Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaepernick
Alex can make the 20 yard throws when he is WILLING to do so. I never said he "couldn't throw", I said he "wouldn't throw". In SF he always seemed to read from short to long. On some deep patterns with Vernon Davis, that would often be the 1st read and when they connected, it was heaven -- but all too often, Alex read from short to long, taking what he could short without evaluating what was available long.
If Alex could ever overcome that game day caution of fearing an INT and just go out and attack DBs by throwing into windows, I think he would be OK. It seems to be mental with Alex, rather than limited by his physical skills.
In SF, he just never showed that attacking mentality, willing to challenge the secondary. With the one exception being the Saints Divisional win in 2011, when Alex had his back against the wall and said "screw it" and just ATTACKED.
The sad thing is, he showed some of that in 2006, his sophomore year, the year before his severe shoulder injury. Since recovering from the shoulder, he just doesn't want to attack. He wants to play it safe as Harbaugh beat into him.
He has the skill, he just limits himself by playing too timidly. It doesn't help that his arm strength does allow DBs to close on the ball on deep passes. But it is not like he has a noodle arm either.
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The good news is that Reid's offense, theoretically, is
built for a QB to read from short to long.
When he ended up with guys like Jackson and a cannon-armed (scattershot) passer in Vick, he opened it up a bit because Jackson refuses to run underneath routes and Vick can't throw short anyway. But given his druthers, I think Reid would prefer an offense that is precisely tailored to Smith's strengths.
We shall soon see...