Graham Blog: 49ers Need To Decide On QB
Submitted by Carson Now Reader on Mon, 11/26/2012 - 1:13am
Event Date:
November 26, 2012 (All day) Colin Kaepernick or Alex Smith? That is the question that Jim Harbaugh must answer, and answer for good before next week’s game in St. Louis. It does not serve a locker room well when there is a rift or questions left unanswered. Inconsistency can damage a team’s chemistry, and at this point that is the last thing San Francisco needs. Yes, the 49ers appear to have a problem that every team would love to have. They have two quarterbacks that are very capable of winning, but only one should be the everyday starter, and the team deserves to know it.
Is this causing a problem between Alex and Colin? Well, one can only speculate but I believe that it probably is not doing them any good having a starting position battle in the latter part of a winning season. At this point, on a winning team, everyone should know their role.
That’s another thing…
The 49ers are arguably one of the best teams in the league this season, and yet, cannot decide on a quarterback all of a sudden. This problem is usually for the teams that are struggling mightily. This problem is more suitable for a team like the Oakland Raiders or the Cleveland Browns.
Does everyone remember what happened with the 49ers and Smith in the offseason? Trust was broken. The 49ers decided that they wanted to pursue Peyton Manning after Smith led them to an NFC West title and to the NFC Championship game while very nearly making it to the Super Bowl.
San Francisco decided to give Manning a very serious look and talk about signing him. This in turn, understandably, made Smith unhappy. He started to look elsewhere and talked with the Dolphins. The 49ers ended up losing in the Manning sweepstakes, and then it was up to them to do damage control with Smith. Harbaugh took him behind closed doors and basically kissed Smith’s feet. That worked, but you can bet Smith was and still is on his toes. This situation with Kaepernick is once again bringing up the trust issue in Smith’s head.
The next question is: What has Smith done under the Harbaugh regime to lose his starter status? Let’s take a look…
Smith on Jim’s watch has been a completely different quarterback, and in a very good way. His record while playing under Harbaugh is 20-5-1 with an NFC title, and a NFC Championship game apperance. Smith has 30 passing TD’s, only 10 interceptions, and was on pace this season to break his career high in passing yards for a season, and easily TD’s. His career high in passing TD’s for a season is 18 back in ’09. Through 9 games this season he has 13 TD’s. His rating this year 104.1 and that is good enough to be in the top 5 for QB's in the NFL this year. His completion percentage? 70%. Best in the league. Yeah, sounds like a quarterback that doesn’t deserve the starter status he earned.
Colin Kaepernick is off to a great start in his starting career. He is 2-0 with one game at home, and one on the road. He has a rating of 108.3 through those two games with 2 TD passes, 1 fumble, and 1 INT. He has completed 65% of his passes, and has 449 yards in the two starts. He brings a very aggressive style behind the center. He has a cannon for an arm, and he tends to be more aggressive with his passes which has worked out for him so far on the most part. He uses his legs to get out of trouble, and create trouble for his opponent’s defense.
As was said before in this article, the 49ers have two good quarterbacks but need to decide on one to make the rest of the starts to give the team the stability they should have at this point in the season. My pick would be Alex Smith. I believe, with what has been said by other players though out this whole thing, they want it to be Smith too. Again, he has done nothing to lose the starting job he earned, and until he does, it should be his. Colin’s day will come, and everyone now knows that when it does, he will be ready.
