WTF Alex Smith

Straight from the NFL blooper reels, Smith drops back and panics as the pocket starts to collapse, taking off right in Stewart Bradley's direction who was doing nothing but sealing the corner. Panicking even more, Smith takes off toward his own goal-line with Bradley in pursuit. Finally, the ultimate insult, Smith turns to try to throw the ball away but drops it instead.

Quintin Mikell easy pickup and TD return. Great for my fantasy team, awful for the 49ers.

I'll see if I can post the video later.

Later:

Well, NFL.com videos resist getting embedded. Guess they need people to buy Mercedeses before you can watch. But for the 30% of you who haven't seen it:

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-cant-miss-plays/09000d5d81b3bfb3/WK-5-Can-t-Miss-Play-Opportunity-knocks

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Great article from Tim Kawakami:

Singletary is (like Nolan) another totally-defense-oriented coach who is puzzled by Smith, who had hopes of building a team around Smith, who couldn’t implement the right offense for Smith, and now is going to lose his job partly because of all of the above.

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It may take some time to unravel–because the 49ers aren’t likely to either fire Singletary right away or dump Smith. (In the current environment, I wouldn’t say it’s imposisible that Smith at some point asks to be released. Singletary… I don’t know how that’s going to end.)

But it will happen. Both things, I’d guess. Smith never should’ve stuck around a franchise that broke him once, and is about to do it again.

The 49ers never should’ve gotten themselves into a position where they were counting on Smith (again), after he’d let them down so many times in the past.

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They have really tried it. And they have failed.

Smith and Singletary can’t escape the truth now, not after five consecutive losses to start 2010, and especially not after their sideline mano a mano during the fourth quarter of Sunday night’s 27-24 loss to Philadelphia.

Call it what you will: frustration, anger, a showdown, a coach-quarterback catharsis after several more costly Smith turnovers or just another embarrassing franchise moment.

Alex Smith is a tease. Every fan is familiar with this type of player. Shows he is capable of anything, occasionally puts up great stat lines - last night Smith passed for 300 and 2 and had a 92 rating. But these are guys who simply cannot get it done when it counts, who panic. You could see Smith panic during this play and compound and compound and compound his mistakes.

Meanwhile, the only successful quarterback San Francisco has had since Jeff Garcia just put a thumping on San Francisco's divisional rival. Shaun Hill is exactly what Smith isn't. He isn't talented, he doesn't have that great arm or great speed or great size. But he's gutsy and makes great decisions and finds ways to make plays. He is exactly what San Francisco needed Smith to become, heck he is exactly what the Lions need Matt Stafford to become - but that's a different post and I'm rambling now anyway.

I never fail to be amazed that coaches will chain their careers to guys like Smith and not even leave themselves an out. San Francisco's only alternative is another failed tease. But as Kawakami discusses, even if the corpse is still twitching, Singletary's tenure with the 49ers is dead.