Game one of the Jim Harbaugh era was a resounding success for the nascent head coach and the revamped coaching staff. I was especially surprised at the defense’s consistent pressure from a fairly basic set. The Niners didn’t blitz much, and therefore had good downfield coverage for the most part. The DBs were solid most of the time as well, and Rogers had a nice breakup in the end zone. Seattle, though, started going downfield more in the 2nd half, and they moved the ball much better in the 2nd half rather than the 1st. To the tune of outscoring the Niners 17-3 on offense. Fangio has spent enough time in the NFL to know his way around a defense, and he had to be happy with the results. Seattle has a very young line, and the Niners had their way with them.
The offense on the other hand was restrained to say the least. Seattle was intent on not letting Gore beat them, and they held him in check all day, minus a couple good runs. The passing game was dinks and dunks most of the time, and the red zone offense was bland to say the least. No mistakes by Young Sir Alex, but one TD in five trips to the red zone isn’t the way to dominate opponents. The one thing Smith has shown in his career is his taking care of the ball in the red zone. To the tune of 30 TDs to one pick.
The return game? Well what can you say? Ginn scored 2 times and iced the game for the 49ers. The Niners gave up a punt return for a TD, but it was called back due to an illegal block in the back. One that actually sprung the return, so there you go. You take your chance and hope it doesn’t get called. The Ginn TD on the kickoff return was critical to the game as the Seahawks had cut the lead to 19-17, and the Niner offense had mustered only one decent 2nd half drive (for yet another FG). A bit galling was the 6 shots the offense had inside the 10 (due to a roughing the kicker call on a made FG) to score a TD, yet couldn’t. This team has too many weapons to not try things a little bit more risky than Gore left, Gore right, Gore up the middle. I understand getting the lead to two scores, but Seattle ended up getting a TD in about 45 seconds.
All in all a solid effort. Going forward, they need to get this offense up to a higher speed. Sure, they played it safe due to their opponent, but Dallas, while not a top-tier team, is better than Seattle in many different ways. This will be a truer test as to how far this team has progressed in this compressed timeframe. As The J-E-T-S showed, Dallas can be thrown on. VD should get some heavy action, as well as Braylon Edwards. So, bombs away . . .
Forty Niners Forever 
Well, we’ll see, won’t we? My feelings about Smith have run the course from a kid in over his head to a guy thrown under the bus by Nolan, to a guy misamanaged by Singletary, to him being the great unknown.
In the end, no one truly knows what he brings. He’s shown ability, but he still makes boneheaded mistakes. He’s yet to put together a consistently solid bunch of games. Maybe Harbaugh can coax consistency out of him. Maybe not. For the fifth time in his career, he’s on his last shot.
The truth still holds that he’s had more lives than any 3 cats as the 49ers QB.
Are you saying fuck the numbers, Mike?
Actually, Brodie was a VERY erratic, up and down quarterback during much of his time here, from 1957 through 1964. If you ever read his book, Open Field, you get an appreciation of just how immature and unready Brodie really was for the NFL. He struggled with some injuries, but it was own emotional demons that did a lot of the damage. Also a complete lack of coaching.
Things only changed when tittle came back in 1965 as Brodie’s first ever QB coach. Still, it took a near fistfight between the two on the practice field before they cleared up their animosity, dating from their playing days, and got down to work.
That year, everything finally clicked for Brodie, who posted a QBR of 95. That was in an era when 30 TDs was an astounding total. From that point through 1969, Brodie was indeed a very good QB on some very poor teams. Until 1970, when the 49ers finally got themselves some defense, and went to the playoffs.
It’s Brodie’s example, of a guy who finally harnessed his talent after years of not really getting it – that gives me what hope I have that Alex Smith could, with Harbaugh coaching him, finally get the light to fully come on.
No, I clearly said that more recent numbers are more relevant than older ones. Motherfucking DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH.
Oh, and if anyone wants shits and giggles, here are the career numbers for evey one of the 37 guys who have started a game at QB for the 49ers.
Sorted by QBR (descending), with record as a starter following.
Steve Young 101.4 91–33–0
Joe Montana 93.5 100–39–0
Ty Detmer 91.1 1–0–0
Jeff Garcia 88.3 35–36–0
Steve Bono 87.7 5–1–0
Shaun Hill 87.3 10–6–0
Chris Weinke 86.2 0–1–0
Jeff Kemp 85.7 3–2–1
Elvis Grbac 85.6 6–3–0
Matt Cavanaugh 85.5 2–0–0
Tim Rattay 81.6 4–12–0
Bob Gagliano 78.1 1–0–0
Troy Smith 77.8 3–3–0
Norm Snead 76.7 2–6–0
J.T. O’Sullivan 73.6 2–6–0
Frankie Albert 73.5 13–16–1
Alex Smith 72.4 19–31–0
John Brodie 72.3 74–77–8
Mike Moroski 70.2 1–1–0
Y.A. Tittle 70 45–31–2
George Mira 70 4–2–0
Ken Dorsey 63.7 2–8–0
Steve DeBerg 63.1 7–28–0
Jim Cason 62.6 1–0–0
Jim Plunkett 62.5 11–15–0
Steve Spurrier 61.2 13–12–1
Tom Owen 56.4 4–4–0
Trent Dilfer 55.1 1–5–0
Lamar McHan 54.3 2–7–0
Steve Stenstrom 52.7 0–3–0
Earl Morrall 48.1 1–3–0
Bob Waters 46.7 0–2–0
Joe Reed 35.9 3–4–0
Jim Druckenmiller 29.2 1–0–0
Scott Bull 24.8 3–4–0
Dennis Morrison 21.9 0–2–0
Cody Pickett 16.4 0–2–0
Unlike the rest of you, I both watched and knew Brodie. GG’s “review” of Brodie’s ghost written book, is subjective, not gospel.
Last time I saw Brodie was in a Palo Alto hotel room in the early 70’s. He and his agent were there to discuss Brodie teaming with my father and making a pitch for the MNF gig. My Dad was in Palo Alto for the East-West Shrine game, As usual for his West coast games, I worked in the booth with him. I think the old Mizlou network carried that game at the time. It would also turn out to be his last year with CBS, in large part because Brodie or his agent leaked the meeting to CBS…
Brodie strongly held that his introduction to Scientology transformed him as a person, and made a huge difference in his game. He also certainly benefited from having Tittle as a QB coach after getting very little instruction in QB mechanics through his first 8 years. If you have any anecdotes about Brodie you’d like to share, have at it.
If we can keep this the way Grumpy directed it ( Thank You) , I just may cancel the last 23 installments on Wet Brain…
Alex Smith 23-33 (win/loss) 51 (tds) 53 (ints) 57.3 (completion percentage)
Jeff Garcia 35-36 113 56 61.4%
Steve Young 91-33 221 86 65.8%
Joe Montana Greatest QB to ever play the game. Shouldn’t be in debate. I threw Young in there for perspective.
John Brodie 74-77 214 244 55%
YA Tittle 45-31 108 134 59%
Now to the analyzation of the data.
OK, Sir Spit, your data is overwhelming, Smith is the worst QB in NFL history, not just the Niners.
Winning Percentage
Smith 41%
Garcia 49%
Young 73%
Brodie 49%
Tittle 59%
Completion Percentage
Smith 57.3%
Garcia 61.4%
Young 65.8%
Brodie 55%
YA Tittle 55.9%
What’s your fucking point, Mike? You knew Brodie, so it validates your opinion of Alex Smith? Gimme a break.
I saw plenty of Brodie’s games. But he was playing fairly well by then. I didn’t see him in the early late 50s or early 60s. Big deal.
___
And, in addition, shout the fuck up Spitty. We get it. If you want to go all V in regards to Alex, go right ahead. Your posts will start disappearing.
I’m sick and fucking tired of this shit.
No, seeing Brodie play gives me some cred about BRODIE,. Chuckles. He was cited here as a bad QB. Get off my case.
40
70
81
82
Those are Smith’s non-injured QBR numbers that past 6 years. We’ll see where he goes with a hopefully more offensive-minded coach.
I musta missed Spit saying Brodie was bad. he has Montana, Young, and Tittle on the list, for God’s sake.
Yes, you missed it. Actually, I rhink Grumpy brought him up, But Brodie’s name is all over Spit’s little lists.And Smith doesn’t even qualify according to Spit’s absurd criteria:
“These are you qbs who’ve been deemed by the brass good enough to start at qb without replacement for over three years.” One year for Smith. Your show is cancelled, Spit. Move on.
TD to INT Ratio converted to percentage….. INTs divided by total of INTs and TDs
Smith 51%
Garcia 33%
Young 28%
Brodie 53%
Tittle 55%
Unca,
These are the guys that qualify. I threw Montana out. Tittle provides Brodie perspective (same era), while Young and Garcia provide Alex Smith perspective.
And 90+ last year after Raye. It doesn’t take a fucking math genius to see an upward trend. And even in “40” year he clearly “got” McCarthy’s offense late, winning the last two games with 98 and 68 QBRs, rather better than the 40 for the year. Then the merry go round began.
Gee, Spit, you think Young had a better coaching staff and players to work with?
If that’s all you got, then blow it out your ass.
“I’m sick and fucking tired of this shit.”
Amen to that.
Shit, Garcia even had TO and Mooch. That’s better than anything Smith has had. Up until now.
He’s the great white question mark. OK? Live with it. Both of you.
He’s at make-or-break yet again.
Don’t even fucking tell me to “live with it”. This fucking bullshit started with me saying he had a solid game Sunday. This is Tyler’s motherfucking gig. If I can’t post an opinion about Smith without starting a goddamn shit festival, that’s a crock.
Smith clearly is the biggest loser in the win / loss comparison.
YA Tittle is the biggest losers in the TD / INT comparison.
Brodie is the biggest loser in the completion percentage comparison.
Like Grump has been foreshadowing, the race is between Alex Smith and John Brodie. Brodie numbers compared to YA Tittle numbers are a good way to gain perspective. It was a different era and different standard. We declare Tittle good, and Brodie’s numbers are comparable to Tittle. In the end, Alex Smith has comparable numbers to qbs who didn’t play during today’s NFL qb era.
The winner of the Spitblood Worst QB in the History of the San Francisco 49ers competition is….
drum roll, please…….
ALEX SMITH!!!!!! Alex Smith: Worst Quarterback in the History of the San Francisco 49ers!
There it is, rejoice America.
On and on it goes. He’s worse than Yogi. By far.
Hey Spit, read Barley’s post at 2:32.
Read it. Know it. Live it.
You were reason 1a I killed the last blog. This time around, I’m only deleting you.
You do what you feel is necessary, Chuck. Alex Smith was just declared, “Worst QB in the History of the Niners.” So we got that out of the way. If you think Twinfan adds to your blog, and I don’t, that’s a decision you have to make for yourself.
Who knows who adds to the blog? Spit is just another “Flying V”, there is no rational discussion with him on board. I’ve “known” Chuck for years on line, we’ve fought many times, I’ve privately thanked him for his support during my many operations and procedures. So, while it may not always seem so, we are friends, or least I’ve thought so. I started posting here again when Spit and Denny considered this their private blog, THEY made this confrontational from the beginning- I’ve been stupid enough to respond in kind. Now it seems that Spit is making this a “him or me” deal, how stupid. Why don’t you try not being an asshole, you might be surprised at how the tone here will change. But I’m not ging to put Chuck in a bad position, if the bullshit continues, I can post elsewhere, the folks here do seem to enjoy Spit, threats, attacks, and all.
Anyone who believes Alex Smith, the Worst Qb in the History of the San Francisco 49ers, is good, must be educated. Twinfan’s education is painful to us all. But wrongs must be corrected. He plays the victim well.
Fuck Rodney King. Martin Luther King says, “Get along, you fucking mooks.”
Oh, and the whole point of my posts was NOT to illustrate that Brodie was a bad QB… rather to show that he did not reach his potential until the second half of his career. The first half of his career, he struggled at times, and had numbers like Alex. Which obviously in no way proves that Alex will follow suit… but perhaps shows that, even after 7 years, there is hope at least of improvement. That’s why I’m patient for now, and curious to see what Harbaugh can get out of Alex over at least half a season. Now don’t bother me with this shit anymore (LOL), and wake me after the bye.
Last chance, Spitty. Contiue this bullshit, and I’m taking them down. No one here enjoys the endless blather. It’s why I started the LAST one. To get away from V and his endleess inane blather.
You post a lot of valid stuff. Which is why I WAS lenient in letting your shit go.
As of now you are trolling and baiting. Get over it or get deleted.
Chuck,
My feeling is to advance a conversation or a debate, you must have a good grasp of reality. If you do that, your foundation is solid. If you don’t do that, and build your argument on a faulty premise,
it destroys meaningful debate. And that’s what we are all trying to do here – get to the truth and figure out what’s real and what’s marketing and bullshit created to sell tickets. A perfect example: Jerry Jones recently coming out and saying Tony Romo played well.
The reality is that we’re all sick and tired of the Alex Smith debate. Everyone of us is. No exceptions. However, because qb play is such an important aspect of winning football, you can’t just avoid the conversation. All things eventually lead to Alex Smith. It sucks. I know. But if we call a spade a spade, or we’re realistic about how Alex Smith is a stop gap, game manager without much skill, then we can advance the conversation or debate. Sure, we can change the subject, which we should now, but in the end we’ll all get sucked into the Alex Smith debate and those who apologize for him or sympathize with him won’t be receiving my kindness. Why not? Because they’ll succeed in squashing the debate, which is, I believe, their intention in the first place. My feeling is, if we can’t correctly build on a premise and advance the debate, why blog here?