Alex Smith has been in the league for 14 years now and he was selected first overall by the San Francisco 49ers in 2005 and his first few seasons in the league were very average at best. In 2011 when a coach named Jim Harbaugh was hired by the Niners, you saw a change in Alex when Jim got his hands on him and that year, the 49ers were a game away from reaching the Super Bowl. In 2012, Alex got off to another quick start then suffered a concussion and while he was sidelined, he was replaced by a guy named Colin Kaepernick. Even with Alex was healthy, the team decided to stick with Kaep and the 49ers got to the Super Bowl but fell short to the Ravens. In 2013, the Niners decided to trade Smith to the Kansas City Chiefs and he had some good years there, especially last season. This off-season, he was traded again to the Washington Redskins to replace Kirk Cousins. Washington has been off to one of their best starts in recent memory and entered week 11 in first place. Today, their chances of staying on top of the division took a big tumble after he injured his leg and it bent in a way its NOT supposed to be in. Jay Gruden announced that he broke his tibia and fibula and will miss the remainder of the season.
This is such an unfortunate injury for one of the NFL’s good guys and when I saw his leg in a direction that I know it’s now supposed to be in, I immediately knew he was done for the year with the way he reacted and how he was carted off on the field. Alex Smith isn’t an elite quarterback at all, but he does just enough to put your team in the best position to win football games. For so many years, he’s always been labeled as a game manager and rightfully so because that’s what he was. His final season last year in Kansas City, he really shed that title and became more aggressive with the football in his hands because I saw him take more shots down the field in almost every game. Look at what the Chiefs were prior to Alex getting to Kansas City and look at what they became when he got there. They made the playoffs a total of four times, he led them to a few division titles and a first-round bye in the AFC playoffs and with him, they were penciled in to win ten games each season and they did just that. He knows how to take care of the football and he doesn’t turn it over. The biggest misconception about him is he can’t throw it 20 yards or further down the field, look at what he’s done. I just think about the connection he had with Travis Kelce and how he was developing chemistry with his receivers in Landover. He hasn’t missed a beat with Vernon Davis from their days together in San Francisco and he and Jordan Reed were also becoming a nice tandem.
Entering the game today, he had thrown ten touchdown passes and only three interceptions. Colt McCoy steps in and he’ll need to step it up and play his own game if the Redskins want to stay atop the NFC East and get to the playoffs. I’m wishing Alex a very speedy recovery and you never want to see that happen to anybody.
