Recently I saw a bit of sports punditry talking about how much Alex Smith should be considered a Chiefs great. Yes, great. Not just okay, not yet another fill-in former Niners QB who did decently. No, he was great. True that.
Sure we all got frustrated when he'd check down incessantly, but he did it because he was exceptionally smart and more times than not, he got the play to go how he wanted. I myself especially must've written "Throw --- the-damn-ball --- down-the-field" some 8,000 times during his Chiefs career, just cringing when he'd take a sack. Well, now that isn't such a concern after what happened to him season before last. And most times when he didn't throw it he was living to play another down.
Otherwise, the dude was beast. He played five years for us, and every year he led the team to a winning season. Every year he played with intensity, athleticism, intelligence, commitment to excellence, and sorry, but he had a ton of talent that was never fully appreciated. Go ahead and watch some of his plays. This particular one gets lost in the mix of a difficult loss to New England in the playoffs after the 2015 season, but take a peek at that throw he made to Jason Avont. Well, here it is if the NFL will let it be shown here, but you can still see it at YouTube:
This is just one play, but go look at any compilation of his plays.
He'll certainly make the Arrowhead Ring of Honor as someone who should be a extraordinarily celebrated member of the Chiefs Hall-of-Fame. He probably won't make the NFL Hall because of his playoff failures (although his divisional game against the Saints when he was with the 49ers during the 2011 season was one of the best ever) and because of his misfortune to have such a rough time of it for the rest of his Niners tenure, what with the carousel of offensive coordinators and coaches he'd have to endure.
And one more important thing about Alex. Every time you go "WOW PATRICK MAHOMES!!!" think about Alex. Mahomes in his rookie year played in one single game, that's it, the last one of the season after we'd made the playoffs and could seed no higher. Mahomes played at no other time. And yet during that entire season he cut his teeth on what Smith was doing out there. Smith showed him the ropes unselfishly, continuously, and happily, knowing all along this kid would take his place.
That says a ton.
There could be a lot more to be said about Alex, and I'm happy to say that I think most of what I wrote in my blog over those five years was positive about him and his stellar contribution to the Chiefs Kingdom. I am hoping like crazy that he does come back from his leg injury and does amazingly great things for the Redskins. Knowing how horrible the injury was and grueling the recovery has been, that would be a story for the ages, really. Indeed airing right now is a pretty well-received ESPN documentary on it, I hear.
And that picture up there at the beginning of this piece? It is the one that is there by default on my computer home page "photos" link whenever I log in. It's just the one the computer has randomly put there followed by the showing others in my album. Alex demonstrating himself to be the Commander-of-Chiefs there on the field is the first one. I like it a lot. It isn't going to be replaced by one of Mahomes, it just isn't. Because in many ways, that is Mahomes right there.
That's the Kingdom, right there.
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