Alex Smith

[Woz]

On 11/5/2018 at 8:09 AM, RSkinGM said:

I'd like to see Brady or Rodgers try to lead a comeback with 3 starters gone from the O-line. 

Not having your Pro Bowl LT and losing your starting two guards during the game (as well as having your RT miss a bit of time and then lose his mind) is incredibly difficult for any team regardless of the quarterback under center. I get that.

So, what happened against the Colts and Saints?

 

With Alex Smith at the helm, this team has to get ahead early and then grind the opponent down with the run game and a stout defense. There's no other way it can win. With those aforementioned injuries, that's basically not possible any more.

[MKnight82]

Of players with 100+ passing attempts this season, Alex Smith ranks 25th in the NFL in average yards per pass attempt:

http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?tabSeq=0&season=2018&seasonType=REG&d-447263-n=1&d-447263-o=2&d-447263-p=1&statisticCategory=PASSING&conference=null&d-447263-s=PASSING_AVERAGE_YARDS 

His 6.8 yards per attempt are behind the following QBs:

Dak Prescott - 7.0 (yikes)

Blake Bortles - 7.0 (double yikes)

Case Keenum - 7.3

Kirk Cousins - 7.4 (sorry woz)

CJ Beathard - 7.4 (lol)

Ryan Tannehill - 7.5

Eli Manning - 7.5 (wow, just wow)

[MikeT14]

Best deep ball 2017 

[MKnight82]

18 minutes ago, MikeT14 said:

Best deep ball 2017 

RIP

[Umbaugh21]

I've accepted that he's just here so in the future he can groom along Will Grier. That's what I'm sticking with to get me through Sunday's... until we pass on Will Grier. Then I'll go back to alcohol.

[naptownskinsfan]

1 hour ago, Umbaugh21 said:

I've accepted that he's just here so in the future he can groom along Will Grier. That's what I'm sticking with to get me through Sunday's... until we pass on Will Grier. Then I'll go back to alcohol.

I brought up Grier earlier in the thread.  With the last game's comeback, he's definitely in first round territory though. 

[turtle28]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2018/11/14/passing-stats-are-up-around-the-nfl-but-tom-bradys-are-down/

Tom Brady’s passing stats are down. Could it be because his top weapon has battled injuries and his second best is still working his way back form a torn ACL?

[MikeT14]

Also he's 41. Father time always wins. 

[HTTRDynasty]

4 hours ago, turtle28 said:

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2018/11/14/passing-stats-are-up-around-the-nfl-but-tom-bradys-are-down/

Tom Brady’s passing stats are down. Could it be because his top weapon has battled injuries and his second best is still working his way back form a torn ACL.

Yep.  Brady has always relied on the quick passing game, and works best with guys who can consistently create quick separation.  He doesn't have that as much this year.  Smith definitely doesn't either.

[e16bball]

One of the other issues with the YPA number is that in today's NFL, it's driven so much by YAC. Receivers catching shorter passes and then turning upfield and piling up chunk yardage is a staple of most (admittedly not all) modern offenses. It's absolutely an element of the Gruden offense -- the Redskins ranked first in YAC in 2014, then ranked in the top 10 in both 2015 and 2016. I'm not finding any team YAC totals from 2017 for some reason, but they topped 2000 yards after the catch (per ESPN), and that also would typically be easily a top 10 figure again.

Smith's KC teams have also tended to have high YAC totals (10th in 2015, 6th in 2016, and also over 2k YAC yards in 2017). They did rank only 15th in YAC in 2014 -- which incidentally was a year when guys like Albert Wilson, Donnie Avery, and De'Anthony Thomas were banged up, and two of his top targets were big YAC-less lugs in Dwayne Bowe and Anthony Fasano. 

Despite the fact that both Gruden and Smith have been traditionally dependent on YAC yards to move the ball in the passing game, and have traditionally been toward the top of the league in that measure, the Redskins currently rank 28th in the league with 900 yards after the catch. And that number is mostly powered by the RBs/TEs, because the WRs have combined for a paltry 237 yards after catch. And remarkably, 69 of those YAC yards came from four games of Jamison Crowder -- who, despite getting less than 14% of the targets among the WRs, has contributed almost 30% of the WR YAC total. The non-Crowder WRs are averaging an astonishingly pathetic 2.2 YAC. And before you say that's just because Smith refuses to throw to WRs, bear in mind that last season his WRs ranked 9th in the league with over 950 YAC, which is more than double what this group is on pace for this season.

 

Chris Thompson and Jamison Crowder would be meaningful losses to any passing game. To this offense, with Jay Gruden and Alex Smith at the helm, it's been absolutely crushing to have both of those guys out for half the season now. An offense that would ostensibly have been built around using those two (in addition to the TEs) to function as a quick ball-control passing game with big after-catch ability has now been turned into a slogging 1980s no-separation, throw-into-tight-windows, catch-and-fall-down air attack. Once those guys return (and let's pray it will be soon), I think the offense will open back up a little bit. And the ball will start to move a little better.

[Jeezy Fanatic]

Every time you pass, you could turn the ball over, which gives  you a chance to lose. Alex could have a 0 yards per attempt, but if the turnover differential is still positive how could we lose?!?

[Slateman]

3 hours ago, Jeezy Fanatic said:

Every time you pass, you could turn the ball over, which gives  you a chance to lose. Alex could have a 0 yards per attempt, but if the turnover differential is still positive how could we lose?!?

Didnt Mark Brunnell win a playoff game with 180 passing yards?

[Jeezy Fanatic]

33 minutes ago, Slateman said:

Didnt Mark Brunnell win a playoff game with 180 passing yards?

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/200601070tam.htm#all_player_offense

This was the Sean Taylor spit game. He also scored.

[Skins212689]

Alex Smith is making the Redskins once again look like idiots while Andy Reid is living the life. Mahomes is leading that offense and Alex can't lead us to more than 20 points consistently. I know its his first year here but he's suppose to be a Vet and the guy Gruden picked to run the offense. For what Alex is doing we should've just paid Kirk. 

[lavar703]

16 hours ago, turtle28 said:

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2018/11/14/passing-stats-are-up-around-the-nfl-but-tom-bradys-are-down/

Tom Brady’s passing stats are down. Could it be because his top weapon has battled injuries and his second best is still working his way back form a torn ACL.

Tom Brady is 41 and has 7 more TDs, 700 more yards, higher passer rating and higher completion percentage. So if you think that’s rough for Brady what the hell does that mean for Smith?