No he wasn't.

Reid's playcalling put open guys all over the field. Smith just didn't hit them.

At worst, it was a draw. But when Tomlin had an ineffective Ben throwing the ball every time he got inside the 20 despite Bell shredding us between the 20s, that's a clear failure by Tomlin. Reid didn't have Bell running for him, all he had was a shitty Steelers secondary to work with and a quarterback that refused to challenge it.

Reid outcoached Tomlin by a fair amount, he simply didn't have the triggerman to do the job.

Maybe...but not by much.

The All-22 is out there if you want to go watch it. Every play wasn't open, but every drive stalled out because of a play that Smith refused to make. Smith left 200 yards and at least 17 points on the field in that game.

Reid wasn't the problem, his quarterback was.

http://i.imgur.com/yq8JrpI.gif

I don't know what was worse with Alex in that game - his unwillingness to look and go down the field when it was there for the taking, or his inability to stay calm inside a clean pocket. Both ended up being mortal sins in that game.

I ****ing hate Alex Smith, so don't get me wrong. But I'm a realist and I know this franchise and how it has always operated. We're not drafting anyone higher than the 4th round.

I try not to think about that.

Drops certainly play into it. They don't give Smith a pass but Kelce and Wilson played a major part in that loss with their drops. When you have a QB like Smith, you are playing with a small margin of error.

Drops unfortunately are worse for Smith because of the limited shots he does take down the field....and the fact that they make him less comfortable with making throws that other QBs have no problem making.

And that is why so many people were critical even during the very good season we had. It wasn't about not being able to enjoy it. It was about enjoying it and still seeing the issue that was looming in the playoffs against a good team. The concern was that if we didn't play well everywhere on the roster that we were going to have a difficult time winning unless Smith came out of his shell.

Well "playoff Smith" didn't show up. Defensive TD's didn't show up. PIT kicked our ass on kickoffs. Our brilliant bend but don't break strategy not only cost us offensive snaps due to time of possession, but it also didn't give Hill a chance to return many punts. Pit didn't play that well, but they did force Smith to have to make plays.

Exactly.

I was in the lot watching the Packers game at a neighboring tailgate. And when I was watching, I saw maybe 10 minutes of game action and in that time I saw Cook drop three passes.

We went walking inside and watched the final 2 drives from the concourse. Cook had another gack at some point and I turned to my buddy and said "jesus, I've seen maybe 15 plays in this game and I swear Cook has dropped half of them..."

And then he makes the catch that killed off the Cowboys on a beautiful strike from Rodgers.

If Smith's the QB in that game, Tigger is blaming Cook for the drops. But with Rodgers, it's still a W because he's a great QB that kept pushing that rock up the mountain until he got it there.

Smith will push that rock and push and push, but if he stumbles and it rolls downhill, he's not going to get it moving again. He's a fine QB when things are going well but if things go poorly, he isn't a guy that can pull it from the fire.

There's simply not enough margin here. His teammates have to play great for him to win and that's not the case for about 1/3 of the teams in the league. Someday I'd like to be one of those 10 squads.

Presently, we aren't. And I don't think we can expect the team to play great football for 3 straight weeks in January (frankly, with this franchise, I don't think we can expect great football in ANY week in January).

Why do folks continue to bitch about Reids play calling? Yes he's a dumbass sometimes as every coach. He out coached Quinn this year and BB a few years ago. The problem is the QB the same QB who's had like 10 different OC's and sucked with all of them. Quit trying to run a top 10 coach out of town focus on the bottom 15 QB.

The only issue that I've had with Reid over the years is when he abandons the run.

Said coach chose that QB. Said coach also seems to admire the QB. If said coach continues with this QB holding his offense back, then said coach is the problem.

And this year he had cause to get away from it at times.

We just could not get that push up the middle that would allow us to lean on teams and capitalize in the 4th. The only way to find yards was misdirection and outside runs that take as much out of your offense as their defense.

Reid did good work this year. And he damn sure wasn't outcoached by Omar Epps.

This is just as plain as the nose on your face at this point - Smith was needed to get us near the summit and now that we're here, someone else is needed to get us over the hump.

It's not entirely an indictment on Smith - he's been a big part of getting this team back to a competitive position. Now its time to go beyond that.

Agreed but this year was a little different. Smith seemed unwilling to be a dual threat, West is garbage, and Ware wasn't as effective since getting his wig scrambled.

Said coach took over a 2-14 and led them to 4 straight winning seasons. Todd Haley doesn't take the trash Dorsey finds and turns them into good players. Give Reid some credit folks.

He deserves a ton of credit dude, but we've peaked with Alex.

What if Andy stays with Alex and Foles next year?