Teicher:Prodded by Andy Reid, Chiefs QB Alex Smith learning to be more aggressive

[Tribal Warfare]

Prodded by Andy Reid, Chiefs QB Alex Smith learning to be more aggressive
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star
One of the qualities the Chiefs like in new quarterback Alex Smith is his recent history with few turnovers. Smith threw just 10 interceptions in his last 25 games for the San Francisco 49ers, a stat that looks extremely pretty in Kansas City after Chiefs quarterbacks committed 27 turnovers last season.

Smith’s low turnover rate was due at least in part by his reluctance to throw the ball down the field. He was referred to by frustrated 49ers fans as Captain Checkdown for his habit of throwing shorter patterns to receivers for shorter gains.

Smith is in the process of being reprogrammed by Andy Reid, his new coach. Reid doesn’t want to turn Smith into a turnover machine but wants him to be more aggressive, particularly during offseason practice.

“You want to get a feel for the offense now, particularly when you’re new at it (and) if there are close throws, challenge it, see what you can get away with,” Reid said. “If it ends up being an interception, OK, it’s an interception. You learn from it. These are smart guys so they learn from it and once they get into the season, they’re not experimenting with it on game day and they know what they can get away with and know what they can’t.

“It’s a new offense. I would tell any quarterback that comes in new that that’s what you need to do. I’ve told them all that. Go ahead and take your shots and see what you can get away with, within reason. But if it’s a close throw, there are going to be a few of those in the National Football League on game day so you need to know what you can get away with on each route.”

Smith and the other Chiefs quarterbacks were rewarded with several long completions in Wednesday’s practice. Smith had three such plays, including two to Jon Baldwin, while Tyler Bray and Ricky Stanzi had one apiece.

Wednesday’s barrage of big passing plays isn’t necessarily an indication the deep ball is back in the Chiefs’ offense. But since such plays have been scarce for the Chiefs in each of the past two seasons, they’re taking it as an encouraging sign.

“We’re just kind of continuing to press to see what we can do … finding out what we’re capable of,” Smith said. “You’ve got to find that out at some point. This is what the practice field is for.”

Smith was the NFL’s highest-rated passer last season before he was injured, missed a start and then replaced by Colin Kaepernick as San Francisco’s starting quarterback. Smith was completing more than 70 percent of his passes, a high rate, and had just five interceptions.

Still, he had just 30 touchdown passes in his final 25 starts for the 49ers. While that’s a good number as a ratio with his 10 interceptions, it still represents a shortage of big plays.

Smith won’t turn into a mad bomber overnight, if he ever does.

“You want to stay aggressive,” Smith said. “But in the end I’m always trying to make the right read and throw where the defense is telling me to throw. You don’t come out here and predetermine anything, like ‘Oh, I’m going to chuck it deep on this play.’ I’m constantly trying to just trust my eyes and what I’m seeing out there, trust my reads and what I’ve prepared for and then come out here and throw good balls.”

For his part, Reid might be OK with that. But for now, when an interception costs the Chiefs nothing, he would prefer Smith be more of a gambler.

“Everybody is all on board (with Smith),” Reid said. “He’s a good football player. He’s showing that (along with) good leadership. I’m asking him to do a ton of things. He’s handling it. We’ve had an interception here or there but that’s all part of this thing. You’ve got to find out about the offense and you can’t do it with your hands in your pocket. You’ve got to go out and try things and experiment. That’s what he’s doing now.

“It’s just good stuff. He’s staying aggressive with the ball, and I appreciate that.”

The final offseason practice is today. The Chiefs won’t get together again as a group until training camp begins in July at Missouri Western State University.

Smith indicated he may try to throw to some Chiefs receivers during their downtime in an effort to stay sharp.

“We’re heads and shoulder above where we were a couple of months ago,” he said. “But that’s a never-ending thing. I don’t think it’s something like, ‘We’ve got a good feel for each other so we don’t need to work anymore.’ You’re constantly working at it. This is our job, this is our craft. Every single day, it’s coming out here and pushing to get better.”

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by BigBeauford

Some of those points are legit, and probably warrant more than a facepalm.

I disagree.

How about this: We actually wait to see the team, you know, play, on the field this year before deciding that every move the Chiefs made this year was wrong?

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

I disagree.

How about this: We actually wait to see the team, you know, play, on the field this year before deciding that every move the Chiefs made this year was wrong?

Not "every move" was wrong. But the overall philosophy has not changed in what feels like millenia and yet, some are expecting a different result?

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by BossChief

Trading a high first round pick for a 31 year old quarterback and only making the playoffs once is a predictable outcome due to the small window a trade like that provides you.

To answer your question...there was less risk of Trent Green (who already knew the system, coaches, etc) than drafting a guy like Drew Brees.

If we had passed on the trade, Drew Brees would probably be our current quarterback.

As for the Montana trade...sure there was risk...big time risk due to injury and age (he was 37) even though we didn't make it to a superbowl...we won playoff games and had one heck of a ride.

You wouldn't hear me complain if we traded for Tom Brady.

We traded compensation that is as valuable as what we gave up for either Montana or Green to get Alex Smith.

Hopefully, it works out.

Lord knows I want to enjoy Chiefs football again.

Joe Montana did more the Chiefs franchise in his brief tenure than anyone in two decades. Their visibility was raised when Marty Schottenheimer took over but it's never been higher than it was in 1993.

If you consider the QB's available that year (Billie Joe Hobert, Trent Green in the 8th, etc. and so on) and the fact that Bledsoe and Mirer (Bust) went 1-2, I think it was most certainly worth the #25 overall pick, even with risk associated with Montana's back.

I was not in favor of the Trent Green trade. He was too old, coming off of major surgery and was unable to plant his foot properly and throw in 2001. I was a HUGE Drew Brees fan and wanted him at #12 overall. I even posted a thread (before polls) asking people if they wanted Duece McCallister and Trent Dilfer or Trent Green and Priest Holmes or Drew Brees and Priest Holmes (I was a huge fan of Priest as well, watching him rack up a 1,000 season in Baltimore two year prior).

The Green and Montana trades were not risk free. Montana was unable to play at the same level the following year of the trade and Trent Green, while leading the offense to the #1 overall spot for several years, was unable to lead the team to a playoff victory.

The Trent Green trade (and the subsequent draft choices given up for Vermeil) set this franchise back for a decade.

[BossChief]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

I disagree.

How about this: We actually wait to see the team, you know, play, on the field this year before deciding that every move the Chiefs made this year was wrong?

Oh, cmon.

Nobody is saying that. I actually liked a lot of the moves we made this year. Most of them were solid.

I hated seeing Dorsey walk to SF to play the 1 gap nose (the exact way I've said for YEARS he should have been used) when we could have used that. I don't like either of the corners we signed very much and would have liked to have seen us draft a quarterback to groom behind Alex Smith.

Other than that, I think we did a solid job of improving the roster.

[ChiefsCountry]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Joe Montana did more the Chiefs franchise in his brief tenure than anyone in two decades. Their visibility was raised when Marty Schottenheimer took over but it's never been higher than it was in 1993.

If you consider the QB's available that year (Billie Joe Hobert, Trent Green in the 8th, etc. and so on) and the fact that Bledsoe and Mirer (Bust) went 1-2, I think it was most certainly worth the #25 overall pick, even with risk associated with Montana's back.

I was not in favor of the Trent Green trade. He was too old, coming off of major surgery and was unable to plant his foot properly and throw in 2001. I was a HUGE Drew Brees fan and wanted him at #12 overall. I even posted a thread (before polls) asking people if they wanted Duece McCallister and Trent Dilfer or Trent Green and Priest Holmes or Drew Brees and Priest Holmes (I was a huge fan of Priest as well, watching him rack up a 1,000 season in Baltimore two year prior).

The Green and Montana trades were not risk free. Montana was unable to play at the same level the following year of the trade and Trent Green, while leading the offense to the #1 overall spot for several years, was unable to lead the team to a playoff victory.

The Trent Green trade (and the subsequent draft choices given up for Vermeil) set this franchise back for a decade.

Of course if Peterson had gotten his original target for quarterback ie #8 on the 49ers we might be having a totally different view of him and Marty.

[BossChief]

SF wasn't ever gonna move Young.

Who knows? Maybe Alex is a late bloomer and we got a steal.

Wouldn't that be nice?

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Originally Posted by BossChief

SF wasn't ever gonna move Young.

Who knows? Maybe Alex is a late bloomer and we got a steal.

Wouldn't that be nice?

That would be one LATE blooming mother****er. He'll help win some regular season games, people will get excited, then the eventual shellacking in the postseason. This book has been written, adapted for screenplay, and shot on location several times already.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by BossChief

Oh, cmon.

Nobody is saying that.

People are most definitely saying that, including the person I quoted and GoChiefs, among others.

Look, I'm not predicting that they're going to win a championship with this roster (although it would be nice!). But they've upgraded nearly every position nicely and added solid depth, which is something they've been lacking, in what seems like, forever.

Unlike Milkman, I'm positive that this coaching staff is the best we've seen seen Vermeil and it's likely to be the best since Marty's heyday. It won't take much to improve this defense and using an attacking scheme with the athletes on this roster should provide huge dividends.

This team had a 1,500 yard running back last year on a team that couldn't pass. The offensive line is a year older and the additions of Schwartz and Fisher should be serious upgrades (and if Stephenson or Allen beats out Schwartz, it's likely to help long term stability on the line).

The bottom line is that this team's roster has been upgraded and the coaching staff is a complete 180 in terms of past success. I believe in the old 10 year rule set by John Madden, so the only knock I have on Reid is that he stayed too long in Philly.

[BossChief]

Originally Posted by Sweet Daddy Hate

That would be one LATE blooming mother****er. He'll help win some regular season games, people will get excited, then the eventual shellacking in the postseason. This book has been written, adapted for screenplay, and shot on location several times already.

Rich Gannon
Steve Young
Trent Green

That's what we are hoping for. A guy that wasnt good until his late 20s...hopefully Alex continues to improve and gives us some fun years.

[RunKC]

The plan of trading for a backup QB worked out well twice. Montana and Green were not failures.
Montana made us SB worthy. It was just bad luck that he got hurt. He was old though.

Trent was absolutely worth 2 1st round picks. Our offense was elite for a good 4 years with him. The reason the DV years were failures was because of King Carl and DV drafting horrible players most of the time.

Anyone remember the offseason when all we did was bring back Gunter and not sign any FA's to fix the defense? Enough said.

I know every single one of you would love it if Alex Smith turned out to be like Trent was in the early 2000's.

[New World Order]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

I disagree.

How about this: We actually wait to see the team, you know, play, on the field this year before deciding that every move the Chiefs made this year was wrong?

No

[crazycoffey]

Originally Posted by milkman

Oh, and further Dane, you keep talking about this staff like it's a certainty that it is going to be really good.

Doug Pedersen has never been an OC, so is a question mark, and Bob Sutton struggled in his previous stint as a DC, though he gets a pass because of who he worked for.

But at this point, he could be the next Gunther Cunningham, for all any of us know.

Do you mean the next Gunther in a negative or positive way?

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by crazycoffey

Do you mean the next Gunther in a negative or positive way?

Considering that 90% of what Milk posts these days is negative, I'd say negative.

In retrospect, Gunther was better than the last three coaches and IMO, by a wide margin.

[crazycoffey]

Originally Posted by BossChief

That's the whole point.

Len Dawson was a guy they pulled off the scrap heap of the NFL and won a championship with...something that, even today, they are trying to replicate.

"I gotta find the next Len Dawson" haha

Todd Blackledge was a monumental bust in one of the best quarterback drafts in history...something they want to forget and try not to replicate.

Montana
Bono
Grbac
Green
Huard
Cassel
Quinn

If this team EVER wins anything significant, it will be because it FINALLY took a chance and it paid off.

Takes a chance on someone in the league, someone drafted high, or a free agent?

[crazycoffey]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Considering that 90% of what Milk posts these days is negative, I'd say negative.

In retrospect, Gunther was better than the last three coaches and IMO, by a wide margin.

He was a disappointment but I still agree