Not true Alex Smith would be the perfect QB for a team built like ours. He'd also be the perfect mentor for Geno to sit and learn from.
One has to wonder how the kid will respond against Atlanta and if he can survive another beating like he took today. This kid has so much going against him. 1. Bad OL - Coming into the game the line was 27th in pass protection. After the beating the kid took we are probably going to be close to last. This is after 4 straight years of great line play. Having the 4th ranked OL last year. In our worst year in 2011 we still had great pass protection giving up the 5th least QB hits and 12th least pressures. 2. The kid is playing on an island and is not being protected. What we did with Sanchez in 09-10 is ideal. We almost never let Sanchez throw in passing situations and did everything we could to protect him from turning the ball over. Using our running game to set up wide open receivers on play action. Limiting his exposure on 3rd down with draws and quick passes. Here we turn a rookie loose in a pass 1st deep passing offense with pretty much no help. Our design is to set up the run with the pass. A very tough position to put any QB in especially a rookie. 3. No short passing game. We do not let him get in a rhythm we just primarily say chuck it down the field. Very few short passes, few slants, few short outs, and few checkdowns. This type of offense may speed up Geno's development but it could also kill him and his confidence as well. No OL, pass 1st offense and asking him to sit in the pocket and look for deep and intermediate plays all day is a good way to get him killed. I understand that often it is easier to make reads on deep throws and he has shown some great accuracy but it is the intermediate and short throws that move the chains and keep drives alive. I would much prefer a Shottenheimer approach to developing a QB than letting our QB get killed physically and mentally. Which is what they are setting him up for. I don't care if we lose next week or this entire year. What I care more about is that we develop our young QB. He has some very good qualities. He is tough and keeps fighting. He has great arm strength. He has amazing accuracy. I would guess he has hit more receivers in the hands these 4 games than Sanchez has in 4 years. He is a competitor who tries to make plays and it gets him in trouble. A CS cannot give him those options. They need to protect him form himself and let him learn. The CS either sees a lot in Geno or they just believe in the sink or swim method. My hope is against Atlanta we try to take some of the burden off Geno and focus more on short passes and managing the game then taking so many shots down the field next week. You can't ask a rookie to carry the offense every week by himself . The kid is going to be a wreck physically and mentally if they keep putting him on that island with no help all game long every week.
I hear all this talk about rookie QBs mistakes. But then I see EJ Manuel's numbers and I see competence. I see what a ton of rookies have done in recent years. The ones who performed poorly a la Geno? Weeden, Gabbert, Ponder. This isn't 1992 anymore. Rookie QBs who have talent in today's NFL shouldn't be the worst rated starting QBs in the NFL.
Just for the hell of it, here's a comparison of Geno, and one of the least turnover prone QB's in the NFL throughout their first 4 starts, and I'm not gonna post all the stats, but you'll get the idea. Player A: 60.8% comp% 11 turnovers 278 yards per game (avg) 5 TD Player B: 49.2% comp% 12 turnovers 107 yards per game (avg) 0 TD Can you guess who player B was? Anyway, moral of the story: 4 games doesn't tell you how a rookie's career will pan out.
Alex Smith has become an extremely serviceable QB. With a good defense and Jamaal Charles the Chiefs are going to win a lot of games. _
Geno looks very good to me. I don't see any big issue here. I'm pretty concerned about our OC. I think he's going to get the kid killed. Not to mention he isn't doing our OL any favors.
Great analysis. It's laughably pathetic that a Dolphins fan has one of the most positive, non-bias, attitudes about our rookie QB on the board.
If you have a good defense you don't need a great QB to score a lot of points, you need an average QB to not turn the ball over or go 3 & out all the time. Geno does both. Sanchez the last two years was the worst starter in the NFL, but sad part is Geno will have more turnover than Sanchez ever did.
He's a good QB IMO more than serviceable. We have a good defense, a solid receiving corp and an emerging RB. I think with Smith we'd probably be a better team. At least he wouldn't throw nonsensical passes. However in a year or two we'd probably be happy with Geno.
I was being understated. Some idiot in the game thread stated emphatically that A Smith would NEVER become a franchise QB and I asked how he could possibly know that and he asked if that was a serious question. I think KC is set at QB for a while, he's very athletic, smart with he ball and can move the chains running and throwing. He's never going to be a star/top 5 QB, but he is clearly a " franchise" QB. _
You know what I liked the most today from Geno? He walked up to every player on this team and told them individually that this was his fault and he will fix it. No crying or hanging his head. Takes the blame and is prepared to do anything and everything to fix it. That's what a leader does and that's the kind of qb a team stands behind.
I believe in Geno Smith and I know he'll be our QB of the future but this game is the kinda game that he needed to have. He'll learn from this and I felt that in his first 3 starts that he was steadily improving. This is a speed bump in his development but hopefully Geno has a better showing on Monday Night.
I thought Geno was suppose to be accurate. Wow @ the amount of high passes He truly reminds me of Mark Sanchez
Im not the biggest Geno fan but the comments today bothered me. When you are grooming a young QB that you have "invested" in, you DO NOT evaluate him after four games. The body of work should be judged after a minimum of 8 games. You have to stick with the guy through the good and the bad, thats it. Am I happy with what ive seen in total so far? no, but 4 games is not a body of work. I need at least 8, if not a whole season before I make judgement on a QB.
Sigh. I hope that you have a more objective view since you're not a Jets fan. But man, it feels pretty bleak- I know QBs struggle in their first year almost not matter what, but Smith is on pace for about 50 turnovers in one year. I feel like his badness might be beyond just typical rookie struggles. It feels like he's terrible, generating tons of turnovers all the time, and I bet that for every Payton Manning that had 28 INTs his rookie year, there are 8 or 10 QBs with similar interceptions their rookie league who became horrible QBs. Tannehill had 13 interceptions his first year, and Smith has like 8 after just 4 games, plus a bunch of fumbles. He still runs straight back to avoid pressure, which is incredibly dumb since it leads to long sacks and running out of the back of the end zone. He'll make progress in one area, but then get worse in a few other areas. On the other hand, the big saving grace Smith has going in his favor is that he has a good yards per attempt stat (around 8), which is probably more important than completion percentage. (Gabbert is around 5, Sanchez was around 6.5, Eli is around 8, Brady is usually around 8 (5.5 this year), Rodgers is around 8 - 9.) So, if he could somehow reduce the turnovers, he could be an above-average QB in his second year and beyond. If he can't fix the turnovers, or can't fix them enough, it won't matter how many throws he can make or his yards/attempt score, because he'll be spotting the other team 7 - 21 points per game with his turnovers. If Smith can settle down, start making better decisions, and string together a few 0 or 1 turnover games for 4 - 5 weeks, I'd feel a lot better about his potential to not be a turnover machine. The big disappointing thing about this game was that, this is the Jets team the media was ranking #32. This is the kind of football everyone except Jets fans expected the team to play, and while I am optimistic in some sense and I do think an 8 win season is possible, I can also totally imagine this team being very bad and possibly even having a 5 win season if Smith doesn't make real improvements.
But he's a 2nd round draft pick. If we have to give this much dedication to a QB we should've went after someone better. Or better yet wait for next years draft. It makes no sense to put that kind of investment into Geno. No one picked him in the 1st round for a reason. I still cant recognize his upside. Out of the 4 games and preseason, I never felt there was a moment where he looked promising.
