Alex is the type of low risk QB that needs to see his WR's break like 5 yards of being open before he will grab his nuts and throw the ball. (
Keep in mind that Alex has been masquerading as a legitimate QB for years due to his LOW INT ratio and riding good defenses coattails). Yes, the 49ers defense was great. Yes, the Chiefs were living off extremely lucky and opportunistic take-aways the last few seasons.
With a team rushing 4 and playing cover 2, Alex will feel phantom pressure and has a bad habit of leaving the pocket. When he does this, his eyes are no longer looking downfield and this is why you see SO MANY gifs of WIDE OPEN Receivers and Alex not even looking near them.
If Alex could have more poise in the pocket, giving these WR's enough time to reach their destination, he may see more success throwing down field.
That said; even with shitty pocket presence, there are still opportunities for a QB to succeed.
Alex leaving the pocket premature still could be an advantage by using his legs to manipulate those zone coverage players into stepping up while the QB tosses it to a WR who is now left uncovered.
Alex was doing this the first few games of this season, but for some reason has quit keeping his eyes down field (
something Mahomes excels in).
Now, coming back to the quoted text about the run game:
Alex's limitations in the passing game severely cramp the running game because that is the main focus of the opponents defense. Any team that has watched the Chiefs struggle on film knows that you take away the run, study the trick play formations, and force Alex Smith to beat you deep (which he cannot).
I know, I know... real life is not Madden.... but what happens in Madden when you pick a running play, and no matter how awesome your RB is, he still gets creamed in the backfield because the defense knew the predictable play call and picked the perfect defense for it?
This is what is happening to Hunt.
He runs hard and sheds a lot of tackles, but he can't make 4-5 guys miss right as he gets the ball. Only Barry Sanders was good enough to do that.
Hunt has NOT hit a "Rookie wall" <-- one of the dumbest things people say.
It's simply that the opponents have figured out a way to stop the Chiefs offense (thanks Steelers) and the Chiefs cannot adjust due to the limitations of Alex Smith.
Ok, nobody will read that or care... but I feel better now.