Qb position, now what?

[spacedoodoopistol]

Yeah, he should have taken those Sing/Raye teams to the Super Bowl. Great point.

 

[-AC-]

4th year in the league, but a lot of Giants fans were just like a lot of us prior to that season. They had all but written Manning off and wanted him out after those first 3 years. He was not exactly having a great 4th season, but he made it all work right when it counted. They only won that Super Bowl game 14-7 by the way so it's not exactly like Manning won the game on his own. The Giants defense carried that team, but it gave Manning the confidence to become what he is today. I would say that 1 drive easily changed his entire career.

Seriously?

 

[wartyOne]

Yeah, he should have taken those Sing/Raye teams to the Super Bowl. Great point.

If he had Belichick, he couldn't have taken the Patriots to the SB.

Great point.

Moron.

 

[spacedoodoopistol]

Warren Moon never went to a Super Bowl at all. Forgettable career, right?

 

[-AC-]

Lots stop comparing Alex to Manning and Moon...

 

[Kinzu]

This is a joke, right?

Nope
The Giants defense carried that team to a Super Bowl much in the same way ours nearly did last year, but that 4th quarter scoring drive to beat the Patriots easily changed Mannings whole career.

Imagine if they lose that game only scoring 7 points. The NY Fans would have still been calling for Manning to be cut, traded, or benched and citing the poor Super Bowl performance as evidence he did not have what it takes.

The fact is he threw up a prayer and Tyree made a ridiculous catch. They went on to score the game winning TD and suddenly Mannings whole career changed. He was now the Golden Child that brought another Super Bowl to New York. The next season he suddenly started to play more like a QB with confidence in himself, and here we are today having discussions over which is the better Manning.

Tyree doesn't make that catch and the Giants lose that Super Bowl and Manning is probably not the Giants QB today.

I have to correct myself here. The score of that game was 17-14. Mannings numbers 19/34 255yds 2 td's 1 int. If you're wondering yes Alex Smith could put up those numbers on 34 attempts. Manning did not have a great game on paper, but he was 9 of 14 for 152yds and 2 TD's in the 4th quarter. That 4th quarter is what earned him the MVP honors and easily turned his whole career around.

Like I said imagine his career today if he did not have that 4th quarter in the Super Bowl.

 

[NinersFan80]

San Francisco 49ers video | CSNBayArea.com | CSNCalifornia.com

Listen VD's interview. That will tell you it all right there. "Tom Brady like throws"

Watch

 

[-AC-]

Ridiculous analogy...

 

[imac_21]

Kaep has very good velocity on his passes and a much stronger arm that is for sure, but Smith made a career comeback basically off that very same pass to Davis. We've seen Smith hit Davis on that same route by dropping the ball in between the coverage countless times. Smith also actually has completed passes down the field prior to stepping out of bounds. The difference is Smith does not always do these things and didn't do many of them at all until the last 3-4 years of his career.

I'm all for which ever QB we decide to go with. As I said I easily though Kaepernick was the 2nd best QB in the draft that year and was extremely happy we got him. If Kaep could play every game around the level he did tonight then hell yes he deserve to start. The thing is we don't know if he can. What if next week is a 3 Int game where the Saints tears us apart? The choice really comes down to sticking with Mr. Consistent in Alex were we know each and every week not to expect huge plays, but not to expect any game killing mistakes. Or, go with Kaep who will hit the big plays, but may or may not have a few bad games coming to him.

It's not normal for a winning team this late into the season to suddenly switch QB's. This is how ever not a normal situation. Kaep clearly brings more promise to the table, but is he ready to lead a team to the Super Bowl? I can answer yes to that question with Alex based off of last year, but with Kaep I don't know. It might not be a horrible thing for him to start next week just to see where he is at as 1 game really means nothing. If he struggles then back to Alex, but if he lights it up again I think you have to stay with it.

It wasn't even close to the same pass. Smith hits Davis with a post route down the seam with one defender trailing Vernon. Kaep threw it off his back foot on a slant, into traffic. Smith hasn't made that throw, won't make that throw, can't make that throw. He doesn't have the velocity to make that throw.

I want to take this opportunity to remind people I have not said that Kaep should start next week.

I've said simply that Smith is not worth a second round pick in a trade, and that Kaep can do things on the field that Smith can't.

 

[NinersFan80]

Kaepernick also has tattoos on his arms, that automatically makes him better.

 

[imac_21]

4th year in the league, but a lot of Giants fans were just like a lot of us prior to that season. They had all but written Manning off and wanted him out after those first 3 years. He was not exactly having a great 4th season, but he made it all work right when it counted. They only won that Super Bowl game 14-7 by the way so it's not exactly like Manning won the game on his own. The Giants defense carried that team, but it gave Manning the confidence to become what he is today. I would say that 1 drive easily changed his entire career.

So Manning winning a Super Bowl (against a team that was 18-0) in his fourth season is the equivalent of Smith winning a divisional playoff game at home in his 7th season.

Yeah, divisional game = Super Bowl. For Smith to be on the same level as Eli with playoff success he needs to win the Super Bowl this year. Twice.

 

[spacedoodoopistol]

Why do people try to evaluate an individual player based on his team's success? Shouldn't every Niner fan, by now, realize the impact a coaching staff and system has on a player's success? Some of the best players ever never did anything in the playoffs.

 

[imac_21]

Why do people try to evaluate an individual player based on his team's success? Shouldn't every Niner fan, by now, realize the impact a coaching staff and system has on a player's success? Some of the best players ever never did anything in the playoffs.

Yeah, if we ignore team success, then 2011 Alex Smith is. . . what exactly?

 

[clyde_carbon]

When Vernon Davis, one of Alex's most notable supporters, goes on Twitter and says that he's finally been uncuffed, what is there to argue?

 

[Kinzu]

So Manning winning a Super Bowl (against a team that was 18-0) in his fourth season is the equivalent of Smith winning a divisional playoff game at home in his 7th season.

Yeah, divisional game = Super Bowl. For Smith to be on the same level as Eli with playoff success he needs to win the Super Bowl this year. Twice.

No, was just pointing out how 1 drive can redefine a QB's entire career. Mannings was way more meaningful than Smiths. If Smith had done that in the Super Bowl we would all being going Kaep who? right now.

The weird thing is first impressions are such a big deal. A bad QB can redefine their career off of 1 great season, but a good QB has to put up several years of bad games to suddenly be bad. We always have this notion that it's a slump, and that magic that made them so good early will eventually come back. However, if you start bad even after several good games you're still bad. It's a funny league like that.

 

[MHSL82]

Without Harbaugh, Smith is out of the league. I'm honestly shocked that people are actually arguing this.

I think he'd be a backup somewhere, as he is smart, loyal, and experienced, but point taken. Smith wouldn't be where he is without Harbaugh.

Wow, so many people letting one win against a team, albeit a good team, who game planned totally wrong want to make a major move with only 6 games till the playoffs.

The way Lovie Smith kept saying that it didn't matter who the QB was, we were going to run the ball a lot, and then the obligatory PC "and pass too," seemed to convince Harbaugh to come out passing like we did against the Giants in the regular season last year. It could have backfired, but it surprisingly took them by surprise. It was the suredness of Lovie Smith that bugged me - I was hoping for this.

 

[Kinzu]

Bears played horrible. They had no chance to win no matter who we had at QB with that offense. I don't think Alex Smith's stats would have looked a whole lot different if he started. He would have picked the Bears apart tonight with how badly they played defense. It would have looked a whole lot different than what Kaep did though.

The Bears just did not show up to win tonight. They looked very much like we did against the Giants and Vikings. They got shell shocked and taking out of the game early. Trying to run the football against us is always a bad idea if you can't complete at least some passes to keep the chains moving.

It was a great idea to have Kaep come out throwing. The fact that he did it so well really took the Bears defense out of the game. They seem unable to respond to it and because of that they were off balance all night.

 

[MHSL82]

In the 4th quarter, Smith had the "Oh FUCK!!!! I'm unemployed," look on his face. He absolutely wasn't happy his team was winning.

Expectations of having a QB who can make the throws Kaep made, take the risks he took, making pre-snap adjustments, etc. have all been reasonable expectations for the Niners. Smith didn't do those, at least not consistently.

But expecting Smith when he sees the marching orders to be happy for his team scoring, when they are already up 27-0 should not be expected and questioning his desire to win or happiness for his teammates is just piling on. If we were down by six and we scored a winning TD, then I would see it as something more. But up 27-0? Kaep said Smith was the first person on the sidelines to tell him great job after scoring (not literally probably), but I don't see a problem here. The cameras didn't show Smith all game or after the first TD. You can't expect him to have no pride, especially when his team is already going to win. People sounded upset in the 2011 offseason that Smith wouldn't just accept a backup role in SD but rather fought for his job.

I expect him to fight for it and Kaep to be there in 2014 at the latest. Not betting on Smith, just his heart (in the sports sense). He probably lost his starting job last night or next game, just I know he doesn't "not care about his team winning."

Just to be clear, I believe Smith does have the confidence in himself that he can do it. It's just that he's been in situations where he didn't have any control so he probably felt a little dejected when he saw the writing on the wall presented to him. I must note that he cares about winning but isn't always the most vocal about it. I can't read too much into it, for all I know he could just be upset that he wasn't playing.

 

[coffeeman]

It wasn't even close to the same pass. Smith hits Davis with a post route down the seam with one defender trailing Vernon. Kaep threw it off his back foot on a slant, into traffic. Smith hasn't made that throw, won't make that throw, can't make that throw. He doesn't have the velocity to make that throw.

I want to take this opportunity to remind people I have not said that Kaep should start next week.

I've said simply that Smith is not worth a second round pick in a trade, and that Kaep can do things on the field that Smith can't.

I agree with this. Two things I thought we would see last night from Kaep we did not... turnovers and running. I think his passing actually opened up the running game and that's something Alex Smith could not have done last night.

I think that Smith starts next week but I know one thing for sure... there will be no 7.5 million dollar bonus for Smith on April 1st next year.

 

[SRPnVA]

I say you gotta let the kid play. He deserves another start. If he can pick apart the bears, he should destroy New Orleans. Even if he doesn't our D can still win the game for us. To me, this is a no brainer.