Explaining my frustration with the QB hate.

[matthewschiefs]

This has sort of become my hot button issue when it comes to the Chiefs. And I thought I would attempt to explain why I feel so strongly about it. In a lot of ways it doesn't have much to do with the people on a forum saying it. Hey at the end of the day we are all just people giving an opinion.

It has more to do with the fact that this is the constant approach this franchise has seemed to have taken for the past nearly 10 years. Like I have said over and over again Since Bowe was drafted the WR core has been Bowe and a lot of below average guys and they have just hoped that it will work. IT HASN'T IT'S NOT GOING TO SUDDENLY START working.

The ZERO depth at WR could not be made more clear then week 1 this year. There should be ZERO conditions for a NFL team that Frankie Hammond Jr is a starting WR. ZERO. But that's what we saw. It's what we have given QB after QB. This is not a new thing for this team. Its choices of WR haven't been great. You can go WAY back for that. With the likes of Sammie Parker (who was ok at best) This is why I am so frustrated about this issue.

A couple of years ago when My Man Hali was here he had a saying about the definition of insanity being
Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
That's what you can say about the talent on offense this team has built over the past decade. IT HAS TO CHANGE or they will never get any further the one and done IMO.

The good news is there is some hope currently on the roster DAT has shown he could become a good weapon. The deep past what got me excited was he actually made an adjustment on the ball. That's a good sign. Albert Wilson also showed some hope. He didn't play a lot early I wonder what could have happened if he was actually able to play throughout the season. If he could have made progress going forward.

My frustration doesn't come from some love for Alex Smith. I took the same heat for Cassel. My frustration comes from being tired of seeing the same thing repeated with QB after QB after QB. I was very open to the QB change and hope it would change for the first handful but after seeing as many as we have seen come through you have to ask yourself has the problem been this franchise is setting a QB up to fail? IMO the answer is a loud YES.

[ctchiefsfan]

Why not just add talent to the QB position? I would like to see Aaron Murray have a legit shot at benching Smith next year. Could be difficult to sit 18 mil on the pine though...

I don't see it as being tough to sit Alex if one of the other QBs is CLEARLY outperforming him. It's not like promoting either Bray or Murray would increase our cap number. And I have to believe Reid will play the man who gives him the best chance to win.

[70 chiefsfan70]

Coaches just don't bench 18 million dollar guys. It admits mistakes and mistakes cost jobs.

[slc chief]

Tell drew bledsoe that if there is somebody better behind you it eventually plays itself out

[Stevie Ray]

The first line is something Smith Critics ( I will refrain from the haters term here) love to do. They love to post stats and numbers like the offensive passing rankings ECT. But the very moment you can post numbers showing how others around the QB are not doing there job this is the responses you will get
A. You're making an excuse
B. Blame the QB somehow
C. "every team has dropped passes" Well yes but every Qb misses throws sometimes If I were to say that it would go back to the Excuse line.

What I see is one side of the isle making critiques/observations about Smith as a QB, and the other side of the isle blaming the players around Smith for his shortcomings. I haven't seen many, if any, people actually defending the players around Smith. We're just not allowing them to be used as an excuse for Smith -- there's a difference.

I doubt that anyone here genuinely hates Smith. I think he's very mediocre and I don't like the fact that the Chiefs have committed to him as their QB, but I'll still be rooting for him to do well while he's on the field.

We get into these back-n-forths because there is a faction of fans that feel like he's a good QB, and both sides are defending their position. That's normal.

But when you view our objections to your position as "hate" (used loosely) it only gives you an avenue to disregard a lot of the information that is coming from the other side.

[ctchiefsfan]

Coaches just don't bench 18 million dollar guys. It admits mistakes and mistakes cost jobs.

I agree, but I also disagree. RESULTS keep jobs. Reid would not put Smith on the bench just because of a small perceived advantage. But if Reid thought there was clearly someone substantially better he'd sit Alex in a heartbeat and allow the RESULTS to speak for themselves. Yes....If Reid sat Smith, Hunt would be thinking WTF???!!! But Reid has earned Hunt's trust and noninterference these last 2 years. And if at the end of the season there was a playoff win or two he'd give Reid a raise and not worry one damned bit about Smith's behind collecting splinters.

[Stevie Ray]

Please post this 70 yard pass from smith

The 70 yard pass was like a 3 yard pass to Knile Davis that he took to the house. It was the game against Oakland at Arrowhead - if memory serves.

[Stevie Ray]

It talks about Reid and what the west coast offense is that put more focus on the short quick passes. That's what Reid runs and you expect that to suddenly become a air it out offense?

There seems to be a misconception that the West Coast Offense is somehow contra-downfield passing. The West Coast Offense is not a scheme, but rather a philosophy. Simply put, it's a philosophy that focuses on using short passes in place of runs; in hopes of opening up the defense for longer plays downfield.

[Stevie Ray]

How many times did you here EXPERTS who played the game at a pro level say we need to push the ball down the field.

I think the more frustrating thing was that even when the Chiefs got down inside the red zone, they rarely threw a pass into the endzone. Smith would generally try to hit a short pass and hope for a catch-n-run into the endzone.

If you watch enough football games from around the league, not just the Chiefs, you notice that other teams take a good amount of shots at pass attempts into the endzone. When you think about the Chiefs, there are but a precious handful of times that I can remember them actually throwing the ball into the endzone.

[ctchiefsfan]

There seems to be a misconception that the West Coast Offense is somehow contra-downfield passing. The West Coast Offense is not a scheme, but rather a philosophy. Simply put, it's a philosophy that focuses on using short passes in place of runs; in hopes of opening up the defense for longer plays downfield.

Exactly so. And well said! But in Reid's case with JC on the roster he believes in using the short pass AND the run to open up defenses for longer plays downfield. And if we can just get that "longer plays downfield" part of it working along with some decent O-line play we should have one hell of an offensive powerhouse.....EVEN with Alex Smith as QB.

[Stevie Ray]

This is no secret league wide. Hince why teams did not have a hard time game planning against our offense.and also why our offense flattened. Stack the box stop charles and cover everything 15 yards in front of you. Thats all defenses had to do. A real basic game plan

Yes, teams started playing 10 guys within 5-7 yards of the line of scrimmage, with one single high safety over the top.

Oakland tried to use that same strategy at Arrowhead, and to Smith's credit, he made them pay for it by throwing downfield more. If you recall, the Oakland game is the one memorable game all season where Smith opened it up. What a novel idea.