It really isn't any different, sadly. As I think about the 2016 version of the Kansas City Chiefs, I'm afraid I have concerns that are the same old concerns. Sometimes I look back at my blog posts from 2008, 2009, back then, when I screamed at the top of my lungs Get a good solid drafted and developed quarterback who can take us the distance and ya know what?
We still haven't done it.
I say this because I am yet again getting tired of Alex Smith and his ineffectiveness. I'm getting tired of feeling this way then watching him have some spectacular game and thinking, Huh, maybe I was wrong, and then we all watch him get right back to his surprising ineffectiveness.
I think back to the middle of 2012 when he was with the 49ers and coach Jim Harbaugh kept him out of games in favor of Colin Kaepernick even when he was healthy again. I think about how we all marveled at the opportunity for the Chiefs to get him, and we did. And I think now, however, that maybe Harbaugh saw something that we just couldn't see.
I do know a lot of Chiefs fans see it, but I'm like most Chiefs fans, enjoying Smith when he does well, banking on how smart everyone says he is and how athletic everyone says he is, and it is true those things do shine and make us happy just enough to keep us from seeing through it all.
But the truth is Smith simply doesn't have all of the got-it he needs to get us the distance, he just doesn't. I hear things like "Smith is really successful at this, that, and the other thing so give him a break!" and he has led the Chiefs to winning records each of the past three years.
Buuut then I look at things like the caliber of teams we've played in those three years. Really, except for the New England and Seattle wins in 2014 and the Denver win in 2015, really, what really good teams have we beaten? I also look at something I've tried to rationalize away and think Whull we'll just prove them wrong won't we -- Alex Smith will show them they're wrong!
That something is the quarterback rankings NFL pundits, reporters, journalists, and media experts provide us mostly to help us get our fantasy league teams drafted. If you've ever looked at them, those pundits across the board rank Smith no higher than the 20th best QB in the league. Whuuut? That can't be right -- these guys have to have it wrong -- not smart athletic versatile sharp wise-game-manager once-a-No.-1-overall-pick ALEX SMITH!
I'm not kidding you. Smith may reach as high as 18 or 19 on somebody's list, but if you look you'll see that some them will rank milquetoast quarterbacks above Smith, some will even rank rookies or unproven quarterbacks or even back-ups above Smith. Seriously, not a single mention of "Alex Smith" in the top 20 from just about all of them, much less a mention remotely close to being among the top 10 QB's around today. There are 32 teams in the NFL.
I've tended to slough this off as anti-small-market anti-media-darling anti-Kansas-City-podunk-nowhere-midwest-cow-town bias, but I hate to say it...
Are these "experts" on to something?
I think back to that Niners playoff game against New Orleans in 2011 when Smith was extraordinary. Wow that guy will come to Kansas City and do that for us?! Buuut then, yes, I think about the game he played right after that. -- the NFC Championship game against the much less talented New York Giants. He was awful. Well, not really awful but definitely not-nearly-as-good-as-he-should've-been-when-he-should-have-been. Annnd, really, that's not much different than awful. Yes, I understand Smith could not rely on his receivers who did play very poorly in that game, but please, let's face it, it was a close enough game, and big-game quarterbacks get the job done.
What about this year? Have you really looked carefully at the Chiefs offensive production this year, in the four games we've played? Go ahead, look at it.
It has been pathetic. It really has.
We've had one quarter that has been any good, the 4th in that Chargers game (and you could say we should add that nice TD drive in overtime, but the Chargers defense was exhausted that whole time). Otherwise we've bungled and bobbled and buffooned our way around the field. The first three quarters of the Chargers game were a joke. How many touchdowns? One, that nice slant to Tyreek Hill at the very end of the 3rd quarter to make the game 24-10. Before that? Putrid.
The Texans game? Putrid. Some write that off as a bad day for the Chiefs. Okay, I understand. But the offense was not just off but atrocious. Some will say the Texans are a decent team. We'll have to see, but two years ago in their first 2014 game, at home, the Chiefs got clobbered by the Titans who ended up going 2-14 for the year.
The Jets game? Offensively anyway, putrid. The Chiefs won 24-3 but the offense scored one touchdown, a nice crossing pattern pass to Travis Kelce. The offensive ineptitude was overshadowed by phenomenal defensive play, but it could be pointed out that the Jets had a similar offensive meltdown the following week, so was it really all our defense or just the opponent's ineptitude?
The Steelers game? Super putrid. Our defense in this one was horrific, but -- yesss -- the offense was even worse. We scored two meaningless second-half touchdowns when it was already a blowout. Earlier we looked like the Keystone Kops (how many times did I use that reference during the abysmal '07-'09 years) this against a relatively poor and injury-plagued Steelers defense. There was just no excuse for Sunday night, none whatsoever.
I know many are blaming Andy Reid for all this, and I got that too. We've looked thoroughly unprepared in every single game we've played so far. Some will say we started off poorly last year and look at what happened. But let's face it last year after the 1-5 start we got a cushy schedule of teams to play to go 10-0, and even then...
We barely won the Pittsburgh game, at home, against a poor rookie quarterback.
We barely won the San Diego home game and almost lost it lucking out when their guy dropped an easy touchdown pass and Rivers couldn't get the ball in the end zone with it at the one-yard line and about a minute left.
We barely won the Cleveland game -- also at home -- when a flustered Johnny Manziel (now out of pro football) simply couldn't finish a drive deep in our territory at the end of the game.
What, with a terrific running game featuring Spencer Ware, Charcandrick West, and a returning Jamaal Charles, with a solid core of receivers -- finally! -- featuring Jeremy Maclin, Chris Conley, Tyreek Hill, and Travis Kelce, with a revamped offensive line... Look at this explosive offense -- really, I feel like Vince Lombardi on the sidelines miked for NFL Films: "Will someone tell me what the hell's going on around here?!"
I think I know, I do. I see Alex Smith out there. I see him not being able to measure the defense well enough to know which receiver he really needs to target. I see him ditch his progressions way too soon -- what's new? I see him have little confidence in his arm to throw the ball in those tight windows when he absolutely has to. I see him completely miss wide open receivers because he simply doesn't have the field vision to grasp where those receivers are. I see him throw passes that receivers just can't catch: too wide or too heavy or too off-target or too something-not-good, and if he doesn't even do that he just dances around before he gets sacked.
I'm sorry, but as I think deeply about all this and look at what's going on out there, I just can't see how Alex Smith is going to get us the distance, not even close. Again, outside the end of the Chargers game, in four games so far this season we have two meaningful offensive touchdowns. Unless Andy Reid starts doing the thing he does well and starts preparing us for games -- that's his talent, we all know it, and it hasn't been happening -- then we're going to be stuck in the deep morass for much longer.
I'm actually okay with putting Nick Foles in, really. I am. I know we're still light years from that good, solid D&D guy, that is still crushing us -- and I know we're still blistering our brains with wondering who can be our quarterback when the Patriotses and the Packerses and the Steelerses just never have to do that ::sigh:: --
But anytime now, let's go with Foles. I'm sorry, but when I saw his preseason play he stayed resolute in that pocket and found a way to get the ball to the open man. I'd like to see Andy Reid take his purported magic with quarterbacks and see if Foles can get back to his 2013 form.
How about Philip Rivers? A work colleague of mine keeps telling me we should trade for him. The Chargers are offering, and he's at the start of a four-year deal so there is the conception he's got at least a couple good years left. To be honest, I'd do it in a heartbeat, but I really think the price would be too high. But Philip Rivers, damn, how great is this guy, he plays with broken backs and torn knees, and if he had this offense? With his phenomenal field vision and passing arm?
I feel sad for Smith, I really do, but we all know there is the precedent with him here, in 2012 -- getting replaced by someone who just got the job done -- with Kaepernick the Niners went to the Super Bowl that year.
What do you think?
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