And we've written a few times this season that the end of this season is largely about evaluating whether quarterback Alex Smith is the man for the team long-term.
As mentioned in Josh Alper's one-liners, 49ers coach Mike Singletary sounds convinced Smith is the guy despite two consecutive rough games against playoff defenses.
"Tonight, Alex, he played poorly," coach Mike Singletary said after the loss to Philadelphia.
"I think he knows that. He's capable of playing better than that. . . . [But] I don't have any questions about him. I don't have any questions about him going forward. So I'll throw that out right now."
Smith's play has been mixed, but five interception over the last two weeks leave a bad taste. While it's clear he's the favorite to be the team's starter next year, his 6.1 yards-per-attempt average is 27th out of 33 eligible quarterbacks.
He still has a lot to prove, but Singletary is standing behind Smith.
"You know, I could say, 'Wow, I don't know, I've got to think again, I've got to think twice about Alex,' [but] I really don't," Singletary said. "He's shown me enough prior to tonight. He had a bad game. Great quarterbacks have bad games."
Not sure I'd call him "great" but you know, whatever. Seems to be like he's good enough for now. It's not like they are a QB away from a Super Bowl run.
That's all well and good, but it's time to pass the torch over to Nate Davis, and give him the last two games this year so that he at least has his feet wet when he takes over for good in 2010.
The Coop says:
December 21, 2009 3:31 PM
Not sure I'd call him "great" but you know, whatever. Seems to be like he's good enough for now. It's not like they are a QB away from a Super Bowl run.
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You are so on with that point. A good team can do ok even with a below QB. Example: 2008 MN Vikings, won the division with two below average QBs. That is nothing against MN, it's just how it was that season. Another example was the year that Dilfer won the Super Bowl.
If Singletary's standing behind him, Alex Smith better hope he keeps his pants up.
A very mediocre quarterback for a very mediocre organization. They're a perfect match.
Until the 49ers get a real GM and/or President (not slapdicks York/Marathe/McCloughan) and an experienced head coach (not first-timers like Nolan and Singletary), the mediocrity will continue.
But there are doubts about Singletary as a head coach.
"# jliskiew says: December 21, 2009 3:34 PM
That's all well and good, but it's time to pass the torch over to Nate Davis, and give him the last two games this year so that he at least has his feet wet when he takes over for good in 2010."
Nate Davis practices at defense more than he does at QB according to Matt Maiocco.
This is a motivational ploy by Singletary. Motivational ploys are pretty much all he has in his bag of coaching tricks, so his efforts to try to prop up Smith like this aren't surprising. But, it worked with Vernon Davis, and he doesn't really have any other options at QB, so what the hell? Why not try it?
Sorry Mike, you'll always be known for the guy who dropped his pants in front of his team.
as a Niner lifer - keeping with Smith is about as bad an idea as any ever in this organization. Look no farther then Smiths record as a starter. Sure he has a strong arm and practices well, but that hardly translates into wins. Smith is a .250% winning QB - "cant win with that, cant coach that." Please cut ties with Smith and only then can you move on.
"A good team can do ok even with a below QB. Example: 2008 MN Vikings, won the division with two below average QBs."
^^^^^
Who are these two below average QB's you speak of?
Randall Cunningham was a very good NFL QB, and put together one of the best seasons in memory in 1998. And Brad Johnson was at the very least an average QB in the NFL. And he did win a Super Bowl with Tampa, you know.
The the 1998 Vikings at 15-1, are one of the two best teams in history to not win a Super Bowl. You can guess the other one, it is too painful for me to mention.
how does smith do against the lions next sunday?
i smell a situation where san fran gives smith a comparable contract to the one derek anderson signed in cleveland... dont do it singletary.. theirs plenty of QB's on the market you could sign...
27th in yards per attempt, a miserable game yesterday; i think he had an 8.6 qb rating in the first half, 78.5 qb rating, 21st in the nfl, need i say more. He's a bum who folds under pressure and on third downs. What were we, 0-10 on 3rd downs this week, and like 1-14 one or two weeks before. Least clutch player of all time. He'll light it up the next two weeks though, against the lions and rams. He's good at meaningless games against crap opponents. Singletary is delusional, this is just more proof of that.
Marklar says:
December 21, 2009 4:10 PM
as a Niner lifer - keeping with Smith is about as bad an idea as any ever in this organization. Look no farther then Smiths record as a starter. Sure he has a strong arm and practices well, but that hardly translates into wins. Smith is a .250% winning QB - "cant win with that, cant coach that." Please cut ties with Smith and only then can you move on.
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Firstly, even good QBs on a terrible team can't win. Are you saying that Matt Hasselback isn't a good QB? Cuz his team hasn't won shit.
Secondly, Singletary wasn't saying Smith is a great QB. He's saying EVEN great QB's have a bad game once in a while. Peyton has had 5INT games. Brady has thrown 5INTs in a game. Even Drew Brees threw 3 last week against the Saints. Now, Smith is nowhere near them, but thats his point. Even the best of the best have off weeks. Plus its not like he wasn't playing a top 10 defense in Philly. They have 23 INTs (Tied for #2), 107 Passes Defended (#1), 13 recovered fumbles (Tied for #1) and 39 sacks (#4), so lets not blow it out of proportion.
I
Thinking like this from the 49ers' "braintrust" is precisely the reason why they haven't made the playoffs in seven years. What a joke. Singletary, McClueless, York, Raye, Alex Smith.... get rid of ALL of them. I can't believe they're going to try to sell us the same steaming pile of dog crap again next year.
Best coverage I've heard of the 49ers -- this guy tells it like it is:
http://www.lexy.com/#/feed?id=807
I'll agree that Smith hasn't really shown he can step it up in the big game - but do you guys think that any QB other than Brady/Manning/Brees/Favre could have been successful with the way that OLine protected yesterday? That was absolutely godawful.
Get him a line and then see how he does, I would like to see all the shit talkers try taking a 3 step drop while having pressure in their face.. He's lucky he only threw 3 picks with that kind of pressure. I'm not saying he is the answer, I believe the O-Line is the answer and it needs to be addressed this offseason
As a Cardinal fan I hope you keep Smith.
Yep you beat us twice....NFC West Champions back to back Arizona Cardinals
Believe me, everyone else in the NFL is hoping the 49ers stick with Alex Smith as their starting QB.
For those who say it's the SF o-line: Aaron Rodgers, as one example, was playing on a freeway in GB and continued to win games and produce a high QB rating. He also led the league in QB rushing yards. He didn't just sit there whining about how bad his line was. He just went out and won ballgames, which Smith absolutely can't do.
Meanwhile, Smith apologists write in and make excuses for his performance. Why? Both QB's have been in the league the same amount of time.
hey bleedgreen -
I could care less if Smith had a bad game here or there. I was more or less talking about the last 5 seasons as a whole being a bust. You can blame the numerous changes in coach, gm, coordinator, etc... but at some point you got to realize Smith just plain makes more bad throws then good ones. 35TDs, 43INTs, 29Fumbles *15Wins 30Loses (.33%win,not 25%as I guessed) 67.7QBrating. But if you want to keep doing the same thing but expect different results, well you know what that makes you, right?
The beautiful thing about football is winning will cure the hating. Otherwise the hating will continue. Football is a team sport. Alex Smith has been running the current system for 7 weeks? To compare Rodgers to Smith is stupid. Rodgers has a better team, the number 2 defense and fleet of receivers that have all been together 3-plus years. I predicted that niners would be about 7 and 9 at the beginning of the year. Sing had alot to fix and he didn't buy the groceries. Any QB, save for one that can run around and improv like Vick would suck in this system. It's just too new. Smith is bascially a 2nd year player based on his development, which is Nolan's fault. If they can improve the pass rush and OL they should improve significantly next year. We are not a playoff team. We are an improving team in a weak division. I agree that we need to bring in another Veteran QB, but drafting one is plain stupid.
So many people love to hate on winning franchises its not even funny...if u aren't a steelers fan or cowboys fan then shutup in case any of u real football fans forgot the niners lost by 3 to the vikings, 4 to the colts, 3 to the texans, 7 to the packers and titans, and 3 to the seahawks. A couple bonehead plays is what is preventing us from the playoffs.
And this is the end of the cardinals kurt warner is done after this year who do u have waiting in the wings, matt leinhart who is worse than Smith and boldin is as good as gone..mark my words the nfc west next year is the niners time.
what i think people dont realize when they watch the amount of pressure alex gets, is how much alex creates it himself many times. I cant count how many times the protection was fine but he got happy feet and started running to the right and screwing over his tackle. Plus everybody knows he can only roll to the right, so its easy to know where he's going to go. I havent seen an athletic player worse at evading pressure in the pocket since rob johnson. Absolutely no pocket awareness, or ability to realize when a blitz is coming and make an adjustment. Everybody has seen how clueless the niners are at adjusting to blitzes, and how bad alex is at recognizing this, and throwing a slant or another hot route. Its truely painful to watch. The only thing good about this season is davis and crabtree showing they are studs as well as josh morgan starting to show how good of a player he is as well.
BTW, ninerblitz, basically a second year player. Wow, thats ridiculous wonder how you come up with that logic. Well you keep hoping that alex smith becomes the first qb in history to suck for his first 5 years and actually become a good qb in his 6th year. At least he finally got a got a 300 yard game.
They haven't won much since Smith became the starter. Isn't that the point, to win? I'm talking to you, SteveC. Your losses can be by 3,4,3, or 7, but they're still losses.
StevieMo- are you seriously comparing Smith to Rodgers?? They are on completely different levels.. Dipshit mike Nolan took smith over rodgers which everyone knew was retarded.. Come up with another way of talkin shit about the niners cuz that one is old
StevieMo- are you seriously comparing Smith to Rodgers?? They are on completely different levels.. Dipshit mike Nolan took smith over rodgers which everyone knew was retarded.. Come up with another way of talkin shit about the niners cuz that one is old
Mo is a Dumb-ass! All great GM's and Coaches have to be first timers when they start out...don't they? Pretty sure Sean Payton was a first time head coach with the Saints...wasn't he? Personally I don’t think Smith is the guy but he is better than some others...just look across the bay. Put Rodgers in Smith’s shoes and put Smith in Rodger’s shoes.... Imagine having the luxury of learning behind Brett Favre and on a playoff contender for your first few years....Now imagine playing on a rebuilding team with a porous O-line, no receivers, and a new coordinator every year...
Niners have some pieces in place...They are not there yet, but they are on the right track. If they get to 8-8 they will have made significant strides.
Well said Lott42.. Put the shoe on any rookies foot and see where they would end up in this system.