You know it's an odd year when.....

[Jikkle]

....The Bills, Lions, Houston, 49ers, and Raiders are all in the mix for the playoffs that happen to be 5 of the 6 teams with the longest playoff droughts.

If all those teams make the playoffs that will make the Browns the owner of the longest playoff drought.

 

[numone9er]

It's a very strange year, that's for sure. I figured it would be a bigger advantage for teams who have had their systems in place for a while and have a franchise QB. It will be interesting to see who can keep up now that we are getting into mid October and colder weather.

 

[FourBeeDen]

It's a very strange year, that's for sure. I figured it would be a bigger advantage for teams who have had their systems in place for a while and have a franchise QB. It will be interesting to see who can keep up now that we are getting into mid October and colder weather.

If you take a look at the list you will see that..

1. Only the 49ers and the Raiders have new HC's
2. Eventhough the HC of the Raiders is new, he was the OC the previous year using practically the same personnel
3. The Bills, Lions, Texans, and Raiders all have their Starting QB settled even prior to the lock out. Only the 49ers have QB questions entering the season...

So the only real enigma on all those listed is the 49ers

 

[deep9er]

we already had a decent defense, so we might've been competitive (somewhat?) even with the CBA's effect on offense? not win 4 games, but not getting blown out either?

but surprisingly, Alex Smith played well from the get go. "well" meaning better than we expected......we'll take it.

 

[MHSL82]

we already had a decent defense, so we might've been competitive (somewhat?) even with the CBA's effect on offense? not win 4 games, but not getting blown out either?

but surprisingly, Alex Smith played well from the get go. "well" meaning better than we expected......we'll take it.

Ugg. You always have to qualify it when you say he's played well. It's like you're afraid of someone calling you out on it. It's almost like a faux compliment. You're tall for a little person. You're skinny for a fatty. He may not keep it up, but he's played well in general IMO. There's no need to qualify it if your talking about past performance this year. However, as a current state or future prediction I don't think any of us think he's actually top 3.

Only qualification I would add is that less is asked of him than of some quarterbacks, but when he does almost everything he is asked, I'd say he played well. When he is asked to do more and struggles, then I'd say he's just better than expected (depending on how strong of struggle). I won't keep harping on this, cause I know it can become rather annoying, but when we have the option to later say he played poorly if he does, I don't see the need to always say he played well... for Alex Smith.

 

[deep9er]

Ugg. You always have to qualify it when you say he's played well. It's like you're afraid of someone calling you out on it. It's almost like a faux compliment. You're tall for a little person. You're skinny for a fatty. He may not keep it up, but he's played well in general IMO. There's no need to qualify it if your talking about past performance this year. However, as a current state or future prediction I don't think any of us think he's actually top 3.

Only qualification I would add is that less is asked of him than of some quarterbacks, but when he does almost everything he is asked, I'd say he played well. When he is asked to do more and struggles, then I'd say he's just better than expected (depending on how strong of struggle). I won't keep harping on this, cause I know it can become rather annoying, but when we have the option to later say he played poorly if he does, I don't see the need to always say he played well... for Alex Smith.

first, yeah maybe i do "over qualify" things?

second, do you blame me and others who do it too? you've been on this board long enough to know why.........you do know right?

 

[FourBeeDen]

first, yeah maybe i do "over qualify" things?

second, do you blame me and others who do it too? you've been on this board long enough to know why.........you do know right?

I don't think anyone could fault you or anybody else for that matter on being "cautiously optimistic" when it come to the Niners in general and Alex Smith in particular... It's not like the past seven seasons left something for the fans to be blindly optimistic

 

[MW49ers5]

I don't think anyone could fault you or anybody else for that matter on being "cautiously optimistic" when it come to the Niners in general and Alex Smith in particular... It's not like the past seven seasons left something for the fans to be blindly optimistic

Well said, Four!

 

[deep9er]

Well said, Four!

sorry gang, maybe i'm just being a downer while thinking i'm being realistic? if so, i agree this isn't the time to be a downer. we're 4-1 and looking much better than we could've hoped, i'll try to be more careful.

 

[MW49ers5]

sorry gang, maybe i'm just being a downer while thinking i'm being realistic? if so, i agree this isn't the time to be a downer. we're 4-1 and looking much better than we could've hoped, i'll try to be more careful.

I don't think you're being a downer at all Deep. The common denominator in every SF fan right now is pure joy, and cautiously expressing that joy does not diminish it, IMO. I know you're happy for the team.

 

[MHSL82]

first, yeah maybe i do "over qualify" things?

second, do you blame me and others who do it too? you've been on this board long enough to know why.........you do know right?

I don't think anyone could fault you or anybody else for that matter on being "cautiously optimistic" when it come to the Niners in general and Alex Smith in particular... It's not like the past seven seasons left something for the fans to be blindly optimistic

sorry gang, maybe i'm just being a downer while thinking i'm being realistic? if so, i agree this isn't the time to be a downer. we're 4-1 and looking much better than we could've hoped, i'll try to be more careful.

Just to clarify, I am not talking about how we feel going forward. I absolutely share your concerns on the future of the Niners and despite my last two responses to your posts, I am not sold on Alex Smith for the future. I agree that the last six years of Alex and the last 8 or so seasons for the Niners give us every reason to be cautious in our optimism for the coming weeks, season, and long term. I can't say Alex will play well against the Lions, though I feel better this year than the last six.

I was talking about evaluating the past play of Alex this year. I feel he's played well this year, without just comparing it to himself or to our expectations of him. I feel this way because if another QB came in an won and played like this I would describe it as playing well. I would, of course, talk about us having to install the offense gradually and about our competition, but I wouldn't say well, for him. I would worry about people figuring him out like Troy was last year.

Lastly, I respect your opinion and you more than most posters. I feel you keep a level head and attempt to remain objective, which may lead to people like me commenting upon your qualifying manner of posting. Being realistic in regards to the future of this team is imperitive, I think, for our sanity. And I would qualify what we've asked Alex to do, but I am just looking from Week 1 to Week 5.

 

[deep9er]

Just to clarify, I am not talking about how we feel going forward. I absolutely share your concerns on the future of the Niners and despite my last two responses to your posts, I am not sold on Alex Smith for the future. I agree that the last six years of Alex and the last 8 or so seasons for the Niners give us every reason to be cautious in our optimism for the coming weeks, season, and long term. I can't say Alex will play well against the Lions, though I feel better this year than the last six.

I was talking about evaluating the past play of Alex this year. I feel he's played well this year, without just comparing it to himself or to our expectations of him. I feel this way because if another QB came in an won and played like this I would describe it as playing well. I would, of course, talk about us having to install the offense gradually and about our competition, but I wouldn't say well, for him. I would worry about people figuring him out like Troy was last year.

Lastly, I respect your opinion and you more than most posters. I feel you keep a level head and attempt to remain objective, which may lead to people like me commenting upon your qualifying manner of posting. Being realistic in regards to the future of this team is imperitive, I think, for our sanity. And I would qualify what we've asked Alex to do, but I am just looking from Week 1 to Week 5.

thanks for the clarification and for pointing out my 'qualifying' posts. i'll try to be more conscious and not do it so much. sometimes its good and yeah, sometimes it isn't.

you're asking fans to judge Alex Smith on just this season alone. on a game by game basis think this is happening naturally? but if an Alex Smith conversation starts into 'the bigger picture', it hard to separate his past?

 

[MHSL82]

thanks for the clarification and for pointing out my 'qualifying' posts. i'll try to be more conscious and not do it so much. sometimes its good and yeah, sometimes it isn't.

you're asking fans to judge Alex Smith on just this season alone. on a game by game basis think this is happening naturally? but if an Alex Smith conversation starts into 'the bigger picture', it hard to separate his past?

I hope my clarifications aren't just masked beatings of a dead horse. Since I made it an issue, I will let you judge whether I'm being too picky or abstract. I certainly haven't explained myself well. I look at it as a healthy discussion, though I recognize I could come off as just being annoying. So apologies in advance.

I don't mean to judge Alex merely upon this year. That would be rediculous because that is judging a current state or a big picture comparison on a few isolated games. I was saying judge this year's performance merely upon this year's performance. Judge Alex as a player over every snap in his whole career, including his rookie season, but when characterizing a performance, I'd compare it to other's performance or QBs in general, not for him. But who am I to say how you should post? Just my opinion.

Under the idea that "even a stopped clock is right twice a day", the stopped clock isn't reliable as a clock and its record of being wrong most of the time certainly shies you away from trusting that clock, but for those two times a day, he is exactly right, unqualified. (I do NOT mean to draw the analogy to Alex being "exactly right", it's just used for illustration of my point.) I'm saying that even if Alex reverts to his old self or performs at a lower level, for these games, he's played well generally. Not all-pro, not heroic, hall of fame, but "well" nonetheless, regardless of what he did before or after. I guess it may be easy to assume my definition of well is better than your definition of well, but it might be less? I assume we have different definitions. In fact, if you felt he hasn't performed well in general, I wouldn't have said anything. The issue for me isn't whether he's played well or not played well. It was merely judging this year's performance on him or our expectations of him and not in general to other qb's.

Thanks for not ignoring my posts altogether, I enjoy getting to know other fans' perspectives and discussing our thoughts.