Replacing Smith with Kapernik: How Bold Coaching was That?

bornnraisedwhodat said
My biggest question was, what will Kap do when they take away his running ability. That question was answered with the Falcons game. Most people point to his win over GB as his most impressive performance, but as a QB, in my opinion it was the win over the Falcons. The Falcons succeed at taking away his running ability. But after some adjustment, the disciplined reads he made was outstanding. He beat them with his arm and their running game, utilizing the pistol read option to it's full capabilites. I honestly dont know how you defense that thing. Atlanta did everything you are supposed to do, they kept him in the pocket and played zone coverage, but then Vernon Davis, Moss, and Davis ate those zones for lunch and Gore cruised through those gaping holes.

Ask any defensive coordinator who they would rather face on Sunday, Smith or Kap and guarantee you all of them will say Kap.

It was a bold move from a public relations perspective, but from a football perspective, it was a no-brainer.

I agree with everything that you wrote, except the very end. Nearly all the coaches in the league, imo, would have waited until the off-season and the OTAs to increase the emphasis on the Pistol as Harbaugh has done and install Kaepernick as the starting QB. I really cannot think of another coach in the league that would have switched QBs in midstream as Harbaugh had done, given that the playoffs were on the line at the time as well as the expectations in the 49ers organization that this was a Super Bowl team. The expectations were extremely high for the team at the time of the change. It was a huge risk that Harbaugh took, imo, and it worked.

I see a lot of pooh-poohing of Alex Smith as a QB on this board. Frankly, this pooh-poohing is borne from ignorance of not watching the 49ers on a regular basis. Smith's 104.7 QB rating was no fluke. The guy is a very good, maybe not great, but very good NFL QB at this point in his career. If he goes to, say, the Arizona Cardinals next season, he will make them a much better team. I wouldn't be surprised to see three NFC West teams make the playoffs next season if Alex joins the Cardinals, which is what I suspect will occur.

The argument on this board, and elsewhere in the NFL, is that Harbaugh has "coached-up" Alex Smith. To an extent this is true. However, what I believe to be much more true is that Alex Smith was also significantly coached-down by Mike Nolan and then Mike Singletary earlier in his career. Mike Nolan nearly ruined the kid, and then Singletary came in and there was absolutely no respect from the assistant coaches around the league for Singletary when he went looking for an Offensive Coordinator. Singletary chose Jimmy Raye as OC, who's most creative moment came when he designed a run play over the B-Gap instead of the A-Gap. Raye was replaced early in his second year by an in-over-his-head Mike Johnson as OC, who has since moved on to UCLA and failed to distinguish himself at the college level. At the end of the day, I think it's fair to say that Smith was "under-coached" earlier in his career at least as much as he was "coached-up" by Harbaugh.