Alex Smith must work on sideline routes

[SF The City of Champions]

If the 49ers are going to advance in the playoffs this year Alex Smith must learn how to hit recievers on sideline routes. In the game today he continued to miss badly. On the other hand his down the middle passes are much better. If Alex Smith does not improve teams are going to take the middle away from him and make him beat them down the sidelines.

If Coach Harbaugh can roll him out mostly right he seems to be able to hit more sideline routes. So maybe it's time to get to work in practice with repetitions that can advance the 49ers to lofty goals. You have to give Smith credit for becoming a legit starter in the NFL.

Go 49ers !!

 

[Flyingiguana]

even if he hits ginn on those 2 passes in the 1st half, there were holding calls on both of them. #1 the offensive line needs to step it up or there won't be any advancing

 

[Crimsoncrew]

even if he hits ginn on those 2 passes in the 1st half, there were holding calls on both of them. #1 the offensive line needs to step it up or there won't be any advancing

That's true. It doesn't in any way change the fact that Smith needs to improve his accuracy and touch on sideline passes.

 

[iHATEdodgers]

That's true. It doesn't in any way change the fact that Smith needs to improve his accuracy and touch on sideline passes.

Yeah I agree it's not about what happened during those plays yesterday it's just about getting better.

I remember him making some pretty good passes earlier this season down the sideline to Braylon and Crabtree. It's not about strength if he can chuck it 40-50 yards down the midddle with accuracy he should be able to chuck it 30-40 yards down the sideline with accuracy. So I don't know what it is... I'm not convinced there really is a problem but if so what do you think the problem is with those sideline routes?

 

[MW49ers5]

Yeah I agree it's not about what happened during those plays yesterday it's just about getting better.

I remember him making some pretty good passes earlier this season down the sideline to Braylon and Crabtree. It's not about strength if he can chuck it 40-50 yards down the midddle with accuracy he should be able to chuck it 30-40 yards down the sideline with accuracy. So I don't know what it is... I'm not convinced there really is a problem but if so what do you think the problem is with those sideline routes?

Smith has hit some nice sideline passes - Crabtree twice vs. Philly & Cle; Davis vs. Cin; Morgan vs. Sea, but on the whole his Sideline Go's are problematic.

As for what his problem might be, my guesses would be, if it is mental then it is the window that is created between the receiver and the sideline. If it is physical then it seems like it would be his feet and/or his shoulders and release point

 

[clyde_carbon]

even if he hits ginn on those 2 passes in the 1st half, there were holding calls on both of them. #1 the offensive line needs to step it up or there won't be any advancing

This really is getting ridiculous. I always thought the term Alex lover was dumb, but in your case it really fits.

 

[vvoland]

Smith has hit some nice sideline passes - Crabtree twice vs. Philly & Cle; Davis vs. Cin; Morgan vs. Sea, but on the whole his Sideline Go's are problematic.

As for what his problem might be, my guesses would be, if it is mental then it is the window that is created between the receiver and the sideline. If it is physical then it seems like it would be his feet and/or his shoulders and release point

i think it has a lot to do w/ confidence and reps [mostly in practice]. considering the lack of TC and how little time smith had to learn the system [and JH had to learn his players] the sideline deep go route was probably the least practiced play in the book. we also don't have the classic burner at WR. no mike wallace, desean jackson, torrey smith types. i sincerely believe smith needs to have confidence in his WR to make that throw without cheating to the sideline to avoid the INT. i'm very curious to see what happens when edwards gets healthy.. i hope its in time for our playoff run.

 

[iHATEdodgers]

i think it has a lot to do w/ confidence and reps [mostly in practice]. considering the lack of TC and how little time smith had to learn the system [and JH had to learn his players] the sideline deep go route was probably the least practiced play in the book. we also don't have the classic burner at WR. no mike wallace, desean jackson, torrey smith types. i sincerely believe smith needs to have confidence in his WR to make that throw without cheating to the sideline to avoid the INT. i'm very curious to see what happens when edwards gets healthy.. i hope its in time for our playoff run.

Cheating to the sideline is one thing, but those 2 to Ginn were 5-10 yards out of bounds he does need to be more accurate than that regardless. Anyway it was two passes in an otherwise nearly flawless game from him so it's nitpicking really.

 

[MW49ers5]

i think it has a lot to do w/ confidence and reps [mostly in practice]. considering the lack of TC and how little time smith had to learn the system [and JH had to learn his players] the sideline deep go route was probably the least practiced play in the book.

We also don't have the classic burner at WR. no mike wallace, desean jackson, torrey smith types. i sincerely believe smith needs to have confidence in his WR to make that throw without cheating to the sideline to avoid the INT. i'm very curious to see what happens when edwards gets healthy.. i hope its in time for our playoff run.

I agree confidence does play a role in the pass play, especially in tight coverage and our receivers are not what I would call "good" at all at making adjustments to the ball; two glaring examples of this from the top of my head are Crabtree vs. NYG and Edwards vs. BAL.

That said, however, yesterdays misses were to what appeared to be (I will review the game later tonight or tomorrow) a wide open receiver each time. So I have to chalk those up to just blatant misses.

As for a speed guy, actually, we do have that in Ginn. However, to your point, Ginn is not as technically proficient as say Wallace or Jackson. If Ginn could just develop his hands he could perhaps be our biggest threat at WR or at the very least a double cover #2.

 

[vvoland]

I agree confidence does play a role in the pass play, especially in tight coverage and our receivers are not what I would call "good" at all at making adjustments to the ball; two glaring examples of this from the top of my head are Crabtree vs. NYG and Edwards vs. BAL.

That said, however, yesterdays misses were to what appeared to be (I will review the game later tonight or tomorrow) a wide open receiver each time. So I have to chalk those up to just blatant misses.

As for a speed guy, actually, we do have that in Ginn. However, to your point, Ginn is not as technically proficient as say Wallace or Jackson. If Ginn could just develop his hands he could perhaps be our biggest threat at WR or at the very least a double cover #2.

that receiver just happened to be ginn. i don't think smith has any confidence in ginn. NONE. and its not just his hands. he seems like a very poor route runner. he looks back at the qb halfway through the route, slows down/speeds up in the middle of the pattern, and takes very poor angles to the ball. forget adjustments, simply running the routes as called for seems a puzzle for him. i don't have a chance to review the film [i've been watching these games from 11pm -2am in eastern europe] so i'll be curious to hear what you think about ginns routes on those two deep plays. on the first one, i saw him down/up shift in the middle of the pattern [instead of running hard from the snap and then looking for the ball when appropriate] but had no second look at the one later in the game.

 

[MW49ers5]

that receiver just happened to be ginn. i don't think smith has any confidence in ginn. NONE. and its not just his hands. he seems like a very poor route runner. he looks back at the qb halfway through the route, slows down/speeds up in the middle of the pattern, and takes very poor angles to the ball. forget adjustments, simply running the routes as called for seems a puzzle for him. i don't have a chance to review the film [i've been watching these games from 11pm -2am in eastern europe] so i'll be curious to hear what you think about ginns routes on those two deep plays. on the first one, i saw him down/up shift in the middle of the pattern [instead of running hard from the snap and then looking for the ball when appropriate] but had no second look at the one later in the game.

Interesting comments, V.

I believe one of Ginn's noticeable improvements this year has been his route running. He is catching ~ 80% of the catchable balls thrown in his direction with over 1/2 of those catches coming on "Outs" and "Deep Crosses". Both of those routes are speed, angle and timing sensitive. As for his stutter step, that just sounds like good technique, Crabtree has been using it as well to get open.

Looking back too soon can hurt just as not looking back at all can hurt, so I'll have to pay attention to that. Something else I noticed in (I think) the Baltimore game was how Ginn beat press coverage. I am talking about just one play so more observations are necessary but on this one particular play his explosion off the line left the CB flat footed.

What I would like to see more of from Ginn are Seams, Posts, Digs, Slants, Fades, Back Shoulders and Flats with more YAC. So there is room for improvement with his hands, in his level of concentration and expanding the tree, but overall I think Ginn is doing much better with his routes and even with his hands.

Which leads me to the confidence comment. Smith should have no reason to distrust Ginn any more than our other receivers, with the definite exception of Morgan, and probable exception of Miller, Hunter, Williams & Walker.

But, Crabtree popped one up Sunday, Davis dropped his second long pass that was nearly handed to him, Edwards shit the bed on Thursday and Gore has more drops per target this year than perhaps any other.

Besides, confidence should have nothing to do with throwing a pass to a wide open receiver (at least it sure as hell shouldn't). If you see a wide open receiver, you throw the ball regardless of who it is.

Thus, I still don't think confidence is the culprit as to why those passes seemed to be so poorly thrown; unless, of course, the confidence issue lies with Smith about himself? Smith does have a history of missing wide open receivers from time to time.

Anyway, those are my observations thus far - I will be sure to let you know what I see on those over-throws.

 

[MHSL82]

Cheating to the sideline is one thing, but those 2 to Ginn were 5-10 yards out of bounds he does need to be more accurate than that regardless. Anyway it was two passes in an otherwise nearly flawless game from him so it's nitpicking really.

I'd like to see these plays again, my feed was choppy. If they are 5-10 yards away, there's a chance he was effectively throwing it away because he didn't trust himself or the receiver. Smith has tended to be overly cautious to a fault. There's a chance that he had the green light in his mind, tried to get it somewhere, and wildly missed. There's also the chance that he thought Ginn would be at the point of the ball reaching the sidelines, which of course he needs to fix that. Then there's the chance that he just had no confidence in it getting there, in which he needs to learn when and how to take risks better. None of this absolves Smith, but without seeing it again, I can't take everyone's word that it was at this point (5-10 yards) simply because of accuracy. How this indicated lack of arm strength when it went too far is beyond me unless it needed to be bulleted, he tried to bullet it, and floated it instead. If he tried to float it or otherwise tried not to bullet it, if it needed to be, then that's something he needs to learn, not a physical incapability.

 

[MW49ers5]

I'd like to see these plays again, my feed was choppy. If they are 5-10 yards away, there's a chance he was effectively throwing it away because he didn't trust himself or the receiver. Smith has tended to be overly cautious to a fault. There's a chance that he had the green light in his mind, tried to get it somewhere, and wildly missed. There's also the chance that he thought Ginn would be at the point of the ball reaching the sidelines, which of course he needs to fix that. Then there's the chance that he just had no confidence in it getting there, in which he needs to learn when and how to take risks better. None of this absolves Smith, but without seeing it again, I can't take everyone's word that it was at this point (5-10 yards) simply because of accuracy. How this indicated lack of arm strength when it went too far is beyond me unless it needed to be bulleted, he tried to bullet it, and floated it instead. If he tried to float it or otherwise tried not to bullet it, if it needed to be, then that's something he needs to learn, not a physical incapability.

Yikes! Yeah, '82 I don't think it was as complicated as all of this - I think it is a simple case of Smith just overthrowing an open receiver.

 

[MHSL82]

Yikes! Yeah, '82 I don't think it was as complicated as all of this - I think it is a simple case of Smith just overthrowing an open receiver.

True, but we were talking about accuracy and arm strength as far as capabilities go. So I was analyzing it more. If it was simply, "he overthrew it" I'd give only a passing remark in "maybe he wasn't throwing it there" (as in too cautiously throwing it out of bounds.

... But, you know me, I won't resist a long reply if I can help it!

 

[iHATEdodgers]

I'd like to see these plays again, my feed was choppy. If they are 5-10 yards away, there's a chance he was effectively throwing it away because he didn't trust himself or the receiver. Smith has tended to be overly cautious to a fault. There's a chance that he had the green light in his mind, tried to get it somewhere, and wildly missed. There's also the chance that he thought Ginn would be at the point of the ball reaching the sidelines, which of course he needs to fix that. Then there's the chance that he just had no confidence in it getting there, in which he needs to learn when and how to take risks better. None of this absolves Smith, but without seeing it again, I can't take everyone's word that it was at this point (5-10 yards) simply because of accuracy. How this indicated lack of arm strength when it went too far is beyond me unless it needed to be bulleted, he tried to bullet it, and floated it instead. If he tried to float it or otherwise tried not to bullet it, if it needed to be, then that's something he needs to learn, not a physical incapability.

Well I definitely don't think he lacks arm strength - as evidenced by the other bombs he threw yesterday - and I think it's definitely nitpicking... I thought he had a great game and if that's all everyone is complaining about I'll take it.

When I say 5-10 yards I mean the ball may have bounced that far out of bounds, it's not like he threw it 10 yards over Ginn's head. Definitely not close to catchable though. I'm not too concerned about all of this anyway people just felt like making a big deal about this because there's nothing else to harp on right now.

 

[MW49ers5]

True, but we were talking about accuracy and arm strength as far as capabilities go. So I was analyzing it more. If it was simply, "he overthrew it" I'd give only a passing remark in "maybe he wasn't throwing it there" (as in too cautiously throwing it out of bounds.

... But, you know me, I won't resist a long reply if I can help it!

LOL!!!...Yeah, My Brother, I do know you; at least as far as posting on this (and the other) forum goes.

You're always a good read, '82 don't change a thing. If I don't get ya, I'll just post a friendly WTF? and have you explain it...

 

[Flyingiguana]

This really is getting ridiculous. I always thought the term Alex lover was dumb, but in your case it really fits.

this has nothing to do with smith. i believe the last 3 long passes he has thrown to ginn over the past 2 games have resulted in penalties.

we can talk all day about former 1st rounders like smith, davis, edwards and crabtree not performing like you would expect of them, but at the end of the day the offensive line has to at least hold up. we're not gonna win shit in the playoffs if the offensive line keeps playing like shit.

 

[yehyeh]

There'sno surprise here. Smith sails deep passes down the sideline. He had Crabtree twice against the Browns and sailed each of those. He sailed a couple yesterday. He is much more accurate down the middle of the field, always has been. He just has problems with the perspective down the sideline.

 

[SportsTIPS]

He needs to produce TD's when in the Red Zone. No more of these field goal points.

 

[iHATEdodgers]

He needs to produce TD's when in the Red Zone. No more of these field goal points.

On at least two of these most recent redzone forays they have run the ball all three downs. Plus Crabtree - who is getting better and better - straight up dropped a perfect pass that could have been a td. Smith also threw that pick a few weeks back (2nd pick ever in the redzone I believe). The team has not been good in the redzone the past few weeks; which is actually not the norm for them. The offense needs to produce TDs against better teams that's for sure.