Game ball Berry, but....

[Hamwallet]

Alex Smith went vertical today and he was nails minus the overthrown pass. He looked damn good today.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Especially on a scramble play.

That wasn't a designed route, IMO. Ware saw the open space and ran upfield. Meanwhile Smith is running around trying to keep the play alive and had to make a bang/bang play.

I agree with an earlier poster that he should've lofted it out there to give Ware a chance to run under it - failing to do so was a mistake. That said, that play was nowhere near the gimme that people are calling it. When guys are trying to essentially be psychic to determine how their teammate is going to handle a play, there's really nobody to blame if they can't pull it off.

It was a tough but makeable play. In a playoff game, making it may be the difference between advancing or going home. That said, Smith has shown that he can make that play on occasion as well. There's nothing that happened on that play to suggest that he can't hit it should it happen again later.

It's just not a 100% play. Sometimes he'll get it, sometimes he won't. You hope that the next time he does.

It was miscommunication on a broken play, plain and simple.

Smith thought Ware would run full speed, Ware slowed down and thought Smith would hit him earlier. It's one of those plays that everyone involved wished that they could have back but the blame lies with neither player.

I'm actually happy to see the effort. This was Smith's best game since San Diego, IMO. It *appears* that he gained a lot of confidence in the 4th quarter and OT period in Denver, which is a great sign for the offense.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

It was miscommunication on a broken play, plain and simple.

Smith thought Ware would run full speed, Ware slowed down and thought Smith would hit him earlier. It's one of those plays that everyone involved wished that they could have back but the blame lies with neither player.

I'm actually happy to see the effort. This was Smith's best game since San Diego, IMO. It *appears* that he gained a lot of confidence in the 4th quarter and OT period in Denver, which is a great sign for the offense.

I thought he was better against Oakland and New Orleans than he was against SD (and I still think he was far better against TB than people will acknowledge).

For as much as 'steady' gets thrown around w/r/t to Smith's play, he's been oddly erratic this year. He's had 5 games where I thought he played really well - Oakland, NO, TB, Atlanta and NYJ. Houston, Pittsburgh and Carolina were hot garbage. Then in SD and Denver he was hot garbage for 85% of the game before suddenly playing really well at the end.

The guy's been extremely hot and cold this year. It's really strange for a guy that has been so even his performances for the 3 previous seasons.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by Sandy Cheeks

Mostly disagree. Change the name to Andy, and I would. At the very least, the lack of aggression is more like a 70/30 ratio on HC and QB.

Most of what Smith does is by design.. from Reid. You can tell that Andy draws up lots of screens and designs to get the ball to just one target. You can tell that Andy doesn't want to risk Smith taking many hits.

First intended target is open at all, Smith will go to him... and he frequently does. Say that this first target is Hill on an 8 yard curl. Remotely open, and Smith hits him. He doesn't wait to see if Kelce.. the next option.. is getting open on a flag route. Why? because pass rush.. and he won't abandon the 8 yard gain just on the chance that maybe the next option might get open.. and maybe he'll have time to get it there. Smith is not a risk taker.. and only becomes one when it becomes more clearly necessary.

Yesterday was both HC and QB recognizing that the ATL offense might slaughter on the scoreboard.. and along with that, understanding that ATL was weaker in the secondary.

AMEN for that, because the ATL defense was shutting down the KC run game. What little Ware got was nearly all on his own toughness and ability.

Now, we see if Andy goes back to small ball... actually, maybe not this week.. as OAK has similar strengths and weaknesses as ATL. 70/30 ratio, imho.

If Alex was truly committing to his first read, we wouldn't have the problem of him holding onto the ball. Smith is tentative to throw to receivers who aren't open by a country mile. You can see it in games where he literally pump fakes to a reasonably open receiver.

He has to start getting rid of the ball faster. We have to see late game Alex show up in the 1st half. When Alex presses, he commits to his throws and the ball gets out a whole lot faster.