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Will Alex Throw it Deep More this Year?


Chiefer

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We all know the narrative:

Smith is conservative

a Game Manager

Doesnt throw it deep

Hes been working on the Deep Ball all offseason, etc.

Then during the season he's got the lowest air yards per attempt. The offense moves at a crawl and it's like we go into a shell, with the occasional deep ball to Tyreek.

However, now he's got a rookie pushing him. The Rookie throws it deep, in amazing ways. He's got an OL that looks competent, and a RB that can seemingly pound the rock. SPEED for receiving options. 

9er fans say the Patriot game is just a unicorn. That he'll go back to normal, dink and dunk, throw it in 2.5 seconds Alex, next week.

I'm hoping that we see the Alex that was in his last year in San Fran. Looked great with Kapernick at his back competing. Then gets hurt and put on the shelf.

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It definitely seems so. I don't think we can expect him to play as well as he did Thursday every week, just because you can't really expect any QB to do that. But Alex has never done what he did last week. Even against Indy for us or against New Orleans for San Fran, he has never been that aggressive and that accurate downfield. So this isn't something that he's done once every year or two and then gone back to normal. He's never changed in this way before.

I think it's partially Mahomes, and partially the talent. He has never had a threat like Tyreek Hill, before. Those deep balls still mostly fit into what Alex looks for. He looks for high percentage passes. And Hunt and Hill had enough room to qualify for that, and I think that's a big difference for him. When his top receivers have been guys like Crabtree and Bowe, they aren't high separation guys. They can win contested balls, but Smith doesn't like those. Now, we have a receiving corp full of guys that can get that separation deep, and I think that makes a big difference when Alex looks down field.

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Smith's Indy Playoff game was as good as any game I saw him play - maybe even including last week. The broadcasting world was stunned by Alex that game. Then the Chiefs defense collapsed and the world was stunned again and Smith forgotten.

Alex needs to string some games together like the Pats game. Then we can discuss if the change is real and long-lasting.

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3 hours ago, mayanfootball said:

Smith's Indy Playoff game was as good as any game I saw him play - maybe even including last week. The broadcasting world was stunned by Alex that game. Then the Chiefs defense collapsed and the world was stunned again and Smith forgotten.

Alex needs to string some games together like the Pats game. Then we can discuss if the change is real and long-lasting.

I went back and watched the highlights of that game, and I do think the Pats game was definitely better (his pass to Avery then was about as good as his pass to Hill last week, but a LOT of his yards that week still came on slants to Bowe.) It's closer than I thought originally, but I do think the Pats game was better.

I do have to say, watching those highlights, our offense is so much more talented than it was back then. The WRs shown in the highlights were Bowe, Avery, and Hemingway, with Sherman and Knile Davis catching TDs as RBs, and McGrath/Fasano at TE. That's just awful. The OL was probably comparable, we still had the full crew of guys that other teams threw money at (Albert, Allen, Hudson, and Asamoah), but man that offense lacked talent.

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I posted this in the GD thread, but it was already limp, so I'll put it here too. Ike Taylor had a good take on things. 

It's been there, but it's Patrick Mahomes. So we've been we've been watching Patrick Mahomes in the preseason, right? And all we've been talking about is what? His arm. Deep throws. So he's looking at Tyreek Hill, he's looking at D[e'Anthony] Thomas, these guys are burners, right? So he's just been going deep. What has Alex Smith not been doing? Throwing the ball deep. Competition brings what out of you? The best or the worst? So now Alex Smith is like, 'You know what? They've got this young stud they drafted earlier in this draft. [Mahomes] is throwing deep. Maybe I should throw deep too. So honestly, he took the leash off himself. -  Ike Taylor 

J

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8 hours ago, Jakuvious said:

I went back and watched the highlights of that game, and I do think the Pats game was definitely better (his pass to Avery then was about as good as his pass to Hill last week, but a LOT of his yards that week still came on slants to Bowe.) It's closer than I thought originally, but I do think the Pats game was better.

I do have to say, watching those highlights, our offense is so much more talented than it was back then. The WRs shown in theshould highlights were Bowe, Avery, and Hemingway, with Sherman and Knile Davis catching TDs as RBs, and McGrath/Fasano at TE. That's just awful. The OL was probably comparable, we still had the full crew of guys that other teams threw money at (Albert, Allen, Hudson, and Asamoah), but man that offense lacked talent.

Didn't Dexter McCluster lay out for a big catch? (Just going off memory here). Anyway I agree today's offense is more talented. But that's part of my reasoning. Alex wasn't supposed to do what he did against the Colts. Today's Chiefs make it easier for him to do what he did.

Whether you think the Pats or Colts game is better is really immaterial to the question "Will Alex throw it deep more often this year?". With K.Hunt, T.Hill and others present, Alex should  be able to throw deep more often, but wiil he? I want Alex to prove to me he can and will.

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I think he'll push it more this year, but I also think that Pats game was the best we'll see for awhile.

 

Maybe it's just me looking at Andy Reid, but I don't think we'll see a game plan quite like that for a little while.  He called a pretty good game, minus the cute possession when we got the lead.

The OL definitely dominated a weak Pats front 7 though, if that continues against tougher pass rushes I don't see any reason it can't continue even with lesser game plans.

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So ... the Pats didn't rush Alex at all. Weird thing: they didn't adjust when he started to pick them apart.
Not sure that made the OL shine, but may be they didn't face a real challenge.

In any case: Lesson learned: You can't give Alex all the time in the world.

 

So how's the Eagles rush? Something to be concerned about?

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20 minutes ago, KC_Guy said:

So ... the Pats didn't rush Alex at all. Weird thing: they didn't adjust when he started to pick them apart.
Not sure that made the OL shine, but may be they didn't face a real challenge.

In any case: Lesson learned: You can't give Alex all the time in the world.

 

So how's the Eagles rush? Something to be concerned about?

They still pressured him, I think PFF said he did the best under pressure.

And yes their front 7 is pretty beastly. Fletcher and Brandon Graham are good rushers.

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4 hours ago, KC_Guy said:

So ... the Pats didn't rush Alex at all. Weird thing: they didn't adjust when he started to pick them apart.
Not sure that made the OL shine, but may be they didn't face a real challenge.

In any case: Lesson learned: You can't give Alex all the time in the world.

 

So how's the Eagles rush? Something to be concerned about?

The Eagles rush is fairly strong. Cox is one of the best interior pass rushers in the league. Graham is better than his sack stats have normally shown. They dominated Washington's interior and right side. Though I don't recall them having any success against Trent WIlliams, so that game may have been partially Philly being good and partially Washington being bad. Always hard to tell in week one. It does help that their biggest threat (Cox) will mostly line up across LDT and Morse.

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I think they let Smith air it out. It fits better with the types of WR the team has now, and also prepares them for when Mahomes takes over in a year or 2. Personally, I'm excited about it; I do love smash mouth football, but I also love big plays. Something we haven't seen much of around here before Hill was drafted.

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