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49ers' Smith shines in defeatposted: Monday, September 11, 2006 | Feedback | Print Entry
filed under: San Francisco 49ers, Alex Smith
Wanted to kick off the season by highlighting the player who most impressed me on Sunday: Alex Smith. The guy is light years ahead of where he was last year. His numbers were good (23-of-40, 288 yards, one TD and no picks), but should have been better had he not been hurt by several drops.
The Cardinals were under the most pressure to win Sunday. New team, new stadium, first home opener in 18 years. Arizona had to have this one. The Cardinals' top-10 D was supposed to crumple the 49ers' offense easily.
Remember Smith's 2005 stats? As bad as they get: 1 TD and 11 INTs. Playing with some talented skill position guys who are either getting their first crack as full-time starters (Frank Gore) or vets who are talented but enigmas (Antonio Bryant), Smith was as resourceful as he was determined. And the 49ers *- aided most by Smith *- nearly pulled it out.
As he was being toppled he improvised to Gore in the fourth quarter. Under some serious duress he hit Bryant for 46 yards with about as pretty a deep fade as you'll ever see. After the Niners recovered an onside kick, Smith put them in position to win: With 14 seconds left and everyone in the stadium knowing he had to go end zone, Smith fired into triple coverage, aiming for Bryant on a post. If the ball was two feet more in front of Bryant, it's a touchdown and the 49ers send the game into OT. But Smith's pass was just a little behind Bryant, and it was batted away.
"There were some exciting things to see, glimpses of what we can do," Smith told reporters after the game. "I was very anxious to wipe away all those memories of last year."
Smith showed Elway-Favre-Marino type ability in carrying the 49ers Sunday. If he keeps this up and the rest of the Niners follow, he won't need to make too many more desperation passes at the end of games.
Random stuff
• I like the Manning family and all, but I was on extreme burnout from all the coverage surrounding the Manning Bowl. Even though it's the press asking for the interviews and the Mannings just being decent people and complying, it got really old.
• The Browns have waited three years for the type of impact -* both on the game and the team -* that Kellen Winslow brought on Sunday. He woke Cleveland up with his hands and at ude.
A lot of attention was paid to how Winslow had been humbled by all his problems -* including an article in ESPN The Magazine by yours truly *- but as fellow blogger Bruce Feldman pointed out to me over email on Sunday while I was flipping between the Pats-Bills, Falcons-Panthers and Rams-Broncos, his at ude might just be what the Browns need.
• The Cowboys' last drive against the Jags was about as un-clutch as it gets. To recap, Dallas took over at its 20 with just under a minute left, Jacksonville leading by a touchdown. Drew Bledsoe picked apart the Jags' defense on the previous drive. First play, Bledsoe throws deep into double coverage to T.O., where it's intercepted by CB Brian Williams. A lousy decision when the guy's job is reportedly in trouble. But he's bailed out by replay -- mistakenly I think -* which overrules the interception. So Bledsoe gets another crack at it with 45 seconds to go. It's a longshot, but not impossible. Keep in mind Bledsoe is 34 and has played in 189 NFL games. He was sacked on the next play -* which wasn't all his fault *- and followed that by throwing right to linebacker Mike Peterson.
• I don't know what exactly it is, but there are times when you watch Peyton Manning and you just know something bad is going to happen. Take his interception to R.W. McQuarters. He was hyper from the snap. He didn't sell his play-action fake, he set up too quickly, was jittery in the pocket and fired a pass that let's characterize as ill-advised: Dallas Clark in double coverage, down the middle, making him catch over the shoulder.
• What happened to Tampa? Just one of many questions facing Chris Simms, according to Martin Fennelly. The one I would have asked is this: What can Jon Gruden do to keep so many of Simms' passes from being batted down?
• Reader Justin in Atlanta asks: Is the Rams' D that good or are the Broncos that bad? Both, at least one week into the season. Denver's O-line was simply manhandled by St. Louis' defense line in pass protection, which no one thought could happen. Denver called many bootlegs for Jake Plummer last year not just because Plummer was good on the move but also because its pass protection was uneven. When it played a good 3-4 team, like Pittsburgh, it struggled. Indy suffered exactly the same way, and has suffered the same way against the Steelers and Pats.
People assume that because Indy and Denver have been great running teams that their O-line is equally potent as pass blockers. Not so, at least not all the time.
What keyed the Rams' D -* and what probably got the unpacked crowd at the Dome excited *- was that four turnovers were forced by newcomers: Will Witherspoon, Fakhir Brown, Corey Chavous and Tye Hill. Throw in Leonard Little being amped and destroying Denver's lousy blocking schemes and that's why the Rams whipped the Broncos.
• Chad Pennington throwing for 313 yards and two TDs in his first game in nearly a year set himself up nicely as the Comeback Player of the Year frontrunner.
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That'll be a buck.
