Ed Werder reports on SF QB

Phicinfan

Expert on nothing, opinionated on everything
Administrator
Okay, two things.
First I don't think Danny white and Alex Smith are comparible. White was a good Qb, who could throw well and had great tools to work with. A.Smith is at best a mediocre Qb, and has little to no tools to work with.

Secondly - does the qb make the wr, or the other way around? White had Drew Pearson and Preston Pearson and Rb support. Great O-line as well. A.Smith never has had great tools other than Gore. V.Davis is not consistant, and neither is Crabtree. Would he be better had he had a Rice or Owens? We will never know. I know this though, he can't win a game. He can not lose it, but he can't win it.

Kaepernick looks like with his legs and head CAN win a game if the defense can't. That alone gives him a huge edge. I am not a fan of a player losing his job to injury. But that isn't the story here. Kaepernick has been in the wings waiting, and has taken advantage of his chances. Thats how it goes.

I also think the Qb stat is overrated. You can be very accurate, and never throw over 5 yards and never win a game or carry a team.
 

efactor

Coming at you
Okay, two things.
First I don't think Danny white and Alex Smith are comparible. White was a good Qb, who could throw well and had great tools to work with. A.Smith is at best a mediocre Qb, and has little to no tools to work with.

Secondly - does the qb make the wr, or the other way around? White had Drew Pearson and Preston Pearson and Rb support. Great O-line as well. A.Smith never has had great tools other than Gore. V.Davis is not consistant, and neither is Crabtree. Would he be better had he had a Rice or Owens? We will never know. I know this though, he can't win a game. He can not lose it, but he can't win it.

Kaepernick looks like with his legs and head CAN win a game if the defense can't. That alone gives him a huge edge. I am not a fan of a player losing his job to injury. But that isn't the story here. Kaepernick has been in the wings waiting, and has taken advantage of his chances. Thats how it goes.

I also think the Qb stat is overrated. You can be very accurate, and never throw over 5 yards and never win a game or carry a team.


I agree with most of what you are saying, but on the consistency of Davis and Crabtree, I think that has more to do with QB play and the way the offense is run based on his limitations than the actual ability of Davis and Crabtree. Put them with Manning and see what they do.

Anyway, Kap should be starting and if Alex doesn't like it, play better......................
 

cctekguy

Staff member
Wow Phi,

You opened stating they were NOT comparable and then explained why they are.

In fact, You stated White was better QB because he had a better team around him. If a guy can't win the big games with a greater team then how does that make him better than a QB that can't win a big game with a lesser team? And I disagree with the notion that the '83 Cowboys were that much better than your current 49ers.

In '83, the Cowboys had a 12-2 record heading in to a game with the 12-2 Redskins. Cowboys lost. Still hope for the division crown, the Cowboys then got clobbered by the 49'ers. They still managed a wild card spot and lost the wild card game to Los Angeles.

Great QB.....Great Loser.

Now, it's true that White adopted a world champion caliber team when he replaced Staubach and that Smith adopted ghetto rags but the only real difference I see between the 2 is that White made a great team good and Smith made a bad team good. Both fall short of the GREAT title and both did it in an unimpressive fashion.
 

jjtweeks

Moderator
I am a big time numbers guy but I take everything into consideration. Yes a QB stat can be overrated but which one are you referring to. You could have a 90 percent completion % but have a bad td/int ratio. You can have many TD's and never win a game. The last two years smith is not below average in any category because he is above average in virtually every QB stat so yes a stat can be overrated but when you excel in them all they are not. I do believe like Phi said(and E) that if it came down to it, Kap can pull it out where Smith may not. I am on the outside looking in as a non fan so I accept where fans like efactor come from. The Niners are not a team that is built around a QB and Smith fits nice. I don't think he would do nearly as well on any other team(except for the Bears). I like this discussion though because you guys make such great points. I may be wrong as usual but i see Kap trying to do to much in the future(this season) and making to many unforced errors.
 

efactor

Coming at you
Small sample size of two games, but they were still big games and what impressed me most about Kap was the poise he showed. He isn't playing out of control and trying to do too much. His first game was against a top defense and he carved them up in a very cold, calculating way. I was impressed. Followed that up with a nice game on the road in a dome. Made a bad decision on the pick, but I don't think he forced it.

Game doesn't seem too fast for him.
 

deuce4321

Driller
You have Colin in there to be the future qb in sf. Smith is a serviceable manager but koepernick has a ton more upside. You have to keep starting him and keep smith as a backup. I got no problem with this. Again, sf was winning despite smith not because of him
 

efactor

Coming at you

mudloggerone

Outlaw
Administrator
FTR, earlier on this thread I readily agreed that he has more upside. Hail he's on all three of my fantasy teams now but that doesn't make me feel like this was the right way to do things. As a general rule starting QB's don't get pulled for being injured and certainly I can't recall anyone approaching his numbers losing their job midseason.
 

cctekguy

Staff member
I can't recall anyone approaching his numbers losing their job midseason.

Danny White & Gary Hogeboom alternated starts for a while. What about Favre? He got bumped for Rogers but he refused the #2 role. Smith can do the same thing. How about Kurt Warner when he was with the Rams.

No matter how good you are, if the other guy is better than you got to make the hard decision and put your best players on the field. The game is about winning, not being fair.
 

Remote Controller

Well-Known Member
I just don't think you can ever compare any situation and be justified. This is solely an organizations decision at a snap shot in time.
 

Phicinfan

Expert on nothing, opinionated on everything
Administrator
The issue with A.Smith is just this. He has flashes, but has never been a big play carry team type of Qb. He also has very bad games as much as he has the big games.

So yes Mud, he got one weekend for off. player of the week. Woohoo, he also had a tank game too.

Not saying he is terrible, he is a game manager, and they have already proven they can't win the big one with a game manager. So why oh why woudl you not plug in a game changer and let him play and learn before the big pressure games?
 
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