SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Football

Alex Smith NFL Report:
No immediate savior for San Francisco 49ers

By Phillip Brents
Posted Jan. 10, 2006

The date: Sept. 1, 2005. The scene: Qualcomm Stadium, the final NFL preseason game for both the San Diego Chargers and San Francisco 49ers.

Helix High graduate Alex Smith, the NFL’s No. 1 draft pick, enters the game with 2:11 left in the first quarter. It’s a rough homecoming at first. The 49ers, who suffered through a 2-14 campaign the previous season, are penalized on the first two plays. Facing first-and-20, Smith is rushed hard and has his pass batted down by former Chula Vista High standout Donnie Edwards as the ball leaves his hand.

On second-and-20, Smith throws an incompletion but hits Terry Jackson for a gain of 13 on the next play. The 49ers punt.

Smith’s second series is more productive, with three pass completions offset by a quarterback sack, but it ends once again with a San Francisco punt. Smith’s passing statistics are minimal: four completions in six attempts for 22 yards.

But Smith is persistent, leading the 49ers on a 10-play, 71-yard march downfield on his third series that results in his first touchdown pass – a 23-yard completion to Fred Amey with 1:08 left in the first half of play.

Ken Dorsey and Cody Pickett play the second half for the 49ers, who conclude their four preseason games 2-2 with a 28-24 loss to the Chargers, who are destined to finish 9-7 in regular season play. Smith is also battling for playing time with incumbent passer Tim Rattay, who opens the game at center.

Smith is somewhat downcast during post-game interviews, including a live TV news feed back to San Francisco. His mood contrasts sharply with the exuberant attitude he displayed three months earlier during festivities surrounding his induction into Helix High’s Football Hall of Fame. Perhaps it is understandable after finishing the NFL preseason with somewhat meager statistics: 20 completions in 44 attempts for 179 yards and one touchdown.

San Francisco’s savior, he does not appear to be – at least not immediately.

Smith is surrounded in his locker room stall by print and electronic media from around the country. Teammates, who seemingly go unnoticed, glance over from time to time to take in the rather amusing spectacle.

Smith is humble but does draw a smile when asked about completing his first preseason touchdown.

“It felt just unbelievable,” he says.

On his transition to the NFL and instant fame, he seems optimistic. But again, he chooses his words very carefully. “It’s getting along. I’m getting better each week,” he says. “The biggest thing is learning a new system. The West Coast offense is very hard to learn. There’s so much to go through. It goes back 20 years. It’s a challenge to expect to go through that in one month. I’m learning more each week. It’s getting more competitive out there.”

Smith finishes the game against the Chargers with nine completions in 15 attempts for 69 yards. The nine completions are a preseason high for Smith, who said he relished the opportunity to play in front of friends and family during his NFL homecoming.

“I’m out there trying to make things happen, make plays come together. I think I did that,” he said in reference to the Sept. 1 game. “Anyone coming into the NFL his first year, there’s going to be growing pains.”

No one knew just how many bumps and bruises he would take along the way.

Fast forward to Jan. 1, 2006, Monster Park in San Francisco, the 49ers’ final NFL regular season game.

Smith is making his fifth consecutive start for the 49ers in an otherwise dismal season. San Francisco enters the game 3-12 overall. Its opponent — the Houston Texans — is 2-13. The game is being dubbed the “Reggie Bush Bowl,” with the loser likely earning the top pick in the upcoming NFL draft.

Smith is coming off his first NFL regular season win the previous week, completing 12 of 16 passes for 131 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions in a 24-20 victory against the St. Louis Rams. It was the first win in six starts for the former Helix standout.

TheTexans take a 10-0 lead in the contest before Smith throws his first NFL regular season touchdown pass to cut the 49ers’ deficit to 10-7 at halftime. Smith throws 14 yards to Brandon Lloyd for the history-making score that comes in the team’s final regular season game.

San Francisco eventually rallies to pull out a 20-17 overtime win on a 33-yard field goal by Joe Nedney. However, Smith does not figure in any of the other scoring, finishing the game with 16 completions in 29 attempts for 159 yards.

The victory marks the first time the 49ers have won consecutive games since 2002 and doubles San Francisco’s win total of the previous season.

Otherwise, it has been a season of hard knocks for Smith, who appeared in nine of the 49ers’ 16 regular season games, posting a 2-5 record as a starter.

It was also a season of frustration for the entire San Francisco quarterback corps. The 49ers used four signal-callers over the course of the season. Smith saw limited action at first. He did not play in the team’s opening game, a win that went to Rattay against the St. Louis Rams. Smith only got in for one pass in the team’s second game, a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

But as the season progressed, Smith would eventually get his chance, only to be relegated to the bench before finally winning the starting assignment by the end of the season.

It was a season of peaks and valleys filled mostly by valleys.

Smith compiled the most passing yards among the quartet (875) but tossed a team-high 11 interceptions against just one touchdown pass. He was also sacked 29 times. Smith completed 84 of 165 passes (50.9 percent) and finished the season with an overall 40.8 quarterback rating.

Rattay keyed the group with a 70.3 rating after throwing for 667 yards, five touchdowns and six interceptions. He was sacked 10 times.

Dorsey had a 66.9 rating after throwing two touchdown passes and two interceptions. Pickett turned in the poorest rating — 28.3 — in the foursome with two interceptions against no touchdowns.

As a unit, the 49ers' passing squad combined to throw 21 interceptions against eight touchdowns while being sacked 48 times.

In one word, awful.

Smith’s numbers during his three years at the University of Utah were impressive. As a starter, he boasted a 21-1 record and became the first player in school history to be a finalist for the Heisman Trophy. He ended his junior season with a victory in the Fiesta Bowl while being named The Sporting News and Sports Illustrated 2004 national Offensive Player of the Year.

However, it should be noted that it took a year of understudy work before he “came into his own,” as the saying goes, at Utah. That freshman season filled with its share of growing pains came after his final two years in high school when he guided Helix to a 25-1 record.

It is safe to say that Smith generally experienced a rude welcome to the NFL. He earned his first regular season start in an Oct. 9 game (the 49ers’ fifth game of the season) against the visiting Indianapolis Colts — the same Colts team that would later extended its unbeaten streak to 13 games before finally being beaten by the Chargers.

In his first NFL regular season start, Smith threw four interceptions, lost a fumble and completed nine of 23 passes for 74 yards in a 28-3 loss. His passing rating for the game was a dismal 8.5. The Colts registered five sacks in the contest that Smith later called a “learning” experience.

In other words, it was a performance to pretty much forget.

Smith got his second start the following game, passing for 92 yards in a 52-17 loss to the Washington Redskins. He did not see any action for five more games.

Dorsey was behind center for San Francisco’s Oct. 30 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (a 15-10 win). Pickett got the call in the Niners’ next two games — 24-6 and 17-9 losses to the New York Giants and Chicago Bears, respectively — before Dorsey returned for two more starts: the Nov. 20 game against the Seattle Seahawks (a 27-25 loss) and the Nov. 27 game against the Tennessee Titans (a 33-22 loss).

Smith made his third NFL regular season start in a 17-10 loss to Arizona on Dec. 4. He generated good first-half numbers, passing for 138 yards by completing 11 of 12 passes but finished the second half with just five completions in 12 attempts with three interceptions as the 49ers coughed up a 7-3 halftime lead.

Twelve games into the season, he remained winless as a starter and without a touchdown pass.

The next week, Smith drew a starting assignment against NFC-leading and eventual West Division champion Seattle, completing nine of 22 passes for 77 yards with one interception. The 49ers dropped to 2-11 on the season.

Smith completed eight of 24 passes for 123 yards with one interception in a 10-9 loss at Jacksonville on Dec. 18.

With the end to the season in sight, it remained one of frustration, one of paying one’s dues as a rookie in a league filled with superstars.

As for next season? Smith will enter training camp with a two-game winning streak under his belt, with a year of invaluable experience and another off-season to absorb the team’s complex play-book. However, it’s apparent the 49ers will need to upgrade their talent in the offensive line if Smith — or whoever else gets the starting job — is to be successful.

Understandably as the NFL’s No. 1 draft pick, Smith was the victim of too much pressure in his first NFL season. The 49ers possessed too many weaknesses in too many areas to engineer an instant turnaround in fortune. Great NFL quarterbacks are not made overnight — call back memories of Dan Fouts’ early days with the Chargers.

But if history holds to form, look for Smith to bounce back next season. Confidence — and time to throw — can mean everything.

So, will USC superstar Reggie Bush be the next savior for a down-and-out NFL team? History seems kinder to rookie running backs but, taking a page from the 49ers’ just-concluded season, any team that drafts the former Helix standout will have to make sure it has the support personnel to nurture him along rather than simply throw him into the trenches.

Live, learn and conquer. Alex Smith has made that his operating mode at whatever level he has played.