Originally Posted by
jap1
That was a well timed blitz by the CB (I played and coach DBs, if my player timed it like that, I would be very happy). If you watch Smith's head he hikes the ball while he is looking to the right, which all QBs do from time to time to look for Pre-snap movement. Sometimes you miss the well timed blitz from the other side. So by the time he saw the blitzer, he needed to move. Yes, Baldwin was open but Smith was moving to his right and would have had to throw ACROSS his body to the other side of the field, exactly what we would criticize crappy QBs for doing.
Even if he saw the CB blitz coming, and saw that Baldwin was going to be wide open, look where Baldwin was and what route he ran. It was 3rd and 7. Baldwin ran a 3 yard slant/drag. Would be have been able to get the 1st? Maybe. Maybe Smith knew that wouldn't be enough for the first down so tried to hit the TE but threw a bad ball. At least his bad ball was where the D couldn't get to it.
In the first GIF, the defender is directly between him and the WR, any decent defender would easily knock that away. That having been said, he should have pump faked to see how the defender responded, then made a decision.
I'm not saying it was a great game. Smith's perfromance was average at best. But those examples are not ones I would use to crucify Smith.