Quote:
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut
(Post 13026305)
B.
I'll get blistered for this, but he doesn't really run that offense. He freelances and makes plays. The timing just isn't as crisp.
Now that's gonna eventually be an invaluable plan B for him, but it needs to be plan B and right now it isn't. He's much more sped up back there and it's even more obvious when he's coming in after Smith instead of Bray.
Smith was better than him tonight because - duh. But I don't think you grade on a curve. The Escobar throw was as exciting a QB play as we've seen here since Montana, but if you're giving him an A grade, where else is there for him to go? He can be better. He WILL be better. That first throw can't happen and in a game where it does, that's not an A game.
This wasn't an A job, IMO. Smith's was. Damn exciting performance and I think we'll see him improve every time he's on the field, but there's room for growth in his timing and overall grasp of the offense.
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Not to nitpick, but I think you're grading him on an aptitude scale, while everybody else is grading him on an achievement scale. You're giving him an aptitude rating... how well does he play the QB position compared to the entire body of NFL QBs, where those with the best QB aptitude receive A's and those who come up short receive grades less than that. Madden ratings, basically.
I think most of us are thinking of this grade as achievement rating-- what did he accomplish according to what the expectations are? Given Mahomes' college background, his age, his experience, and his familiarity with the playbook, his list of expectations he needs to achieve in a preseason game looks different than what Alex Smith needs to achieve.
No, I'm not saying he plays by special rules. I'm saying that his expectations are different. A 5th grader who aces all of his math tests is probably good at math, and as you keep teaching him, he's probably going to continue to achieve high grades for what's expected of him. You wouldn't compare what he knows in math with the entire school system's math curriculum and say, "He knows no algebra, trig, or calculus yet. He's a "D" grade math student."
That situation is just like Mahomes and our subjective grades for this game. We're grading him based on what was expected of him compared to a typical rookie QB.
I agree. He's not REALLY running the offense, and his knowledge of the routes, schemes, and timing obviously needs like... you know... a year. Two years. More. It takes a long time to get that shit down for ANY QB. But this is live football. He has to play with what he's given in the time he's been given it, and it's his job score points, even if they're meaningless preseason points. Docking him because he's doing what works for him in a test where NOTHING slows down so you can learn and develop at your own pace isn't the appropriate way to assess him at this stage.
He's still learning algebra, and he's kicking ass at it. He'll eventually learn calculus. Just because he fails calculus now, however, doesn't mean he didn't ace tonight's algebra test.
