LNBS: Can Alex Smith be a Franchise Quarterback?

[BossChief]

He has been playing at a high level the last few games.

Was it just the defenses he faced being bad, or is he thinking less and therefore playing faster?

He is pushing the ball down the field a lot more. His passes are coming out on time more frequently. He is throwing into tight windows. He is using his mobility as a weapon. His ball placement has been pretty good.

I view a "franchise quarterback" as a guy that you can get to championship games with and a guy that gives you a chance to win a superbowl.

If you were to ask me a few weeks ago if Alex can be that guy, I'd laugh and discard that notion.

Now, I'm not so sure.

Have the last few games changed your opinion of Alex?

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

Shit the bed = throwing 2 TDs and a pick?

Stats alone don't tell the whole story.

Smith recovered and did drive down for a score.

His 1st half was still nowhere near as good as his 2nd (ruined by dropped passes.)

[tecumseh]

Why not. But if the Chiefs are going to do that, give the guy some reliable receivers.

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by O.city

Romo?

I've always thought Romo gets a bad rap in Dallas for being a "choker". He's carried a shit roster for the better part of the past 5 years.

Obviously you've got your Manning, Brady, and Brees, but IMHO, Romo is Rodgers without a SB win.

Oh, I agree totally with the first part. His play keeps that team mediocre instead of completely awful. But I put guys like Rodgers, Wilson, Stafford, Ryan, and maybe even Rivers above him as far as "franchise QBs" go.

[O.city]

I just can't put Stafford up that far yet, and after this season I'm questioning myself on Matt Ryan.

[jd1020]

Alex Smith and Romo have been starting the same amount of years.

If Romo retired right now and with Alex's current pace, it would take Alex just over 6 full seasons to match Romo in TDs.

[ThaVirus]

Romo is pretty good and we'd be undefeated with him at QB right now. Well, we likely would have won at least 2 out of our last 3.

Trying to rank the QBs quickly I'd say:

Tier 1
Peyton
Rodgers
Brady
Brees

Tier 2
Rivers
Romo
Wilson
Newton

Then you've got the next few tiers of guys that flash brilliance but aren't nearly consistent enough (Stafford, Palmer), underachieve given the level of talent around them (Eli Manning, Jay Cutler), those that are hurt and/or dealing with injuries to their supporting cast (Roethlisberger, Luck, Ryan), and those that the jury is just still out on (Kaepernick, RGIII). Some of those guys have seen hits in production for a combination of reason, that's just how I look at them..

But anyway, Romo really has been carrying that team for quite some time. He's got to be top 10 on anyone's list.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

If the expectation is that your QB be not just perfect, but be perfect in addition to dealing with unreasonable adversity... Then you've set the bar way, way, way too high.

I don't care about the early int. Every QB makes those mistakes. I'm just glad to see smith aggressively make a throw versus taking the safe route. The defense played so badly that they demanded a perfect performance from smith. Mistakes led by the receivers left well over 100 yards off the board. Those would have led to first downs that very well could have led to points. If not points, then better field position for the defense to maybe make just one more stop.

And so... We sit here and ask why smith wasn't perfect. We dwell on a mistake or two. We ask smith to continually overcome wasted downs on receiver drops, ask him to convert third and longs set up by penalties, ask him to score a td without taking a safety when backed up at the 3 yard line. On the last two drives, he overcame terrible drops and drove the ball downfield on two drives. It's hard enough to do without mistakes, let alone with them.

How would smith have done with a REASONABLE number of receiver drops? With less drives with really adverse situations? Smith's performance with a reasonable number of mistakes from his teammates could have easily led to 30+ points. That's an excellent performance. I'd just like to see him finally close out those games better. Getting to the red zone is a huge step, but he needs to finish that drive.

There is one drive - ONE - on Sunday in which they don't overcome the drops. That's it. Pretty hard to add 100 yards from one drive. Every other drive? the drops were overcome. Look at the play-by-play. Watch the game film again. Something. The only drive that ended due to "drops" was the on in the third quarter, where Fasano and Jenkins dropped back-to-back passes.

You can't add a bunch of points and yards based off of one failed drive.

I don't expect perfection. But I'm also not going to grade Alex Smith's performance on Sunday against Denver on extremely friendly curve so many of his defenders are.

He played OK. Pretty well. Pretty good. However you want to say it. He gets a B for the game.

Excellent? Only in QB-starved KC could what we saw on Sunday be considered "excellent."

[ChiefsCountry]

Originally Posted by tecumseh

Why not. But if the Chiefs are going to do that, give the guy some reliable receivers.

You can give Alex Smith - Calvin Johnson, Julio Jones and AJ Green and he still wouldn't be a franchise quarterback.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

Romo is pretty good and we'd be undefeated with him at QB right now. Well, we likely would have won at least 2 out of our last 3.

Trying to rank the QBs quickly I'd say:

Tier 1
Peyton
Rodgers
Brady
Brees

Tier 2
Rivers
Romo
Wilson
Newton

Then you've got the next few tiers of guys that flash brilliance but aren't nearly consistent enough (Stafford, Palmer), underachieve given the level of talent around them (Eli Manning, Jay Cutler), those that are hurt and/or dealing with injuries to their supporting cast (Roethlisberger, Luck, Ryan), and those that the jury is just still out on (Kaepernick, RGIII). Some of those guys have seen hits in production for a combination of reason, that's just how I look at them..

But anyway, Romo really has been carrying that team for quite some time. He's got to be top 10 on anyone's list.

You just listed 16 guys I would take, without hesitation, over Alex Smith. The only one I wouldn't is Palmer.

Nick Foles also makes that list. And I'd consider Jake Locker, since he's at least a younger version of Smith (but with more time to grow and improve).

[Mav]

Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry

You can give Alex Smith - Calvin Johnson, Julio Jones and AJ Green and he still wouldn't be a franchise quarterback.

Dumbest statement of the year.......

[Mav]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

You just listed 16 guys I would take, without hesitation, over Alex Smith. The only one I wouldn't is Palmer.

Nick Foles also makes that list. And I'd consider Jake Locker, since he's at least a younger version of Smith (but with more time to grow and improve).

Can you argue that Alex Smith has been playing better every single year since he got solid coaching?

[Chieftain58]

I like him, he's been playing good

[Easy 6]

If he plays these next four games and into the playoffs the way he's played the last two weeks... i'd be comfortable calling him franchise.

[Marcellus]

What is a franchise QB? I think with the rules being the way they are these days you dont need an elite guy.

Is a franchise QB one that you believe you are good with?

Is there a statistical number thats critical, above wins?

Are they like porn, you know it when you see it? Reading this thread it doesn't seem that way.

[Marcellus]

For example Matt Stafford who has won about 2 games against teams with a winning record is considered franchise by most people.