Originally Posted by
texaschief
Mike Vick did pretty well. Who knows how good he could've been if he had stayed healthy. It was only last year that he really fell off the cliff. But his first couple years running Reid's offense were pretty spectacular considering he didn't play every game. Michael Vick has a top 5 arm in this league. Probably throws a better deep ball than any QB in the NFL. His avg/comp during his 2 best seasons ('10-'11) was 8.1 and 7.8 respectively. He only threw for 12 TD's in '10, but passed for over 3000 yards. 2011 saw him step up the passing TDs to 17 with 3300 yards passing. The problem with Mike Vick is his accuracy. In 2010 he was only at 62% and then dropped to 59% the year after.
All we hear about with Alex Smith is how accurate he is and how he doesn't turn the ball over. Reid asked Vick to throw the ball an average of 400 times between '10-'11. In 2011, Smith was asked to throw the ball 450 times and ended the season with a passer rating of 91 throwing a 17/5 TD/INT ratio and a 60% completion percentage with over 3100 yards passing. Those numbers are almost identical to Cassel's career year. Through 8 games of 2012, Alex Smith was on track to throw about 450 times like he had in 2011. Except, in '12, he had a 70% completion rate instead of just 60% like in 2011. If you look at Smith's career, he has improved almost every year. I don't understand this notion that if Smith is asked to throw 400+ times in a season, that he won't be successful, when in fact, his stats tell you the exact opposite. Statistically, the two best seasons of Alex Smith's career (2011, 2012) have come when he was asked to throw the ball 27 times a game. Reid only asked McNabb to throw 29 times a game over his career and only asked Vick to throw 24 times a game.
Alex Smith is perfectly matched with Andy Reid's system. He's accurate, can consistently complete the short throws, take care of the ball, and now brings a L.O.S. element to Andy Reid that the coach has never had before. Give Reid a QB who's smart enough to check at the L.O.S. a la Peyton Manning, and you could potentially have a VERY lethal offense. What's even better is that if Alex Smith is given the ability to check at he L.O.S., he'll be checking to quick hitting routes that will expose the defense. Who better to pull that off than a QB known for his accuracy, consistency, and ability to hit the short passes? The only real problem I have with Alex Smith and the Chiefs' dependency on this guy is his history of injuries. There's no way I would put all my eggs in that basket. I'd make damn sure I had a suitable backup because counting on him to get through an entire season is a bit risky.
I also think it's an incorrect assumption that Andy Reid can't include a run game element into his offense. Philly has been in the top half of the league in rushing more times than not since Reid has been there. They had the 5th best rushing attack in the league in '10 and '11 but dropped to 11th last season. I think Charles is going to do just fine and this offense is going to see a nice, balanced offensive attack.
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