The biggest difference between Alex Smith and Colin Kaepernick is Kaepernick is not afraid to anticipate throws. He does not wait for confirmation that a wide receiver is open.
Smith has become so conservative, calculating and untrusting that he consciously waits for confirmation.
If a quarterback has to wait for confirmation before making the throw, it is too late.
Smith is like a pitcher who calculates his ERA on the mound in the middle of an inning.
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Don’t know if I like the ERA analogy. I like boxing analogies. Smith is like a fighter who has a big right hand but will not throw it.
He isn’t thinking about the knockout, he’s thinking about leaving himself exposed and getting knocked out himself.
On the rare occasion that Smith does throw the right hand, it’s because his opponent has mistakenly dropped his hands and the opening is to hard to ignore.
That us a really good analogy.
*is
Good post Bay.
ok i like this but not the word afraid
word afraid was not said i imprinted my bias onto the statement
because grant planted the connotation
Bay,
You don’t think GR has anything to do with the offense? If AS throws more, he is in the mix for total passing yds. He has thrown 120 times less than the top passing yardage QBs. That’s his main negative. That’s on GR period!!!
That’s because they stay balanced. When they have tried to be pass happy it hasn’t worked.
Jack, what are you trying to say? By the numbers, they look balanced, but when they run or pass, the timing has been interesting at best especially in the RZ.
BTW, thanks for answering for Bay. You tend to butt in when it’s not necessary.
Jack why do you follow Hof around like a little puppy. Your just dying to dialogue with him and show that you are right all the time. It’s kinda creepy, creepo!
You’re welcome Hofer. I am saying the team is at it’s best when they establish the run first. That allows them to play to Smith’s strengths of PA and quick short throws.
When they get away from that formula Smith struggles.
Jack, establishing the run first helps every NFL team. That’s not revolutionary! Throwing 50 times a game isn’t a formula for winning period! Again, not so much on AS as GR, who doesn’t have outstanding pass offense credentials.
When they get away from the run Smith struggles? No one else just Smith right Jack. Every single play call,formation, scheme revolves around Alex? And you said you coached, ha!
Hofer,
Smith has thrown only 2 incomplete passes his last 5+ quarters. Why? Because Roman has called primarily PA throws and quick passes. Why? Because that is what Smith does well. And because of this they need to run the ball.
I give Roman credit for calling plays that work with his players strengths.
This is what good coaches do. The player dictates the system, the system does not dictate the player.
Jack, GR called those plays because that is what the defense was giving the 9ers offense at the time. If GR was progressive and a creative OC, he would find ways to get VD the ball. No one is more explosive on the offense and yet GR still hasn’t found a way to utilize his skill set. Play it straight Jack! Do you believe GR is a top OC based on credentials and innovation?
Hofer, he used his personnel substitutions to dictate the groupings Arizona was putting against them. He forced Arizona’s hand not the other way around. And he called a couple deep balls, but Alex checked down instead of taking the shot to an open Davis on a corner route behind Adrian Wilson.
As for Roman’s use of Davis, I have said all along that the issue there is not Roman but Smith. Roman calls the plays, but Smith decides where the ball goes.
And I feel that Roman is a very good offensive coordinator due to his ability to design plays and schemes that fit the strengths of his players.
“design plays and schemes that fit the strengths of his players.”
Jack, if this were true, he would get VD more involved week to week. He is the most explosive weapon on offense yet he doesn’t include him unless it is a new blocking scheme. That’s not innovative or creative.
As for Roman’s use of Davis, I have said all along that the issue there is not Roman but Smith. Roman calls the plays, but Smith decides where the ball goes. It should come as no surprise that Davis’ targets went up from late in the 2nd quarter on during the game Sunday.
And who cares about Davis? Smith has only 2 incomplete passes over 5+ quarters, and as you said in another thread Smith is creating a nice rapport with Crabtree.
Jack, why can’t AS and MC create chemistry with a few passes while GR creates plays to include an explosive VD? They aren’t mutually exclusive!! That’s what OC’s at the top of their game do!!!!
As for Roman’s use of Davis, I have said all along that the issue there is not Roman but Smith. Roman calls the plays, but Smith decides where the ball goes. It should come as no surprise that Davis’ targets went up from late in the 2nd quarter on during the game Sunday.
Jack, the VD and AS connection is strong especially when GR devises a game plan to include VD. There has never been a chemistry issue with VD and MC. AS doesn’t deviate from the game plan and GR is the architect of each and every game plan. You are too quick to lay blame on AS. Not a surprise there!
It should come as no surprise that Davis’ targets went up when Kaepernick went into the game.
And as I have said, this getting Davis involved thing is a none issue to me, but rather low hanging fruit for those that don’t like the way Roman calls a game.
Hof/Jack
What is the disagreement here? Or am I reading it in a more confrontational manner than you two meant it?
VD is the best passing weapon, and has been for several years. MC for a variety of reasons hasn’t ever taken advantage of that.
This year, last 2 games especially, MC and AS were kicking ass. Then AS got injured, and it was like MC vanished. I didn’t notice VD much either with CK.
AS doesn’t need to worry about connecting with VD. Just like you don’t need to worry that your left arm will fall off if you don’t hold it with your right. Those 2 are fine.
If AS developed the same thing with MC, there would be as much MC criticism as there is VD criticism. Which is to say, none.
Jack,
You keep stating that the VD targets went up when CK entered the game. How do you know GR changed the game plan? Do you know unequivocally that GR changed the plays when CK came in or are you just assuming?? Do you have inside knowledge Jack or are you just plain biased with this assumption?
DS,
Hofer and I disagree on Roman’s ability to call an effective game, and Hofer feels that I have an agenda against Smith.
Hofer,
It is based on the fact that Davis was targeted 5 times on Sunday. 1 time by Smith in the 1st quarter, and 4 times by Kaepernick, including on 2 of his 4 pass attempts in the last 6+ minutes of the 2nd quarter.
http://ninerchatter.blogspot.com/2012/11/film-review-colin-kaepernick-first-half.html
Jack,
You are stating game plan absolutes when you have no inside knowledge. Of course that is biased!!
Jack, if AS isn’t hurt and stays in the game, maybe VD is targeted a total of 5 times as well. Maybe 6 or 7. Your point is without merit. It proves nothing without inside knowledge!!
Hofer,
The person who the ball was thrown to is an absolute, and that is how targets are defined by the NFL.
Jack you are boring and anyone can see clear as day you have an agenda with Alex. Go watch TV or write on your own blog.
Maybe Smith does target him more often if he stays in the game. We’ll never know the answer…
Thank you for the reply Jack.
Now don’t let me get in the way of anything here.
:- )
Hof and Jack
I will let you guys on a little secret. Your both right. Roman does a fine job of making up plays and that sort of stuff. On the other hand Roman game calling has a little bit to be desired. Case in point. Walsh would call a little dump to the right side, most of the time that play was netting from 4 to 7 yards. Next play he would call the same except to the other side with the same results. The dumps were usually to the RBs but he occasionaly to other receivers. Then he would run sweeps to both sides. Now what he has achieved is the defense has to pull up and spread out. Wa la up the middle and again up the middle defense is on its heels doesnt know what to do. Walsh set up the run game with his short, high percentage passes. Roman doesnt work the field in his play calling IMO.
Jack,
You can try to spin it anyway you wish but you are incorrect. You don’t know if GR deviated from the game plan with CK replacing AS, you don’t know that if AS plays the whole game that VD isn’t target 5 times or more, you don’t have insider knowledge one way or the other so why do you pretend to know more than you do?
Yes you have an agenda and yes you are biased.
Whatever you say Hofer. My agenda and bias with Smith is very similar to yours with Kaepernick.
Hof when Jack first came on the blog he was impartial, actually pretty good to talk some football. Now he thinks he knows it all. This new blog of his has made him dizzy or something.
Lets face it, there is not one hater on here that you can have a decent football convo with anymore. They just make stuff up and base everything on speculation. How can you talk football with anyone like that?
Jack,
Thanks for the justification with a very poor excuse/response.
You’re welcome.
And everybody ignores undercenters post here which was the only one that made sense. As it will always be.
One more lesson… Jack likes saying “You’re welcome.” I bet that will be scrutinized and discussed to death.
DS,
You are right, undercenter’s post was good, but it got lost in the debate between Hofer and I about Roman.
This is the best analogical description of Smith I have ever seen. Very perceptive and descriptive. Thanks! But it should not be considered a knock on Smith. It’s an analysis of his style. If it’s a knock, it’s only a knock on that kind of quarterback style. There have been some very successful quarterbacks with that style. And some very great boxers with that style.
There is zero % chance that any starting qb in the NFL, particularly one with the exellent efficiency numbers Smith has (ie. YPA, comp. %, QBR) isn’t able to ‘anticipate’ throws. Every qb in the league has to routinely make a throw before a receiver has even made the break in his route that it is “anticipated” will free him up from his coverage.
What are you talking about?
I am inclined to agree. I’ve noticed Alex’s eyes scannign the field when the camera zooms to his face, so he is goind thru his progressions as well.
What drives the fanbase nuts is the low %age of throws down the field and (in my case) the number of sacks he takes.
We get it Grant. You want CK over Smith. You’re beginning to sound like a broken record.
+1
If CK does somehow take the starting job this board will explode. The Alex über alles crowd will freak out. These folks bashed Shaun Hill daily when he had a better winning record than Alex (he still does, by the way) and they absolutely lost their excrement when the team went after a Hall of Fame QB to replace him.
The thing is – I don’t really see that CK is any better than Alex. His ability to extend a play is better but his ball security is worse. His ability to see the field seems just as bad as Alex’. His ceiling is much higher but at present he’s pretty raw.
Unless CK goes nuts against the Bears I don’t see why the coaches would make him the starter now.
Alex isn’t the runner CK is, but he does have wheels.
Unfortunately, Alex usually uses his wheels to roll right and throw it out of bounds.
I think we call that a smart play.
Clem,
by now opinions can be made about Smith based on watching him for 8 years.
He’s roughly played in over 510 quarters which is roughly 7650 minutes unless my math is bad which it could be. That is enough time to form an opinion of a QB and they tendencies.
How can anyone form an opinion of CK and already label him a fumbler and label him as a QB that doesn’t protect the ball after 4 quarters of football? 4 quarters which equate to 60 minutes. And not just 4 quarters but his first 4 quarters ever……
Just curious.
2 fumbles in one game is bad, period. I’ve listened to 7 years of excuses for the Precious. I’ll be damned if I make excuses for CK.
CK has fumbled 3xs so far this year on a very small amount of playing time.
Does CK have “small hands” :)
make opinions based on the last 2 years is more appropriate
What is this 8 yr crap??!!
He had no talent around him as a 20 yr old rookie starter, was out for 1.5 years injured, had poor HC at best, multiple OCs. Fortunately, CK hasn’t had those challenges yet he still is very rough around the edges. If he learns to play from the pocket, he will be something very special.
He’s always been that way Grant. Again everything has to be put in place perfectly for him. He is your typical prototype game manager. Not like its a bad thing. Ck is different because he would throw the ball on deep routes and trust his receivers to make the play. Alex smith rarely let’s his receivers make a play on the ball. If its not called for. There are two aspects to pitching and catching in the nfl. Smith leaves only one. You get the ball if I feel its totally safe. I think his early career ints and his lack of a cannon arm keep him a game manager type qb. Then again I guess he does out it on the receivers to break tackles and get Yac’s. that doesn’t work come playoff time. He still needs to stretch the field.
How quickly people forget plays like “Vernon Post.” Alex was in his windup as Vernon was making his break.
What made Vernon Post so remarkable was its rarity.
What about his touchdown pass to Crabtree while CB Peterson was mugging Crabtree?
Again, great because it is rare that we see that type of pass even attempted.
Jack, stay tuned. MC and AS are building a chemistry that will only get better in years to come.
But we need to force the ball to Davis instead right Hofer?
Jack, why force the ball to VD?
It is GR’s job to create ways to get VD open. It’s called being creative and innovative and it’s been lacking when VD is concerned. His running attack has been outstanding which is understandable since his background/expertise is the run offense.
god grant your posts are becoming more and more outlandish. you sound like unhappy fan not a profesional journalist. we all know you hate alex, write about how sopoaga can be blamed for he defenses run woes lately if you wanna bash someone.
“The biggest difference between Alex Smith and Colin Kaepernick is Kaepernick is not afraid to anticipate throws. He does not wait for confirmation that a wide receiver is open.
Smith has become so conservative, calculating and untrusting that he consciously waits for confirmation.”
This muckracking maybe true, but it’s hard to argue with a QB that’s won 80% of his games over the past 2 seasons and has thrown 10 picks in that same time span.
Hmm.. I wonder if there’s a correlation between Smith’s conservative, ‘don’t turn the ball over’ approach and the Niners ascending to the elites of the league???
But, dont’ let common sense stop you Grant, muck on!
It just drives me nuts. Do you guys realize that AS was the #1 overall pick in the NFL. His first NFL start he was 9-23 for 74 yards 0 TD’s and 4 Ints.
Over his next seven starts he finished with 1TD and 11 Ints. Maybe this answers the question Grant posed.
Can we give CK a break now?
Everyone is just saying, now is not CK’s time when we have a winning QB.
Hey, if the Niners were coming off a 2-14 season, I’d be willing to give Kaep allllllllll the time he needed to prove himself. It’s one thing to maginally lift a crappy team through superior QB play, it’s another thing entirely to put a question mark into a SB contending team.
The Niners are never going to take that gamble this season unless there is no other option.
Bay,
Even you have to admit that there is no correlation between the current 49er roster and that of the team that Smith took over as a rookie. The 49er team had expansion team level talent, at best. The current roster is one of the most talented in the league.
BTW, Bay, I love CK’s promise, and it may be his time next year. Hell, if JH, et al, decide it’s his time now, I’ll go with that, too. Having said that, I just don’t see it.
I’m sure you, and many others would disagree, but I believe the 49ers would’ve won on Sunday had AS not gotten injured.
Ex,
I love CK’s promise as well. I disagree with you however that Smith would have brought them back and won the game. CK did all he could and should have won. Lets remember that he set special teams up to win and they failed.
I don’t believe Smith would have won the game because he has yet to show he can bring his team back against a tough defense. I wanted to see it happen because tough defenses are what he is going to face in the playoffs. I hope he can play this Monday. The Bears like the Giants are a good measuring stick for Smith. He does not do well against teams that can rush 4 and drop guys back in coverage.
Look I want CK in there long term to see what he has. I want him undercenter next year and beyond because IMO he has much more upside than Smith and he deserves at least a year as a starter to develop. Having said that, I think Smith deserves to play this year out. The offseason will be interesting. Lots of sub plots, beginning with VD being unhappy.
@ bay:
I don’t believe Smith would have won the game because he has yet to show he can bring his team back against a tough defense. I wanted to see it happen because tough defenses are what he is going to face in the playoffs.
There you go again.
1. Your short term memory is for $hit. See 2011 Philadelphia, Cincinnati, NYGiants, Seattle games. Do you smoke a lot of weed?
2.Smith already was bringing the 49ers back when he left the game because of the concussion. Did you miss the TD drive that made it 14-7?
3. Weren’t you the guy who said in the offseason that the fact that Smith had beaten a bunch of Top 10 defenses in 2011 was irrelevant because the 49ers would have to play so many teams with top tier offenses in 2012 (Green Bay, Detroit, etc.), and Smith hadn’t shown he could score enough points to beat those teams? That was you, right?
Now that Smith has shown he can outscore top tier offenses, you have flip-flopped and decided that Smith’s weakness is that he can’t beat tough defenses? Wow, you really have no shame.
You’ve posted a lot of silly comments in your never-ending, desperate attempt to deny Alex Smith’s improvement as a QB. This is another one of those comments.
Also, it’s not a zero sum game. One can recognize that Colin Kaepernick looked promising Sunday and be optimistic about the future without taking shots at Smith.
Claude you know that saying that if you tell a lie over and over again that the person telling the lie believes that eventually it will come true. Bay is the guru of this.
claude
“Do you smoke a lot of weed?”
No, I don’t think bay touches the stuff. People who smoke a lot of weed are generally nice to be around. Though they have other problems as a result.
Bay, ins’t nice to be around. I don’t think he’s smoking a lot of weed.
DS Bay should find a drug that keeps his hate on Alex in remission. Or go find a team that is pass happy. It’s really that simple.
Prime
The Raiders would be one such team. They are undisciplined. They throw the ball all over the place. Their WR’s make some great catches. And they lose 55-20 or so. And since getting Palmer to replace the loser Cambell (who was actually a bit over 0.500), they are in the dumps and suck and can’t do a damn thing.
But they throw it deep! And that is what QB’s should do according to bay.
Actually DS Bay was so upset that the Niners did not make a deal to get Palmer when he was available. How is that trade working out now?
“Do you guys realize that AS was the #1 overall pick in the NFL. His first NFL start he was 9-23 for 74 yards 0 TD’s and 4 Ints.”
Bay, are you really comparing the 2005 offense and talent to the 2011 and 2012 offense and talent? Let’s not even compare HC’s!! CK is a running QB that doesn’t play from the pocket. By default, he has more upside??
The girls on Bays baseball team had more talent than that 2005 team.
And statements like that tell me I’m missing nothing of importance or insight at all by skipping bay’s posts.
AS started in his first year. CK never did. Gosh, he’s desperate.
Prime, Why are you such a little punk ass bitch? If you have a problem with Bay keep the boys on his team out of it.
This would be a good time for Grant to put up a bunch of new blog topics.
Its a fair analogy Jack and don’t cry to me. Remember that ignore button, is it not working?
I turned it off this morning. You are nothing but a pathetic little punk, who runs around posting insults with different user names.
Oh Hammer, you know I only insult the haters so don’t act like its universal. If you don’t like it, stay on your blog and problem solved.
AS is the qb CK is a taller Vick Runner with powerful ARM but not polished. I believe CK will be traded this off season
I agree with AngusinCanada. The efficiency ratings for Smith (particulary the QBR) paint an entirely different picture than the ‘eyeball’ analysis from Grant. Is Smith conservative? Sure, that could be argued (i.e., he’s cautious), but Grant appears to be drawing a conclusion first and then looking for info to back it up, rather than objectively analyzing the available data.
While Smith is not the sole reason the 49ers are 19-5-1 in the regular season over the past couple years, I think those that continue to imply he’s just game managing entirely miss the importance of having a QB that makes smart decisions. The QBR metric is, in essence, a ‘smart decision’ metric, and after starting off slowly last year (understandably, given the lack of a true off-season with the new coaching staff and the need to get acclimated to the new offensive system), he’s been a top-10 QB in this metric.
Again, I’m not mistaking him for Aaron Rodgers or the other QBs who are asked to do more with their arms and are truly elite QBs. I also believe that Colin Kaepernick has an intriguing future upside to him, although I don’t think it has to do with his ability to pull the trigger, per se. To me, Kaepernick’s athletic abilities and size give him unique challenges for defenses to have to prepare for, and when he can become a more competent pocket decision maker (not just passer), he will be worthy of being the full-time starter.
I think this past weekend, we saw what happens when many dynamic and unscouted QBs come into game action. The Rams were not entirely sure how to defend him, and that slight indecision played into Kaepernick’s abilities. I do think, unlike many young QB, Kaepernick’s overall quick decision making aided his play. He didn’t hesitate to run out of the pocket to buy time or to pull the ball down and run. Credit goes to Roman for adjusting in the 2nd half and calling plays that took advantage of this type of QB ‘play action.’ But he also showed why he’s still raw.
Good example? The throw to Kyle Williams. Many focused on the fact that Kyle was lucky he didn’t turn around, because he could have been stopped and the clock could have run out. That was entirely Kaepernick’s fault, though. He made that read far too quickly, and threw to the wrong spot, anyway. He got lucky, not Williams. There was an earlier play where he had Kyle Williams wide open on a corner route that should have been amongst his early reads. I believe he ended up nearly taking a sack (or taking a sack) on that. The safety had shown that he was cheating in for the underneath routes in the pre-snap, which should have been the tip off.
Ultimately, I think it’s fair to be encouraged by Kaepernick and to feel his future is coming soon. But to use this as a way to take digs at Smith, yet again, seems to be missing the point. I still, at this point, trust Smith over Kaepernick and feel he has demonstrated a level of play this year that confirms that he’s continuing to improve in Harbaugh and Roman’s system. As long as he’s healthy, I think he deserves to continue to be the guy. If he’s hurt, though, all of us Niner fans can take solace in knowing his backup has shown ability that, for at least a short while (until team’s have enough film on him and start adjusting their schemes) can potentially produce some nice mismatches.
This post makes too much sense.
It must be burned at the stake.
MSC,
How in the world do you like that post [Just to be clear, KommonSense, I thought it was a great post] ? It’s what I [and others] have been trying to tell you about Smith for months. And now, all of a sudden, you do a 180 and this post makes sense to you? What caused your complete turn around?
@exgolfer it was a statement of facts without the wailing wall litany of excuses usually heard from Smith fans.
That pass to Williams was the best incompletion of the year!!
Great post Kommon.
Is it AS that is conservative? Or is it GR? I believe it is GR. Grant has alluded to this and I agree!!
AS can take the Niners to the SB. Even though he’s thrown more picks this year, his level of play is better. It’s the D and ST that’s worse. If I want to see the Niners in the SB, I would stick with AS.
If I want to see the future, I’d go with CK. He is exciting and dynamic and raw. He’s going to make mistakes but he’s also going to make plays. But the problem is because the D is inconsistent, do you really want to give another team a short field? Maybe it doesn’t matter, since CK can make up for it with some big play ability.
Also it seems as if teams still respect Randy Moss. No one is giving him one on one coverage on deep passes.
Be careful what you wish for CK fans. Yes, you will get a few spectacular throws and runs, but you will more than likely get several back breaking turnovers that can cost the team games. AS is certainly not perfect, but he rarely will force the issue unless we are way behind. The Giants game was a rarity and I doubt you will see that again soon. CK is a risk that this team does not need to take unless Smith is injured. We were very fortunate that his 2 fumbles did not cost us the game. This time, the ball bouced our way. That certainly will not always happen in the future. CK is a great athlete, but he is not ready. Sign me up for the ” game manager ” that is ranked 4th in the league and continues to win. He may not be spectacular, but he is reliable and consistent. If the defense starts playing up to their capabilities again and we continue to be muli dimensional on offense, we will be very difficult to beat moving forward. That is assuming that special teams does not kill us, they have been very poor except for Andy Lee. We need Akers to display last years form soon.
Grant, your baseball analogy would make more sense if you had compared Smith to a pitcher who must have complete trust in his catcher to make the right pitching calls.
I think the biggest difference between Alex and Colin right now is that one is concussed. Were it not for that, we would be focusing on the Bears.
Grant
Your explaination holds no data to support it. Perhaps he should look for the open WR first. See KW running free with no defender near him from even before the snap. That doesn’t happen but once or twice a year. That is as easy a TD as you’ll get passing the ball.
You don’t address this at all when CK does it. But if AS throws it to a WR who actually is covered you complain he should have hit him.
He addressed it in an earlier post DS. He said Smith is better in his pre snap reads, which is why CK missed Williams, he read cover 2 when it was cover 3 and failed to adjust.
It is quite possible Smith would have adjusted, but there is no way of knowing for sure.
Jack
I think AS would count the number of defenders on that side, and make a mental note nobody is immediately covering KW by looking at how the Rams defenders are positioning themselves.
Then once the ball is snapped, see what those defenders do. AS knows where KW is going. At no point after the ball was snapped did a defender approach KW until they were running with their backs turned.
Last I checked, zone is when you see the front of the defenders, not their backs. So if you see their backs running (what you’d expect in man), that is key in telling you that they messed up. And maybe check out who they are running after.
Knowing KW was uncovered from the snap, and knowing where KW is going, I know he’s open. I throw it.
I’m a fan. And if I know that in zone coverage (as you say they are in) the whole idea is to keep looking towards the QB to see what he does. I know something is wrong, CK needs to know something is wrong once their backs face you. You wouldn’t do that in zone.
Yes, I saw that note from Grant. But he didn’t address how imprtant that is here. If CK can’t read pre-snap to actual post snap this well, then he will always be more “risky”. That means more turnover prone and you know how I feel about that (1 extra TD does not remove 1 extra Int).
what a crap statement….CK waits for confirmation as well…it just his balls get there quicker
the KW pass last year was AS throwing a recver open except the rcvr did burst to the ball
The debate as to weather or not Smith anticipates receivers getting open is sort of tied to another Kaep vs. Smith debate: Pocket Presence
Smith has had years of being abused due to slow reads and poor line play. On top of that he’s been drilled to get rid of the ball in 3-5 seconds (if memory serves me the Niners had a drill with a buzzer that went off when he held the ball too long in practice). Consequently Smith has happy feet. He he anticipates the pass rush even when it’s not there and either dumps the ball off, rolls out for a small gain or takes the sack. Kaep on the other hand is both confident and oblivious (to varying degrees) to the pass rush and will buy time by side stepping in the pocket while he takes his time to make a throw. Some have said that Smith doesn’t read his progressions much past his first read. But Smith knows his offense and I’d be willing to bet you could blindfold Smith in front of a chalk board and you could give him a play and a defense and he could draw out the play, go through the reads and find the right guy to throw to. But in the pocket, Smith still has that mental pass rush alarm clock constantly set to go off. You’d almost say he’s paranoid except half the time he is in real trouble from the pass rush.
As to anticipating receivers getting open and throwing them open, it goes back to happy feet. Smith is good against the blitz when he can identify it. In fact in general he’s good at finding the pre-snap mismatch either designed within the play (such as how the Niners are using Vernon Davis to get Micahel Crabtree open) or created by the blitz (such as Davis, the slot receiver/Walker) and the void in the defense it creates. But against a blanket zone he has trouble waiting for receivers to run their stretch the zones and fit the ball into the windows in between the zones. Usually there’s a 4-5 man rush that with decent blocking a QB should be able to move around enough to fit the ball into a window.
So Smith can’t shred zone coverage because he has happy feet and is conservative. While Kaepernick is more willing and confident (and possibly oblivious) to work in the pocket and fit the ball into tighter windows and if not run with the ball.
The Rams played zone coverage according to Jack (and I agree) on the KW play he was running uncovered from the start. CK never threw it.
Might want to reconsider that whole notion.
ONE FREAKIN PLAY??? WTF is it with people using the extremes to do an analysis???
Just because Kaep missed Kyle Williams (please notice that I didn’t use his initials…I don’t read most of your posts because your overly use of initials annoys the Kraepernick out of me) doesn’t mean he doesn’t GENERALLY try to buy more time in the pocket and wait for receivers to get open. It’s TENDENCY: Smith’s happy feet and Kaepernick’s pocket patience. (psst…a TENDENCY means they exhibit said behavior more often than not under certain conditions….BUT ALWAYS).
No, it wasn’t just one freaking play.
When it mattered most, in OT, last posession of the game, he saw FG wide open on 1st down at the Rams 45 or so. He choose not to throw it to him. Had he, the Niners get at least 6 yards. Possibly a 1st down. The next play, FG ran for 2. Then CK took a deep sack on 3rd down flat out making any attempt to go for it on 4th or a Field Goal for the win.
Then there was another throw to VD that hit the ground. The announcers pointed that out. Then there was the sack where he fumbled. He needs to know when time is up. He not only took the sack instead of throwing i away, he fumbled it! If not for Miller, that is an TO, and we don’t score a TD.
Then there was a run he had in the 4th or OT I think. He made some nice yards. Great play, right? Nope. He held the ball well away from his body all game. Especially that play. It won’t take long for a DL to come from behind and smash him for a fumble. Remember Justin Smith in Philly last year?
CK was as fortuante a QB in that game as a QB has ever been. Don’t count on that every Sunday.
what do your examples have to do with pocket presence and stretching coverages???? uhmm….yeah, COLIN KAEPERNICK (notice again, I spelled his name???? geeze! you’ll spell “Field Goal” but not “Frank Gore”????) missed some throws? Never any doubt that he doesn’t have a grasp on the offense. I’m simply talking about his ability to sit in the pocket and let plays develop. Again it’s a TENDENCY of his over Smith’s. Doesn’t mean he’s going to make the right read or make an accurate throw.
That is a very good description of Smith.
Jack,
if I ever get this delusional in my defense of CK or any other Niner QB, feel free to give me the verbal smack down : )