Amidst the absolute torrent of ignorant, lazy, and asinine narratives that are spewing forth from the national media's collective mouths about the 49ers this season, the one that I hear most (and the one that pisses me off more than any other) is that the 49ers are winning games despite their passing game. "Yes, Frank Gore and that offensive line are great, but get them down and force Alex Smith to throw and watch out!!! That's when the mistakes come pouring out in droves!!!" So far my new man crush Michael Erler at the excellent Neurosis With Balls (heh) blog is the only (semi) major media member I've heard give the correct narrative: Alex Smith is playing exactly the same this year as he was in the second half of 2010.
"Jim Harbaugh is coach of the year!!! Look at what he's done with Alex Smith! No more crazy interceptions!!! It's amazing!"
Somehow, Alex Smith morphed into Rex Grossman without me realizing it. I thought I'd been watching the 49ers fairly close over these past few months, but I must have been mistaken. Since when was the rap on Smith his crazy bad decision making? True, he'd had more INTs than TDs in his career before this season, but when you factor in that he was -10 in his first year, then his numbers don't look so bad. And why am I comfortable throwing out that first season? Because not a single one of us (die hard 49ers fans, all) could name a single receiving threat on that 2005 team not named Brandon Lloyd without resorting to google for help. In fact, since that rookie season, he's had more interceptions than touchdowns just one time: in 2007, when he played 3 games with a shoulder that was so badly injured that it kept him out nearly 2 full seasons afterwards.
There are things to bash about Alex Smith. He can't feel pressure well and doesn't make the proper adjustments 95% of the time to deal with a blitz. He cannot move in the pocket with any kind of consistency or effectiveness. He can't throw the ball accurately beyond 30 yards. One thing he doesn't do? Make terrible decisions that result in interceptions. He is *not* Rex Grossman.
I mean for God's sake, earlier this very season the 49ers were in the exact position that the experts say would be their downfall: down 23-3 to Philadelphia on the road, in the eastern time zone, in a game where they were heavy heavy underdogs. And all Alex Smith did was throw for 179 yards and 2 touchdowns in a single quarter, a quarter in which not a single pass he threw touched the ground. If that's not carrying your team to victory through the air, then I want somebody to explain to me what carrying your team to victory through the air looks like, please.
Are the 49ers the Packers? No, but nobody is the Packers. There is no other offense in the NFL that is functioning on that level right now. However, the people who say that the 49ers are not able to keep up with high powered offenses because somehow Alex Smith is a limitation on what their offense can do simply haven't been paying attention. In his last 11 games (the last 4 games after he took over as starter last season and the 7 this season), he's thrown 14 touchdowns to just 3 interceptions. 3! To put it another way, in his last 334 pass attempts, Alex Smith has thrown 3 interceptions. For those of you who are like me and suck at math, that is an interception rate of .008%.
So please, everyone who's getting paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to talk about football: STOP SAYING THAT ALEX SMITH WILL THROW THE GAME AWAY IF THE 49ERS HAVE TO RELY ON HIM TO WIN IT. Is he guaranteed to carry them to a victory if they need it? Obviously not, and we've definitely seen proof of that. But this narrative that he would somehow be forced into back-breaking mistakes and turnovers makes absolutely no sense, and is making my head explode every time I hear it parroted as gospel by talking heads.
I realize I'm the resident Alex Smith Defender, but the more I watch this team the more I become convinced that Jim Harbaugh and crew have a switch that they can flip on or off at their leisure. Game getting close? Is your team down? Well, let's start calling the *real* offense before it gets out of hand. Are you leading by 2 touchdowns? Well, then there's no point in going crazy and giving other teams hints at what you might need to do when you're once again trailing, so let's go vanilla. Harbaugh is *all about* competitive advantage, so why would he "open up the offense" in a game when his team is throughly dominating? Maybe the lack of offensive firepower is by design, because in the games where they've needed the passing game to come through, it has. The one time it didn't was in week 2, when I think it's safe to assume that the team wasn't as fully formed as it is today. That was basically preseason week 6 for these guys thanks to the lockout shenanigans.
During all those years of sucking I was always hating the fact that the 49ers weren't getting coverage in the national media. Now that they are, I realize just how little these people really know about the subject they're getting paid so much to talk about. I guess it's enough that we as fans can enjoy watching our team and coach out class the other guys on the field every sunday. This week should be another fun watch
