Smith Screwed by Harbaugh

[StateoftheSport.com]

Last year Alex Smith took the 49ers to the NFC Championship game where he played well enough to win. This season he is putting up elite numbers and has been benched by his coach for the younger Kaepernick. Kaepernick doesn't have the stats that Smith has and Smith has played 2/3rds and many games and has improved in every facet of his game since last season. He is getting a raw deal and I have yet to figure out why.

 

[DanBengalfan]

Kaepernick is the only quarterback in the history of Division I FBS college football to have passed for over 10,000 yards and rushed for over 4,000 yards in a collegiate career. Kaepernick is also the only Division 1 FBS QB to have passed for over 2,000 yards and rushed for over 1,000 yards in a single season three times in a career (consecutively).

He was drafted to be the QB, Smith will be let go, and you have to believe based on the high draft pick used for him that this was the plan for the last 2 years.

Good teams transition their QBs from good QB to good QB, they don't wait for a QB to fail so that they have to bench him.
see Manning to Luck, Bledsoe to Brady, Favre to Rodgers, Montana to Young. Heck, the Pats even drafted Ryan Mallett to backup Brady (age 35) when he was coveted by other teams to be their starter.

 

[StateoftheSport.com]

First of all, I don't care about what the kid did in college. It's irrelevant to what he has done in the pros, Tebow is a great example of that. I understand the business and what took place but none of your examples really fit this situation. Favre was 40 and had 2 seasons of holding the organization hostage by taking months to decide his future at the end of the season. That situation was also dealt with at the end of the season. Bledsoe had a serious injury that took him out of the lineup for a long while and by the time he could come back it would have been detrimental to the team. Manning and Luck was a situation where Manning's injury left to many question for the Colts to pay his salary. Once again a situation that occurred during the off season. Smith is still a fairly young QB who got a concussion and was out for a week. He took the team to the NFC Championship and threw 2 TD Passes in that game. He was completeing 70% of his passes, throwing for more TD's than he did a season ago and had a QB rating of 104. He was getting better, not worse. The only reason to make this switch right now is because the 49ers wanted to make the switch in the off season, but with how well Smith was playing it might have been more difficult if he made it to the Super Bowl or won it. Whatever the circumstance, it's a shit thing to do to a guy that has fought so hard and has done everything the right way to be the starter and now had it ripped from his grasp for no reason.

 

[1911Alaska]

The 49ers passing offense has improved with Kaepernick under center. Any one can see that. What I don't get is why you are not banned for spamming with your website every post

 

[wildturkey]

Harbaugh made Alex Smith. Harbaugh will destroy Alex Smith. MWHAHAHAHA

 

[StateoftheSport.com]

I don't see it as spamming. It's not like I just throw a link in the middle of a conversation and don't contribute. I make comments, drop one link per conversation and never ask anyone to click on it. If you like what I have to say and want to check out more of my opinions then great. I don't understand why people have a problem with this. There is nothing in the terms of the site that says I can't drop a link every now and then as long as I'm a contributing member of the site.

 

[ForkEmBucky]

Kaepernick does have that playmaker ability every down. Smith has it sometimes, but Kaepernick has that "anything can happen" feel. Somehow I think it's dangerous to lean on him in the playoffs when you know that Smith will control the game, though. He had a really ugly pick last week.

 

[StateoftheSport.com]

2 years ago i would agree with your assessment of Smith, actually, most of last year as well. In the last few weeks Smith took that step from being the guy who won't lose you a game to being the guy who can win you a game. He proved that in the playoffs against the Saints. He has proven it this season as well. He's completing 70% of his passes and has a passer rating of 104. Kaepernick hasn't been tested to the degree that Smith has and in his 2 starts he has faced damaged teams. The Bears didn't have cutler and the Saints haven't been the same this season without Peyton and The 14 points from the defense is what won them that game. I just don't see where the "hot hand" is coming from or how they are judging what the hot hand is.

 

[DanBengalfan]

dude...

use the return key every so often.

 

[StateoftheSport.com]

Fair enough. I'll keep that in mind in the future.

 

[Shanemansj13]

Yeah he took them to NFC Championship, but Harbaugh wants a SB! Kaerpernick is the athlete and QB to make that happen, and he has the hot hand. Why not give him the opportunity to prove himself. I feel for Alex Smith, but he is professional and handled himself in best possible way...he's a good guy, he will have another shot if Kaerpernick fucks up.

 

[Smoke]

Smith isn't good enough to get them a Lombardi Trophy. Just look at the list of QB's on the Super Bowl winning teams since '03. You can't win it all with "game-managers" anymore like the Ravens and Bucs did in the early '00's.

 

[Shanemansj13]

Smith isn't good enough to get them a Lombardi Trophy. Just look at the list of QB's on the Super Bowl winning teams since '03. You can't win it all with "game-managers" anymore like the Ravens and Bucs did in the early '00's.

^^^^^This. They cant get over the HUMP w/ Smith.

 

[StateoftheSport.com]

You do realize that Smith had the NFC Championship won if it weren't for 2 really bad special teams plays? He was noticeably better this season than last as well.

You say he can't get over the hump like he has failed there multiple times, like a McNab or Kelly, when last year was his first year making it that far. If his progress remains on the same path then what makes you think he can't win those last 2 games?

 

[DanBengalfan]

so, Smith was screwed by Harbaugh?

 

[Shanemansj13]

so, Smith was screwed by Harbaugh?

LOL. If Smith was QB, I guarantee they wouldn't be where they are right now.

@ this failed thread

 

[jeffro151]

Shame on Harbaugh going with who he thought gave the 49ers the best chance to win. I guess a making it to the Super Bowl just doesn't cut it.

 

[StateoftheSport.com]

First off all I made the comment right after it happened. Second, I believe that based off of his performance to the time of his benching that Alex Smith had earned his spot on the team. His Rating is still better than Kaepernick's and smith lost fewer games.

The 49ers were probably going to the Super Bowl regardless of the QB, so the fact that they made it there is insignificant to me in this argument. Now if we want to look at the Super Bowl and the performance of the team in the first half I think it is reasonable to argue that if Kaepernick didn't get off to such a poor start than the 29ers might have pulled out a win. I'm not sure that Smith with his 70% completion would have missed so many passes.

You people can say what you want about the end results of Harbaughs decision, but the fact of the matter is that if a top 5 QB (statistically) missed a game due to injury and didn't didn't get his job back and his name was anything other than Smith people would have blown a gasket. Let's say Brady was replaced by Mallot, what would you say about the situation then?

 

[Robotech]

First off all I made the comment right after it happened. Second, I believe that based off of his performance to the time of his benching that Alex Smith had earned his spot on the team. His Rating is still better than Kaepernick's and smith lost fewer games.

The 49ers were probably going to the Super Bowl regardless of the QB, so the fact that they made it there is insignificant to me in this argument. Now if we want to look at the Super Bowl and the performance of the team in the first half I think it is reasonable to argue that if Kaepernick didn't get off to such a poor start than the 29ers might have pulled out a win. I'm not sure that Smith with his 70% completion would have missed so many passes.

You people can say what you want about the end results of Harbaughs decision, but the fact of the matter is that if a top 5 QB (statistically) missed a game due to injury and didn't didn't get his job back and his name was anything other than Smith people would have blown a gasket. Let's say Brady was replaced by Mallot, what would you say about the situation then?

Whether people blew a gasket or not, Harbaugh made the right decision.

It is not insignificant that the Niners made the Super Bowl. No one can know if Smith could've led them there. It's too much to say that such a result is probable. While Alex had a 104 passer rating to Kaepernick's 98 rating, this does not account for Kaepernick's contribution to the running game. Also, the Niners averaged scoring more points with Kaepernick at QB and had many more plays where they gained 20 or more yards. The Niners defense was rather mediocre at the end of the regular season and in the playoffs yet they still made the Super Bowl. It is not insignificant at all.

 

[StateoftheSport.com]

It's after the fact. At the time the decision was made, it wasn't the right decision. You don't bench a top 5 QB if he misses a game with an injury. it just isn't done on any level.

My point now is that it is easy to say that the right decision was made after the season and seeing the results. The reason I say that the Super Bowl doesn't matter in this decision is because the decision was made in the middle of the season and the discussion was supposed to be within that context. Another reason is because Smith played well enough to make the Super Bowl last year and without the 2 botched kicks would have made the game last year.

If you want to argue that it was the right decision now based on results, at least acknowledge that at the time it was move that typically wasn't made and that Smith, while playing better than almost everyone in the NFL was screwed out of his spot.