Originally Posted by NotASFHippy
(Post 9496369)
Hi KC fans. This is long, but I feel it would be irresponsible for me not to give you a fair warning to your eminent horizon.
Let me preface by saying I'm a Niners fan but I got no beef with your team. Anyone that gets to smack around the raiders (the absolute lowest common denominator of humanity) is OK in my book. You may read that oakland is in a state of revival, that's bull*** - it's always been a s***hole and always will be.
If you're reading this, the Alex Smith trade has gone through.
I post to you with an olive branch in my hand - I'm here only to let you know what your in for.
First things first, Alex Smith is great guy. If he weren't he would have been booted from our team half a decade ago. He is the epitome of class, the nonpareil of locker room integrity, he's dedicated- to the team, to his family and to his community. He always says the right things. Were a bildungsroman to be written of a young man destined for the trials and tribulations of the NFL, Alex Smith is the poster child. He's the kind of dude you want your daughter to marry.
He's also very smart. His wonderlic was very high. He did very well at a mediocre school. I'm not sure what that means. Marino is as dumb as a doorknob, and Joe isn't renown for his intellectual prowess. Stephen Hawking is incredibly smart, but I don't think I'd want him quarterbacking my team (but then again, he knows more than I, so if he could figure out a way to pull it off and win- rock and roll Stevo).
Please KC, don't get mad at the player. I can confidently say that Alex Smith will do everything in his power to bring success to your organization.
The problem is Alex isn't coming to KC to chill, hang out and eat BBQ (of which I'm personally jealous, there's little real BBQ in SF - there's wanna-be- but no real-deal). He's coming out to lead your football team.
KC, you have acquired an enigma.
Is he great? No. Is he really good? Nobody really knows. Has he had moments of greatness? Yes! Are those moments rare? Yes. Can he win a big game? Yes! Can he lose an even bigger game? Yes.
What is he really good at? Well, he's an incredibly conservative passer, he can take a sack better than any QB I've ever seen, and his presence divides a fanbase more than anything I've ever witnessed (I went through the Joe vs. Steve debacle and it was dark, but nothing near the acrimony associated with the AS debate(maybe thats got something to do with the internet or something, IDK)).
There are essentially three camps of folks when it comes to Alex Smith. The Haters (those who believe the dude is a junk QB and whose success is completely dependent on the system and will spare no expense to trash the guy). The 49er Fans (those who care more about the team than any individual player(s) and want everyone to do well). And the Fanboys, a.k.a. the Alex Supporters (a term I find funny b/c when I played sports a supporter referred to something specific that I would personally not want to be associated with).
The Haters were predictable- they were mad for myriad reasons. They would constantly lament at the fact that Smith wasn't Rodgers, took too long in his reads, couldn't hit a receiver in stride, would regularly pass for 5 yards on 3rd and 6, enjoyed throwing the ball above-below-behind a receiver (essentially everywhere except where a proper pass should land), would take a sack rather risk an incompletion, stared down his receivers, had a predilection for check-downs even when folks were wide open downfield, a penchant for getting coaches fired, rarely scanned deeper than 10 yards, became anomic when rattled, had a slow release and a mediocre arm, and has been given more chances than Carter had pills.
The Fans were just happy that the team was finally achieving some success after almost two decades of the suck and could really care less who the QB was as long as we were doing well. A polka-dotted rainbow-skinned hermaphroditic sheep could be the QB and as long as we were winning, we really wouldn't care.
And then there are the Fanboys - a breed upon themselves. They come multiple forms, oldman Fanboys, english Fanboys, juicy Fanboys, Never-Seen-Any-Other QB-play Fanboys. They exhibit a dedication to and fascination of Alex Smith that transcends logic, reason, and accountability. In their mind Smith is incapable of doing anything wrong - he is the unfortunate recipient of bad coaches, players, luck, fans, weather, hell - they've blamed gravity on his low passes. Their favorite stat is Alex's completion percentage (which they consistently confuse with accuracy). In their mind there is no difference between a crappy pass that requires a WR to stop/wait/ or make some otherwise awkward motion and throwing to a receiver so that he can make a play. In their mind Alex came into the league a HOF QB that was held back only by circumstances outside of his purview.
Fanboys also like to use stats to prove Alex Smith is a good/great QB. Has he gotten better? Absolutely. But, it's also like comparing a fresh turd with a 5 year old turd. (Obviously the 5 year old turd isn't as ripe and juicy, and will (in most people's eyes) be a better turd due to it's lack of offense. But, pardon the tautology, poop is still poop (petrified or not). It took a guru to turn the poop into something serviceable). After Kap started playing, Fanboys loved to "prove" that AS was still a superior QB because of his stats. Fanboys went so far to say that AS was a better QB than Manning and Rodgers (if you looked at the stats). Cocaine is a hell'uva drug. So is Alex Smith love.
(An excellent example of this type of blind love is continually exhibited by a particular moderator of a popular 49er fanzone who will ban or warn any poster who says anything critical of his beloved QB, or failing that, shut down any post that doesn't attempt to paste AS in the best light (which are all of them). Don't take my word for it look for yourselves - don't let it happen to your sites).
So, where does that leave you. Look. First things first, Smith is a great guy, maybe one of the greatest. Second, he's a decent QB - I'm not sure of how many training camp QB competitions he's won when the HC didn't load the deck, but he's definitely better now than he was 7 years ago. Third, you got Reid and Reid has a good history with QBs (and I'm sorry, but I can't help this, Reid (lest anyone forgot) is also a descendant of the 49ers). Smith would have never been successful without Harbaugh, and I do think he won't regress markedly under AR. In fact the greatest thing Smith did for the Niners was play just well/poorly enough to where we could acquire Harbaugh. Fourth, it's widely documented that it takes AS 3 years to learn a system- hopefully this isn't true.
He will make brilliant plays, but his inaccuracy will piss off Bowe - we've never had a receiver of the same caliber under AS's tenure, and there has still been a ton of grumbling over the years. But he will also redeem himself in certain circumstances in certain periods of time. He CAN make all the throws, but everything needs to be perfect. He won't rock the ship. He's good enough to always have hope.
I also want to say that his last game vs. the Cards was excellent. It was in, in my mind, his finest game ever. I know the Saints comeback was great, as were a few others, but his last game was by far his most consistent play I have ever seen. At no point did he slump, he finally did hit receivers in stride, stared off DBs, had complete command of the huddle and line-calls, and generally went out and kicked ass. If you guys are getting that Alex Smith you're gonna be stoked. Insofar as it was his last game and last metric to go by, you should have hope. But also beware that for every good game he's put together, there is a stinker waiting around the corner.
I leave you with this. Stay strong, Stay united. You guys have been through a rough year (I feel your pain, we had the same record a few years ago). Call to reason any fan that starts to skew in one direction or the other. Keep dialogue open and beware of powers that want to sway the conversation in one direction or the other. Also beware of moderators who don't believe in the freedom of speech unless it correlates with their own particular universe of reality.
Lastly, if you do see Alex around town- give him your best because you can be confident he's going to do the same for you.
Good luck and Kick the Life out of oak!
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Trade Official: QB Alex Smith to #Chiefs confirmed
(https://chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=271040)