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Smith may get call in new quarterback controversy
By David Zizmor October 28, 2009 |
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SANTA CLARA--The 49ers loss to Houston last Sunday was not a huge surprise when you consider the play of the team in the first half and the Niners didn't look all that good and a lot of that was on offense. The 49ers went into the half trailing 21-0 and a lot of that was for non performance by the offense, part of it was the offensive line, part of it was quarterback Shaun Hill and you put it all together and how they played in the previous game against Atlanta and it was time for a quarterback change and a energy swing and energy boost from quarterback Alex Smith and Hill was just not doing it. To be fair to Hill it was not totally his fault the offensive line was not doing a good job because he had guys in face all the time. It's really hard to get comfortable in the pocket all the time when your line is not giving you anytime to throw. With Alex Smith he almost brought the team back in the second half but what he needs to do is throw in a more consistent basis unlike he has over the last few years. Smith had shown flashes in the past but never put them together for more than a game. You got to do it game after game after game, that's what makes a guy like Peyton Manning so great, they do it every single time and Smith has to develop that. So the 49ers don't really know what their getting from Smith if last Sunday was just an aberration or if the guy has grown up. Remember he came into the league as a very young guy and he really came out after his junior year not his senior year and thrown in as a starter pretty quickly. Most guys at age 21 are not even in the NFL let alone starting for a pro team. That was where Smith was, he was under a lot of pressure, he had a lot of craziness going on around him that would change the team and coaching staff and the offensive coordinators. Smith had to learn a lot of offensive strategies and styles hopefully he's had a little time to absorb the new system under offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye and get those skills and he understands it well enough to be successful with it let's give him a chance. Again he certainly has good arm strength, he's a smart guy, and he has some better talent around him than he had in the past. The one besides Smith making his 2009 debut we saw wide receiver Michael Crabtree come onto the field and he was everything we thought he would be granted he didn't score a touchdown or anything like that but you could see the talent oozing out of him. Crabtree had six catches in last Sunday's ball game for 50 plus yards he didn't have a big play but you could really see where the talent is. He has amazing hands and you hear the guy on the coaching staff and you could hear his team mates say that he has late hands which means he doesn't have to put his hands up until the ball is right on top of him which is really good which because it means the defensive back can't read the wide receiver. If the guy has his hands down and he can put them up at the last second and still catch the ball thats less time for the defensive back to react to make a play on the ball. So thats really a big deal for the quarterback and for the wide receiver and for the 49ers offense as a whole. You could just see Crabtree has tremendous hands, he's a good route runner and he's only had a couple week's practice. So this guy is bound to improve so he'll make his starts and he's only a rookie going two steps forward and one step back with that kind of thing going on. Having him on the field already will make Smith better so thats got to be a big help for him and Vernon Davis is infinitely better than the last time Smith played with him. Davis is a much more matured player, he's better just talent wise he's grown and he's just better. The 49ers continue the second of their two game road trip concluding the trip with the Indianapolis Colts at the old Hoosier Dome a 10:00AM PST |
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