Quote:
Originally Posted by Jakemall
What does that mean to you?
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I think there are a few guys on here that are taking any sort of discussion about concerns or things that need to improve as some kind of assault on Alex Smith. When the reality is that it's a simple statement of fact that a game like the Chiefs had on Sunday, a blowout win with under 200 yards passing, is an aberration in today's NFL. Pointing that out isn't saying "Alex Smith sucks" any more than it's saying "Jamaal Charles sucks" when one acknowledges that we also didn't run the ball particularly well, with backs accruing just 95 yards on 24 carries (Smith scrambles accounted for the other 25).
To add to it, the idea that they "took their foot off the gas" on Sunday is, I think, an accurate one (I've said it a number of times myself...). But only in terms of how they were operating on the field. They kept throwing the ball, they just appeared to go preseason vanilla in how they were trying to do it (not much creativity in terms of formation or matchups, unlike the first half). My guess is that they were keeping things close to the vest to limit the looks the Cowboys have on tape for Sunday's game. But that's just a guess...
The numbers line up like this: Smith was 12-19 (63%) for 92 yards in the first half, with the team running the ball 15 times for 78 yards. In the second half, Smith was 9-15 (60%) for 81 yards, and the team ran the ball 13 times for 42 yards. So the reality is that they didn't actually go into a run-heavy shell. They were still throwing the ball (and Smith did finish with 34 attempts for the game, which is right around where most of us expected him to be in Reid's offense - this was not Martyball...). The simple truth is that they just weren't executing particularly well in either phase in the 2nd half, run or pass. The 6 total first downs, thanks in large part to going 1-7 on 3rd down (after starting 4-8 in the first half), and 6 consecutive punts in the half bear that reality out.
I don't point that out to cry "fail". I'm not saying "Alex Smith sucks" (you know, I'm not clayton...). I simply point that out as something that needs to - and probably will - improve. Sunday was not a perfect game for the offense by any stretch. It was enough to win against Jacksonville, but they don't play Jacksonville every week, so they'll have to be better moving forward. And I expect that they will be. I think we'll continue to see @35 passes from Alex Smith every week, but I don't believe we'll see 173 yards passing again, with that many attempts. I think he'll be closer to 250 most weeks.