When I received an email from Zander asking me to do an article about the quarterback controversy going on with the 49ers, I thought, "what quarterback controversy?"
I'm serious, what controversy?
There's only a controversy when a former starter is threatened by a backup who has proven himself to play just as well or even better. We usually see this when the starter is injured and hasn't been playing that well, and the second-string QB finally gets his chance to shine. So let's look at some possible QB controversies around the league.
Tampa Bay
They've got more quarterbacks than most high-school quarterback camps. Though Jeff Gracia seems pretty consistent, meaning he's not losing games with bad quarterbacking, but neither is he throwing three-TD, 250+ yards per game. Hard to do that when you don't have T.O anymore.
And who else is there? Luke McCown, Brad Gradkowski, and Chris Simms. All quarterbacks who have started at least one game, and all played not excellently, but well enough to to be able to compete for the job.
But who will probably start? Yes, the guy that has the most experience and has won the most games, and (sort of) took Tampa Bay to the playoffs, Jeff Garcia. So no, there is no controversy here. What's the most any of the other quarterbacks can do during training camp? Preseason? Teams like to win, and not gamble by testing the other quarterbacks.
Arizona
Similar to the 49ers, only we're not talking about a first overall pick but a 10th overall pick. We've seen Matt Leinart play somewhat inconsistently, and the guy that threatens his job isn't a Shaun Hill, who has won two games, but a guy who is a Super Bowl champion and two-time MVP. I'd say that's a controversy.
Green Bay
Again, maybe. We have Aaron Rodgers, some guy named Craig Nall, and newly drafted Brian Brohm. Aaron Rodgers has played only one game for the Packers, and in that one game, he did exceptional.
However that's exactly the point—one game. He still needs to do a whole lot more to prove himself and take the Lambeau spotlight.
So there's Brian Brohm—why this draft pick many asked? To remind Rodgers that his job isn't secure, and that he must try extra hard? Or does Green Bay expect Rodgers to fail, and then they will groom Brohm, and should he have an excellent traning camp and pre-season, he'll take be the one taking the snaps?
Yes, it's a possibility. With the lack of experience (other than watching Favre play) and the potential greatness Brohm has shown (even with the unfortunate senior season he had), either one can take the job. So yes, this is a quarterback controversy.
Though you might say this is almost what the situation is with the 49ers. However, I'm biased, and you also know I'm an Alex Smith fan. Even though he's played a lot more games then Aaron Rodgers, and more importantly, he's demonstrated to us how much worse he can play than Aaron Rodgers has been able to, but he's still got it.
He's got it, and I think the 49ers have 55 million reasons why they should start him. Shaun Hill won two games. And he won them because, with him, the offense was actually getting positive yards. However, we've got to take in account to Alex Smith's injury, and the fact that the offensive coordinator was no good. I know we've said these things so many times before, but that's the deal.
If it were different, where Alex Smith still did bad under the same offensive coordinator for four straight seasons, and no shoulder injuries, and Shaun Hill was an experienced QB who not only won two games but played exceptionally well, (everyone believes he in fact did play exceptionally well, but honestly anything would be exceptionally better than what Trent Dilfer and Jim Hostler were doing) then there indeed would be a controversy.
I'm not saying Alex Smith doesn't need to work hard for the job in training camp. If Alex Smith gives us a great look this summer and through preseason, he WILL be the starter because San Francisco has to. For me, winning is important. However, what a team invests in is equally important. Our lovely owner John York has invested in Mike Nolan, and did not fire him after this season because ge knows Mike Nolan isn't the reason to base the bad season on. Though we all know that this is probably Nolan's last chance.
Faithful is believing, we all saw in the 49er season-ticket commercials. Our owner still has some faith in Mike Nolan, and Mike Nolan still has faith in Alex Smith. Shaun Hill could have a great summer training camp too, but will not start if Smith does so as well. And my faith says Smith will do well this summer and that he will start. So no, there is no controversy here.
Oh, you're probably saying, "what about J.T Sullivan?"
So I'm saying, " What about him?"
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4 months ago
A healthy Smith, IMO, easily beats out Hill.
While Hill did look sharp those two games, it wasn't amazing play as not making any glaring mistakes.
As many seem to forget, Smith had won 3 of his 4 previous games prior to being injured, only losing to a late surge by the Steelers, and considering him not being anywhere close to 100%, Nolan should have never put Smith back in.
Nolan was watching the season, and his future crumble with Dilfer behind center his first time around, and obviously rushed Smith back in to play, when Smith should have never even been in.
That was obvious from throw one, and the fact Smith kept trying to "play through the pain" with Nolan then playing the blame game didn't bode well all the way around.
I lost some respect for Nolan in that exchange, and wasn't surprised when he stated the qb's job is up for grabs.
Was petty, IMO, and a sort of payback for Smith stepping up and going public with his reactions to Nolan's comments about it 'Not the injury" that was causing Smith's problems.
That said, it's actually nice knowing we have a solid backup qb, whomever it turns out being, in the event the starter goes out, unlike the sorry team across the bay.
4 months ago
Interesting that Garcia's threatening a holdout if he doesn't get a contract extension.
He has a short memory. Wasn't that long ago he got released by team after team after team.
Wasn't that long ago he had a qb rating of zero after playing a full game while with Cleveland.
I think Garcia is wrong on this one. When he was totally sucking, I didn't see him stepping up to the teams and saying "I'll void out the rest of this year because I'm overpaid". Now after a good season, instead of playing his contract, he wants it rewritten?
What the hell?
Obviously a two year contract is what the Buc's had in mind, Jeff. Stating you want more, NOW, isn't going to make Gruden or the Bucs rush to throw more money, or extra years at you.
While he is underpaid at $2 mil a year, that's the contract he happily signed a year ago at this time.
Cardinals: That controversy was created, fanned and flamed by Wiz, their HC.
When you yank out your starter to put in the previous NFL MVP for red zone stances, that's not exactly a vote of confidence to your young high paid qb.
What's really odd is that already Wiz has announced Leinart is the starter for this next year, even though he looked more than suspect when he was healthy.
Yes, as soon as Leinart throws a pick, and fumbles, the crowd will booing loud and clear, wanting in Kurt.
Question is, what's Wiz going to do? Considering how badly he handled last year, no telling.
Warner is better, but each year he's more and more a sitting duck back there.
4 months ago
Mike49er: "Cardinals: That controversy was created, fanned and flamed by Wiz, their HC.
When you yank out your starter to put in the previous NFL MVP for red zone stances, that's not exactly a vote of confidence to your young high paid qb."
I need to correct Mike on this one. Warner wasn't brought in for red zone stances. Mike is confusing an entirely different situation.
Warner was brought in for entire possessions... never during the middle of a Leinart possession. Unlike Leinart, though, Warner's drives most often ended up in the red zone and more often than not for td's.
Leinart? In 2007, his 2nd NFL season, he had the lowest passer rating in the NFL (60.9) and threw the fewest yards per game (129). His completion percentage hovered around 50%, and he averaged only 0.4 TD's per game and threw zero TD's to Larry Fitzgerald and only 1 to Anquan Boldin. And Leinart threw twice as many interceptions as TD's. Fortunately for my Cardinals, Leinart is extremely fragile --- 2 season-ending injuries in his last 5 sacks!
Last season, his partial benching was called the "platoon" system, but it was really Leinart getting yanked for poor performance. What I found incredulous, as a Cardinal fan, is that Whisenhunt actually put Leinart back in after Warner lit up opponents. In the Baltimore game, when Warner went nuts on Ray Lewis and brought the Cardinals back twice in 2 amazing comebacks (1 in the 1st half... 1 in the 2nd half), Arizona actually should have won.... Whisenhunt putting Leinart back in for a failed 2 minute drill at the end of the 1st half resulted in a Raven TD -- basically costing the Cards the win.
The goal-line substitutions that Mike is thinking of was this... Whisenhunt replacing Warner on the goal-lines with Tim Rattay, costing us (and Warner) at least 3 TD's. Who's ever heard of a QB driving his team 80 yards to the opponent's 1 yard line and then getting replaced for the TD play? On the other hand, what does one expect from a team owned by the bush-league Bidwills?
But Ryan Friday is absolutely right. The Cardinals do have a QB controversy... even though they're trying to gift wrap it for Leinart and keep Warner down.
Cardinal fans who are interested in winning today with a PROVEN quarterback want to see Warner pick up where he left off last season. In only 11 starts, Warner completed 27 TD passes --- 21 in his final 8 starts, and finished in the top 10 in most QB categories. And despite Fitzgerald catching zero TD's from Leinart through the 1st 5 games, Warner helped put Fitz into the Pro Bowl (and helped him meet his contract escalators) with a 1 TD catch avg per game for the final 11 games. Warner and Boldin made similar numbers, but Boldin was hurt for much of the season.
It's beyond me why there's such an effort underfoot to put this unproven Ryan Leaf impersonator into the starting qb position, when the Cardinals can compete for the NFC West today with a healthy defense, Warner and the receivers picking up where they left off, and fixing the running game.
As far as fixing the running game, I'd like to see Arizona try to develop a Frank Gore/Tiki Barber/Marshall Faulk clone, rather than continue with the slow-footed, 2x4-handed, block-whiffing, primadonna Edgerrin "No Gain" James.
/rant!
4 months ago
Alex Smith is easily the better quarterback. Shaun Hill looked ok with a dumbed down playbook, a revamped offensive line, and Ted Tollner in the booth. And on top of that he played the Bengals terrible defense and a Tampa team that treated it like a preseason game. Alex Smith has put up better performances against better competition. Nice article.
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