winning season, but this team's SB window is shut as long as Smith is the QB.

Smith was absolute shit for 3 quarters after that first drive.

I'm still convinced Smith's peak as a passing QB ( versus dual-threat QB) is still to come. He showed improvement in many categories this year. The decrease in TD numbers has more to do with Maclin being off his game.

Because Smith misses one big play everyone goes nuts. His receivers miss 5 important passes, nobody says a peep.

This is why Dorsey and Reid call the shots and make the millions, not a bunch of overweight unemployed/retired folk.

LMAO

Reids O is built like a basketball team O. It is designed to be a high percentage pass play (usually around the LOS) to get one guy wide open with space to move the ball.

All the motion and misdirection like on the TD to the FB is necessary. Everything needs to be set up by power runs which have been less and less productive or consistent.

In the passing game they cannot line up and throw it downfield with Smith, and with most QB's in the NFL for that matter so Reid figures that D's cannot cover everyone and someone is going to be wide open so his WR's tend to be Judas Goats downfield to open up the underneath for TE and RB's out of the flat or in the seam. That is why your leading pass catcher by Yards is Ware and used to be JC and the 2nd leading catcher is the TE because they give him easy catches in space with room to run.

Travis's stock falls downfield where he has to make big time catches in traffic while covered that is why I think he is overrated because his yards are dinks with YAC where he is not contacted until 20 yards downfield. Put at guy on him and make him make a big catch downfield on the run and he is just another dude and his play proves that.

I do enjoy some of Andy's innovations, he has a 2 TE set where he brings them into a Wing formation on either side and motions the RB down behind the strong side and you don't know if the TE's are going to block, leak out into routes or if the RB is going to run a screen, lots of options off that one play and they didn't run it once Sunday night, it is the perfect play against a rushing team like Denver because the rush LB's have to account for the route options rather than sell out and rush the QB.

The problem with not being a downfield passing O is that when you need to use it there are not enough game reps to execute it. Sure there are nights where anything will work, especially against teams who are hurt or not strong D's but you cannot count on that in the playoffs.

Steelers played everyone the right way, they kept everything in front of them, they accounted for Hill and attacked him behind the LOS rather than backing off. They knew the tendency's to run and they pressed on 3rd and shorts. The sad thing was this is your best OL for years and they didn't establish the run game and stay with it like Pitt was willing to.

This absolutely isn't true.

The team was pitiful on third down, the downfield and intermediate passing attack was a joke, red zone offense bottomed out.

Smith passed for 16 more yards on 21 more completions this season compared to last. That's comical.

Considering the improvement in the OL, the signs of a declining player are stark.

Smith missed far more than one big play, and who here hasn't ragged on the drops? Chat room was livid with Kelce and Wilson for sure. ****ing delusions man.

26th in red zone scoring.

It should be on the rise with Hill and his speed.

alex has proven year after year that he is inconsistent throwing the deep ball.

Blake Bortles hits a couple deep balls too, that doesn't make him a good QB.

Personally I hope you keep alex for 5-7 more years. Lock him up!

He missed more than one big play. There were two sure touchdowns to Reek. He threw to the wrong man on the two point conversion. He threw a pass Spencer Ware barely got a finger on, on third down.

There's a handful of other plays you can debate, but the point has always remained the same with this QB: he's just not capable of making big plays, and if you scored 20 points in a game with him at QB, you did well.

That's not a SB profile.

Steve, I am sad.

I'm still convinced that a scout is going to see me hit a particularly hard ground ball in a slow-pitch game and realize that every coach that had me ridin' pine for 15 years was wrong, then immediately sign me to a million dollar deal as the starting CFer for the Yankees.

You just wait - this spring will be the year. I've got my slide pants, batting gloves, eye black and wrist bands ready for D-League softball. You dress for the job you want, my friend...

Facts:
The run game was stagnant this season
Maclin did not play like a #1 receiver
Smith's QBR has only increased year after year
Smith's top WR was an inexperienced rookie
Smith's sack rate went down 40%
Smith's completion % went up despite his #1 receiver being MIA

The evidence is there to support that 2017 will be another efficient season for him. We beat high-powered offenses with him when all the idiots on this board said we were doomed at 2-2 and would finish the season 8-8.

The sun will come out tomorrow.

Sadly your QB is still going to be alex and Reid is going to be your HC.

The only other thing I would like to see other than alex staying around for 7 years is if the FO fired Reid, let Dorsey go to GB then brought mCd to be your GM and HC.

That is a special ring in hell, believe me.

http://chiefswire.usatoday.com/2017/...ggest-problem/

I know you’re probably expecting another installment in the Good/Bad series from me today, but honestly I don’t see a point. I chose that format in an attempt to organize my thoughts into different categories, but trying to list what the Kansas City Chiefs did right in Sunday night’s game seems pretty fruitless when the outcome was the end of the season.

For the better part of this year I’ve done my best to try and put my fandom aside and analyze each game as a professional. But in my multiple attempts to write this out late Sunday night, I couldn’t.

I tried a few different ways to numb the sting of watching my childhood team fall short again. I indulged in a few more beverages left over from the watching the game. I threw on the season finale of “Sherlock” (it was a good one) and gave HBO’s new show “The Young Pope” a spin. I read through the columns and post-game quotes from sites like the Kansas City Star, Arrowhead Pride and our own guys here at Chiefs Wire.

But every time I tried to sit back down and write this I just wanted to vent my frustrations. After my fourth attempt and getting through the third paragraph, I shut down my laptop and figured a good night sleep would help.

It didn’t. So instead of trying again, allow me approach this from the perspective of a fan and see if we can find a silver lining with where the Chiefs are now.

As a 20-something who was born and raised in the suburbs of Kansas City, I’ve only ever known two types of Chiefs teams: 1) Mediocre 2) Just good enough to fail when it counts. And for as many times as the Chiefs managed to pull out crazy comebacks wins this year, last night proved that this was just another season of the latter.

Ware earned almost 1000 yards rushing on 4.3 per carry.

Today I learned that's the definition of stagnant.

I'd be okay with giving it ONE more year. A shred of hope remains that he can make the choice to elevate his game. I thought it would be this year.

I know, I know.. top 5 in team drops, a poor run block OL, Andy's gameplans, etc etc. Other things have worked against him.

The exhaustion of waiting for him to develop ANY sense of gun-slinger mentality? The poor pocket composure, and seeming willingness to let Andy handcuff him?

I just about had enough. ONE more year, and it better be with a young QBoTF being developed behind him.

Fact: RB touchdown total is down 50% from 2015.
We went from #1 in 2015 to #13 in 2016. If you remove Smith's QB rushing TD's our running backs rank in the bottom third.

Idiot.

Ware with a better or equal YPC average than:

David Johnson
Demarco Murray
Melvin Gordon
Lamar Miller
Legarrette Blount
Latavius Murray
Todd Gurley
Rob Kelley
Frank Gore
Jeremy Hill

Among others.

Ware was 10th in the league in yards per carry among RB's with at least 200 carries.

STAGNANT!

Wares YPC 2015 5.6, 0 lost fumbles, 6 TD's
Wares YPC 2016 4.3, 3 lost fumbles, 3 TD's

Facts, not fiction

11th in total scrimmage yards for receivers and rushers, too.

Passing yards would be credit to the QB. You understand that, right?

Jfc, you have issues.

Bronco fans want the Chiefs to keep Smith?


He has inserted his fist elbow deep into the Broncos ass 3 times in a row. LMAO

He knows we will never win anything with Smiff.

Its time. Not that Alex hasn't done his job, but he was always a stop-gap.

You've drafted Travis Kelce, Marcus Peters, Tyreek Hill, Dee Ford and Chris Jones in recent years. You have to surround that young talent with the most crucial piece.

Thanks Alex, you did what you were suppose to, but KC needs a franchise QB.

Someone should look up Smith's QB rating against division opponents over the last 3 seasons. Anyone want to guess the over/under on 95?

The running game was worse, but it's a deeply flawed argument that it was "stagnant."

The Chiefs got 1,401 yards at 4.62 YPC from their top 3 non-QB rushers in 2015.

The Chiefs got 1,481 yards at 4.54 YPC from their top 3 non-QB rushers in 2016.

The Chiefs rushing total per game declined by 28 yards in 2016.

Alex Smith's rushing total per game declined by 22 yards in 2016.

Except games against the Broncos.

<img src="http://i1290.photobucket.com/albums/b539/KCUnited1/giphy_zps70svhyu7.gif" border="0" alt=" photo giphy_zps70svhyu7.gif"/>

Do your own research, you reerun. Still doesn't matter.....Smith ****ing sucks.

You need to sweep us 2 more years to equal the 7 straight they took from alex before that.

New Order is right, I know this is alex's high water mark.

Yup. Said this before but the "decline" in the Chiefs run game has come entirely from the fact that Smith doesn't run anymore.

Kelce has the most productive season as a tight end and you want to replace the guy throwing him the football?

And let's all agree now that Dee Ford at best, is an average OLB over the course of an entire season.

He is following Clay's practice of trying to polish a turd.

Great way to look at it.

Smith was an immediate band-aid designed to bring the team back to respectability. He's killed the playoff monkey, he's led a team to a division championship in a legitimate tough division. He's played adequately enough to allow for the development of young players like Kelce, Hill and (yes) Fisher.

He's done his job and now it's time to get it over the hump. Go get your last piece of the puzzle, the guy that can keep this window open for 5+ more years. The team is respectable. It's a team you don't want to see on your schedule. Teams look at the Chiefs game each year and at worst figure they'll have a fight on their hands. He's set us up nicely to move forward and now its time to do exactly that.

I think that's a fair way to look at it. Much fairer than my "jesus tapdancing christ how did he not throw that goddamn football!?!?!" approach.

RB TD total declined by 50% from 2015 to 2016.

The Chiefs are arguably the best team in the league, guys 2-53. But look at the teams that are left.

Atlanta is not talented on defense. GB is not very talented anywhere but OL.

Having that franchise QB will ALWAYS give you a chance. It doesn't matter if you have the best everything else or not.

For Smith to win a SB with Andy, we would need the defense to play at an all-time level.

QB TDs declined 25% from 2015 to 2016.

Facts not fiction.

25% of a small number is.....another small number.

Our pass rush disappeared, but I think the return of the real men up front will fix that issue.

Hopefully.

The reason you're picking these individual irrelevant stats like this is because his overall stats are shit and show him as the mediocre dope we all know he is.

We'd be better off with Tyrod ****ing Taylor at QB.

Its not about 'replacing Alex' to me. Its about finding our guy that can always have us in contention, even if our defense isn't loaded with talent or we aren't stocked with weapons.

Right now, we have to be damn near perfect to win a playoff game. Its how it is when you are trying to win a championship with a game manager.

I'll never be a Alex hater and I never have been, but KC deserves more. Too much talent going to waste.

The question was never "is it easier to win a SB with an elite QB", the question has always been "is it possible to win a SB without one".

I think the answer to the latter question is indisputably yes, but I think we've reached a point of diminishing returns with Smith where that job's just going to continue getting harder. The hill will get steeper next year for a Chiefs team with Smith under center, not smaller.

So it's time to change course. You can appreciate what Smith did to help bring the Chiefs back to respectability but you can also acknowledge that the margin for error just isn't big enough with him under center and it's going to get smaller as we advance.

That's a fair article. Nothing to complain about here from the ball washers or the lynch mob.

While we sit here and act as if Smith is the cause of or problems we forget it was undisciplined play by our OL (Jah Reid miss block, Morse holding penalty, Fisher holding penalty, LDT illegal man downfield), the missed passes by 5 receivers, West fumbling the ball before the half, Berry not helping Houston contain brown for a 52 yard gain that led to a FG...things that had far more reason for us losing the game than our QB.

We also forget that Charles sucked money out of this team doing nothing. Maclin was MIA despite being paid as one of the top receivers. Houston gave us 2 productive games out of a possible 17. Tamba is being paid 7 mil a year . Our run defense was one of the league's worst in ypc. Our running backs had 50% less touchdowns from season prior. Dee ford went missing.

Bunch of morons on this forum.

Don't like it then ****ing leave.

Yeah it has zero to do with a $17 million dollar QB throwing for 15 TDs (along with 8 INTS....two of those losing us games).....all while missing wide open WRs because he's too much of a pussy to take a ****ing hit.

Last 4 SB winners...
Denver Broncos ranked 16th in offensive yards/game
New England Pats ranked 11th in offensive yards/game
Seattle Seahawks ranked 17th in offensive yards/game
Baltimore Ravens ranked 16th in offensive yards/game


If this isn't convincing evidence that Defenses have predominately been the reason teams win the Lombardi...

My pleasure is providing facts to morons like you who can't handle the truth.

I say draft one and start foles until the draft pick is ready

Run defense killed our pass rush as the year went on. 'Gotta stop the run to have some fun' the saying goes.

Our edge guys could never just pin their ears back and get after Ben because they had to hold their gaps in the run game.

Hopefully Bailey and Howard, along with DJ and some ILB help will close that gap.

I'll post all of the missed target gifs if you really want.

Thought yards were for fantasy players. And your boy alex never led us to those yardage rankings so wrong.

I trust Dorsey. He has been quietly looking for that diamond in the rough and has yet to find one. But when time begins to run out, he'll select a QB in the first 2 rounds. That could be this year or the next. But with Smith at age 33 and continuing to show improvement and this team being more competitive with each passing year...I just don't see the justification in replacing a guy who has the 3rd best record over the last 6 NFL seasons. It makes ZERO sense.

How do you blame JC over alex? Now I know you are insane.

Might as well cut Houston now. BTW There was no Safety help deep because it was a sell out Firehouse blitz, the pressure was supposed to get to Ben before he could make the throw. You guys were lucky there was enough pressure to keep it from being a walk in TD.

Macklin has been hurt all year but with a real QB making better throws he is a star.

I agree you should have drafted better with the 1st over all pick in the draft.

Alex goes anywhere else he does the same or worse.

Continuing to show improvement. ROFL

Yeah....you're a mod ****ing with everyone.

WRONG. Eric Berry did not blitz. He was in pass coverage and there were 3 receivers left, 1 receiver right. Wanna guess which direction he went? Middle.
Rather than keeping his eyes on Brown (left side) covered by the slowest defender (Houston), he stayed middle. That is inexcusable.

I think this is not really accurate. The Chiefs were no where near perfect on Sunday night and they still lost by only 2 freaking points. If any ONE of those dropped passes get caught and converted into field goal... Chiefs win, If Smith doesn't flush from the pocket early and sees Hill - Chiefs win, If Tamba is one foot to the left and knocks Rapelessburger over, 3 come off the board, and the Chiefs win, If the defense just forces one more punt, Chiefs win, you could go on and on and I'm not talking about a culmination of all of these things... just one. Chiefs didn't need to be perfect with Smith, they just needed ONE of these things to happen. One play better, any one of these guys to step up.

Go get your QB KC. Pick him in the first round and God Bless the KC Chiefs.