Optimus Prime

[clyde_carbon]

 

[BINGO]

I'm still a little depressed about this news:

"Coach Jim Harbaugh clarified that Colin Kaepernick will not compete with Alex Smith for the starting job this year. It's an important distinction, as Harbaugh believes heavily in a competition. Kaepernick, Josh Johnson, and Scott Tolzien will battle for the second, third, and fourth spots while Smith is separate as the No. 1 quarterback. Kaepernick will have to outplay Johnson in training camp to be the fallback option should Smith stumble during the season."

Nothing wrong with competing. I'm not sure why Smith is excuse of this rule, no one should be get immunity. What makes him any different than a Frank Gore or a Crabtree. Well anyway, in Harbaugh we trust!

 

[Bemular]

I'm still a little depressed about this news:

"Coach Jim Harbaugh clarified that Colin Kaepernick will not compete with Alex Smith for the starting job this year. It's an important distinction, as Harbaugh believes heavily in a competition. Kaepernick, Josh Johnson, and Scott Tolzien will battle for the second, third, and fourth spots while Smith is separate as the No. 1 quarterback. Kaepernick will have to outplay Johnson in training camp to be the fallback option should Smith stumble during the season."

Nothing wrong with competing. I'm not sure why Smith is excuse of this rule, no one should be get immunity. What makes him any different than a Frank Gore or a Crabtree. Well anyway, in Harbaugh we trust!

Smith is only being excused in the media. Colin is most definitely competing with Alex Smith, as is Johnson & Tolzien. And should Smith falter, Harbaugh won't hesitate to pull the trigger. If this statement were true Smith would have signed a 5-6 year franchise contract.

Smith is the starter for only as long as he is winning.

 

[luckyluke22]

Yeah I see it as a confidence booster for Smith. He needs that stability and comfort to allow him to take a few more risks, ie throw into tighter coverage. So I can see Harbs using the media that way.

 

[Jikkle]

Harbaugh is basically saying that it's Smith's job to lose and we're not going to go into camp splitting 1st team reps or anything like that.

Which is fine because I hate it when teams do those QB competitions and split valuable 1st team reps which just puts everybody behind even when the winner is decided.

If Smith is the guy than he needs as many reps as he can with guys like Crabtree, Moss, Manningham, Jenkins, etc.

But If CK is the better option Harbaugh won't hesitate to pull the trigger.

 

[CalamityX11]

Its on CK aka Prime to dethrone Smith.... Alex should be called Jetfire.

 

[EaseUrStorm]

I'm all in favor of giving Kaep this extra year on the bench. He needed a lot of time to develop so holding a clipboard last year was a good situation, and getting another year to learn the offense inside and out while improving his footwork/mechanics is an ideal situation. Next year the QB competition will be on unless Alex Smith unexpectedly blows away expectations this year.

Alex Smith deserves the starting spot after winning the Saints game last year, but won't be in a comfortable situation. If he keeps stalling on third downs, there will be a lot of pressure creeping up right behind him.

 

[clyde_carbon]

]Yeah I see it as a confidence booster for Smith[/B]. He needs that stability and comfort to allow him to take a few more risks, ie throw into tighter coverage. So I can see Harbs using the media that way.

I'm so sick of people saying that. I've never seen a QB get babied as much as Smith has. There's no reason why Kap shouldn't be competing with Alex for the starting job at this point.

 

[Bemular]

I'm all in favor of giving Kaep this extra year on the bench. He needed a lot of time to develop so holding a clipboard last year was a good situation, and getting another year to learn the offense inside and out while improving his footwork/mechanics is an ideal situation. Next year the QB competition will be on unless Alex Smith unexpectedly blows away expectations this year.

Alex Smith deserves the starting spot after winning the Saints game last year, but won't be in a comfortable situation. If he keeps stalling on third downs, there will be a lot of pressure creeping up right behind him.

I completely agree with this. Failure to convert 3rd downs probably had as much to do with our loss to NY as anything else. So, I agree that improving this statistic will receive critical review during the season as will our Red Zone output.

 

[deep9er]

I'm all in favor of giving Kaep this extra year on the bench. He needed a lot of time to develop so holding a clipboard last year was a good situation, and getting another year to learn the offense inside and out while improving his footwork/mechanics is an ideal situation. Next year the QB competition will be on unless Alex Smith unexpectedly blows away expectations this year.

Alex Smith deserves the starting spot after winning the Saints game last year, but won't be in a comfortable situation. If he keeps stalling on third downs, there will be a lot of pressure creeping up right behind him.

yep, Kap has to continue working on his own game, regardless if there's competition or not. if Alex Smith can work on his mechancis (footwork), so can Kap on his.

no guarantee Alex Smith improves his last year performance, nor play all 16 games.

 

[tallglassofwater007]

Its on CK aka Prime to dethrone Smith.... Alex should be called Jetfire.

This is the way I see it. Smith led the team (granted with a great defense) to a... whatever you want to call it it's not important right now, away from the Superbowl. If you want the job, go take it from him. And I think that Harbaugh is open to that if it comes to it. Smith should have to take it as well and prove that he is indeed the man to lead the team, but I think it is better to have a #1 going in.

 

[Jikkle]

If we weren't so Super Bowl ready I would be completely all in for CK. But since we are I'll go with the best man for the job regardless of who it is.

I do agree with Clyde in that you can only learn so much on the bench but I don't think CK has learned all he can and I don't think another year riding the pine will kill him especially since this is his first full offseason.

I fully expect CK to rip the job from Smith in 2013 barring the unlikely event Smith plays amazing this upcoming season.

 

[I_am_1z]

I'm so sick of people saying that. I've never seen a QB get babied as much as Smith has. There's no reason why Kap shouldn't be competing with Alex for the starting job at this point.

Based on what I saw from him out of college, CK just isn't an NFL QB.


Still, maybe we can get one fluke year from him.

 

[Dodub]

Maybe this just means that they coaching staff isn't exactly sold on CK being a starter in this league. Seems like they brought in Josh Johnson to be the back up plan if Smith falters, CK has to fight for the job that should be his. It just doesn't bode well for CK.

 

[clyde_carbon]

Maybe this just means that they coaching staff isn't exactly sold on CK being a starter in this league. Seems like they brought in Josh Johnson to be the back up plan if Smith falters, CK has to fight for the job that should be his. It just doesn't bode well for CK.

So it doesn't seem like they brought him in to fight for #3 with Tolzien?

 

[threelittleturds]

Just because they say it, it doesn't make it true. Sure, it may seem like Harbaugh is trying to baby Smith by displaying confidence in him as the team's starter... but I don't see how anything Harbaugh says or does dealing specifically with Alex Smith is any different with how other HCs deal with their starting QBs.

With the exception of injury or retirement, I doubt there has ever been a team that had an open competition at QB after a 13 win season while bringing back that starting QB. (Which disqualifies the 12 win Super Bowl Champion Ravens, because they didn't bring back Dilfer)

I think it is just more about a focus on progressing the entire offense. It seems like QB competitions are a huge distraction, because everyone gets asked about it and the media only pays attention to that... and so many other little things that go on with that.

So, with that... I don't think Harbaugh is saying Smith can't or won't lose the job if he sucks this year and the team has a losing record. It just helps them focus on one QB as the starter and everyone on the offense growing up with that QB.

Rant Alert
BTW excuse my rant, I think that douchebag Favre was babied way more than any other QB. The dude threw 5 INTs in a game, and the media and packer fans blamed the kicker for losing the game because he missed a FG. Or throwing 29 INTs in a season with the media and fans blaming the receivers for tipping the balls up for INTs and any other excuse they could dream up to say it wasn't his fault. Threw an INT in OT (twice) in the playoffs, and after the Eagles game the DC lost his job (our current DB coach).. and in 2007 the fans said it wasn't his fault either. 6 INTs against the Rams in the playoffs, and the fans said it wasn't his fault they lost the game.. that it was actually the defense's fault. I could probably go on for days with all of the nonsense those fans said when they were trying to convince everyone that Favre was the perfect QB and never lost a game in his career.... while saying that only his teammates and coaches lost games.

 

[mem49er]

Based on what I saw from him out of college, CK just isn't an NFL QB.


Still, maybe we can get one fluke year from him.

Pessimistic much?

 

[deep9er]

CK should just improve himself as much as possible, period. no guarantee Alex performs like last year, nor remain healthy all 16 games.

if he's a starting caliber NFL QB...and better than Alex...he'll get his chance. Coaches want to win badly too, and will use the best players.

 

[Crimsoncrew]

I'm so sick of people saying that. I've never seen a QB get babied as much as Smith has. There's no reason why Kap shouldn't be competing with Alex for the starting job at this point.

Perhaps. But I've never seen a QB get put through the ringer the way Smith was early in his career, either. Harbaugh's gentle touch might be necessary given Smith's history. Obviously, Harbaugh knows Smith isn't a pro-bowler, isn't elite. He says these things to show support for Smith. But if Kap forces the issue, it will become a competition. That's on him.

 

[Crimsoncrew]

Maybe this just means that they coaching staff isn't exactly sold on CK being a starter in this league. Seems like they brought in Josh Johnson to be the back up plan if Smith falters, CK has to fight for the job that should be his. It just doesn't bode well for CK.

I didn't read it this way. We didn't go hard after Johnson. He sat around for awhile. If they had serious questions about Kap, and thought Johnson was a better backup option or could seriously challenge for the starting spot, they would have been much more aggressive IMO.