Alex Smith Leads the 49ers with the Most Efficient Scoring Offense in the NFL

Alex Smith has gotten a lot of crap thrown his way by some, but he leads the 49ers and the most efficient scoring offense in the NFL.

His detractors say that his many faults are being hidden because the 49ers have a strong running game.

They say all he is good for is little dink-and-dunk passes that your 13-year-old son could throw. They say he is no good when the team passes from under center.

Don't be fooled, they say, Alex Smith will surely fail when the pressures of playoff football are upon him.

Maybe they forget that Smith has led three come-from-behind wins. Maybe they forget that he threw a Manning-like laser of a pass to a slanting Delanie Walker on fourth down in Detroit. That pass couldn't have been more perfect for the winning touchdown against the undefeated Lions.

While Alex Smith doesn't sling the rock all over kingdom come (a la Aaron Rodgers), he has been amazingly adept at ball security and decision-making. He has only thrown two interceptions to go with his nine touchdown strikes. 

The team is fully behind Alex as their unquestioned leader in the huddle. Before the game at Candlestick against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the team was chanting, "Let's go, Alex!" in the tunnel as they prepared to take the field. 

Alex Smith has taken a beating from both fans and the media over the course of the last seven years. Most of the criticism was valid.

But people who know football kept pointing to this simple fact: seven coordinators in seven years. 

To quote the immortal words of Bob Dylan, "There must be some way out of here, said the joker to the thief. There's too much confusion, I can't get no relief." 

Enter the voice of quarterback sanity, Jim Harbaugh.

Harbaugh has said from the beginning that he liked what he saw with Alex Smith. Most people concluded that he was simply putting lipstick on a pig. 

At the halfway point in the season, I think it's clear that Harbaugh can confidently say, "Alex is who we thought he was."

Alex Smith leads the most efficient scoring offense in the league. I think that merits a bit of praise.