Quote:
Originally Posted by tredadda
(Post 10348286)
My opinion of him has changed. I was not a fan of the trade or what we gave up for him. As the first half of the season played out it looked that way. After the bye week though he turned it on. He was brilliant yesterday I just hope this can be the norm for him and not a rare game.
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My opinion has changed, too.
I didn't think Alex Smith had in him what we saw yesterday. It's not about protecting the ball or hitting wide open guys (like the Avery throw - as Mike Mayock would say, every starting NFL QB should hit wide open guys in the middle of the field). It was the ability to take risks and make throws into tighter spots that really surprised me. He has not always shown that ability or willingness, even in San Francisco, except when his back was to the wall. The shovel pass to Sherman, the scramble pass to Knile Davis... not always plays he would have made.
I don't think you can say Jamaal Charles being out hurt them through getting to 38 points. The offense was operating so well, it's hard to see Charles making much difference.
In the third quarter, though, when the offense disappeared after the Luck turnover? Sure that Charles would have helped there.
The fumble, then back-to-back 3 and outs (with the second one producing 3 points because of field position after a pick), were pretty critical to the comeback. Turn the 3 into 7, and I'm pretty sure the comeback stalls out.
This truly is a team loss, though. The Chiefs needed someone to step up and close the door and couldn't get it done.
The defense, even as poorly as it played in the 2nd half, still set up 17 points for the offense with turnovers/short fields.
Alex Smith, even as well as he played, couldn't quite out-duel Luck in crunch time. He still had a costly grounding penalty and couldn't make the perfect throw (it was OK, but not great) with Bowe on the do or die play.
Dwayne Bowe had a huge game but couldn't make the exceptional play on the do or die play.
Andy Reid's (offensive) staff coached a really great game... but the quick burning of timeouts in the 2nd half turned the 4th and 11 into 4th and the season.
I have more faith in Smith at this point than I have all season. I still wouldn't want to see him get an extension that pays him Flacco money - not after going 0-6 against the 6 good teams he played - but a modest extension (something in the $15 million/per range, and that is easy to walk away from in 2-3 years) would not see any wailing on my part.
That was not the case before Saturday.
