Every A. Smith throwing attempt on Sunday

I don't think anyone will read this until after the game tonight, but I thought it would be interesting to break down all of A Smith's throwing attempts from Sunday similarly to how it was done for Troy. By the time anyone reads this we may have a totally different opinion of A. Smith based on what we see tonight, but oh well.

14:52 1st and 10 from SF 26. Smith fakes the handoff to Westbrook, and no Seattle defenders bite on it. Smtih rolls right and then throws short to his left to put it at Delaney's feet. Intended screen for walker, but he had 3 defenders about to light him up and another one taking away even a chance at turning it back inside. Booooo

14:47 2nd and 10 from SF 26. Smith takes a 3-step drop and fires quickly to VD who was just starting a break to the outside. The coverage is tight, and Smith throws it a little too far in front of Davis, who dives for the catch only to have it go up off his hands. If Alex had waited a split-second longer, it could have been a nice gain of 7, instead of a heart-stopping moment where everyone was praying for gravity to work faster on the ball than the Seattle defenders. BOOOO!

14:43 3rd and 10 from SF 26. Smith takes it from the shotgun and drops another 3 steps, then quickly hits Davis at the 34, who has plenty of space on Tapoopoo. Davis takes it up to the SF 48. Yaayyyyyyyyyy!

12:41 1st and 10 from SEA 42. Smith helps to draw a defender into the neutral zone, then snaps the ball with a free play. 5-step drop and he lets it go right before Aaron Curry can take the ball away after treating Barry Sims like a traffic cone. The throw is high and a little behind Davis, who makes a good adjustment to go up and get it at the 30, then runs into the end zone to show off his biceps and strange dancing. Definitely could have been a better throw, but it gets there safe, quick, and catchable. Good poise by Smith on this play at the least.

8:34 3rd and 8 from the SF 15. Smith in the shotgun, takes a 5-step drop and is sacked almost immediately. Guess who got beat almost instantly by Aaron Curry? Here's a little hint: CHILO RACHAL. Barry Sims was none too great here, either.

4:08 1st and 10 from SF 27. Smith fakes the handoff to Westbrook, then throws it to Westbrook again. The throw is high and Westbrook has to jump for it, with a net result of the play only being 3 yards. Interesting play call, I'm guessing Johnson wanted to try to punish SEA for not biting on the fake handoff to Westbrook on the earlier throw to Walker.

3:38 2nd and 7 from SF 29. Smith takes a 5-step drop, moves up and to his left to avoid a struggling Chilo, and throws it high to Crabtree on the left sideline of the SF 40 yard line. Crabtree has to jump, but the throw is still very catchable and goes off Crabtree's hands. When the play is over, Billick wonders about Crabtree's route-running ability. The throw was not perfect, but come on, Crabs.

3:33 3rd and 7 from SF 29. Smith in the shotgun drops another 3 steps, steps up and fires a quick but wobbly throw into the outstretched hands of Josh Morgan right in between the hashmarks. The throw is good for about 10, Morgan keeps going to the SEA 49.

1:24 2nd and 7 from SEA 12. Play action to Westbrook, Smith rolls right and throws a decent short pass to Davis, who unfortunately doesn't have enough open space to make a solid gain out of it. 

:49 2nd and 19 from SEA 20. 3-step drop, short pass for Delaney is batted at the LOS. Smith was looking Walker down the whole way. Really not a great decision on this play, especially considering Delaney had a linebacker right about to hit him in the back.

:45 3rd and 14 from SEA 20. Smith from the shotgun takes a 3-step drop and doesn't spend too long looking before he decides to bolt. He gets up to the SEA 14 before he takes a nasty hit.

2nd quarter

13:23 1st and 10 from SEA 44. Seattle jumps again, it's another free play. Smith drops 3 steps and does a sort of look-fake handoff, drops another 2 steps, then throws it deep downfield for VD. The ball is a bit overthrown and probably on the wrong side of VD a little bit. To be honest it was sort of difficult for me to tell exactly where this one came down. The throw was maaaaaybe catchable, but not with the tight coverage on Vernon. I really wish this had been a better throw because Alex definitely has some question marks on the deep ball and there's no time like a free play to take a chance. Oh well

12:31 2nd and 3 from the SEA 38. Smith takes a 3-step drop, pumps, and is immediately eaten alive by Chris Clemons for a loss of 4.

11:59 3rd and 8 from SEA 42. Smith from shotgun, drops 3 steps further, hops for a second and fires short right to Westbrook, who does a great job of picking up the first. Really good throw to hit Westbrook in the stomach in stride, but better running by Westbrook to get to the sticks.

11:28 1-10 SEA 32. Quick 3-step drop by Smith, doesn't like what he sees with Josh Morgan. Smith takes an awkward step back and throws high to Ginn at the left sideline about 5 yards out. Off Ginn's hands.

11:23 2nd and 10 SEA 32. Shotgun, Smith fakes handoff to Westbrook, then throws to his left to hit Walker about 3 yards behind the LOS. The throw doesn't lead Walker, but that turns out to be a good thing because it gives Walker a chance to juke out a SEA DB who otherwise would have hit him immediately. Pick up of 7 yards.

10:39 3rd and 3 from SEA 30. Shotgun, Smith only takes one step back and shoots it to Ginn 6 yards out on the slant. The throw is a little behind Ginn and again off his hands. Not a great throw, but certainly catchable, and Smith had a quick window he needed to throw it in.

8:59 1st and 10 from SEA 17. 3-step drop, quick roll right and throw to Crabtree. The throw is wiiide. Crabtree dives/falls, and it's off his hands. Bad throw.

8:10 3rd and 8 from SEA 15. Smith from the shotgun takes a 1-step drop, then throws a wobbly - but still quick and accurate throw to Morgan on the sideline, who beast-modes it into the end zone for a touchdown.

2:25 2nd and 7 from SF 35. Smith takes a 3-step drop, and fires a real quick, tight throw to VD as he's running towards the sideline. Too bad, only a pickup of 3.

2:00 3rd and 4 from SF 38. Shotgun, Smith hopes once and throws it right out to Westbrook, who breaks a tackle and is off the races. We've all heard about Alex reading the D and taking advantage, but what also impressed me was how intently he watched Westbrook after the catch. Even a helmet to Smith's chin failed to distract him from watching his guy take it to the house. No whining or crying for a flag here. If nothing else, Alex is tough.

1:26 1st and 10 from SEA 11. From shotgun, Smith takes 3 steps, doesn't see what he wants downfield, turns left, and dumps to Westbrook, who picks up a yard and steps out of bounds.

1:21 2nd and 8 from SEA 9. Smith fakes the handoff, looks left, and takes the easy completion to VD for no gain.

00:35 3rd and 8 from SEA 9. Smith takes it from shotgun again and takes another 3-step drop. Alex actually chose NOT to take the short and easy throw to a wide open Walker, and instead throws ahead 3 yards for Westbrook, who gets up to the 4, but can't quite bail Alex out this time.

3rd quarter

5:50 3rd and 8 from SF 32. Shotgun, Smith takes 5 steps and throws a little high about 7 yards downfield and to his left to hit Morgan. The high hanging throw lets Morgan take a great approach to the ball so he can soundly beat the corner inside and take this one for a 47-yard gain. 

3:41 3rd and 7 from SEA 18. Smith under center takes a 3-step drop and rolls right, then throws an awful pass out of bounds designed for Crabtree. Worst pass of the day

3:12 1st and 10 from SF 18. Smith fakes to Dixon, rolls right, throws 4 yards down the sideline for Davis. The throw is a little behind, but very catchable and off VD's hands.

2:20 3rd and 7 from SF 21. Smith takes it from the shotgun and takes a 3-step drop. Smith doesn't like his options downfield, checks down 7 yards to Westbrook.

4th quarter

11:52 3rd and 2 from SF 46. Smith under center takes one step, throws behind the line to Crabs, who hesitates a little bit and only picks up 1 yard.

7:31 3rd and 6 from SF 37. Shotgun and a 3-step drop, Smith hits Dixon in the gut in stride for a 3-yard completion. Dixon powers on and takes it to the 45 to convert for a first down.

6:07 2nd and 12 from SF 43. From under center, Smith fake pitches to Dixon to the left, then rolls right, stops to dodge an LB and runs for it. He slides this time after picking up 9

5:19 3rd and 3 from SEA 48. From the shotgun, Smith takes 3 steps and throws to Crabs on a quick slant. Again, the throw is a little behind Crabs and a little fast, but also again it hits Crabs in both hands without being caught. Very disappointing, especially since Crabs had nothing but daylight in front of him.

My takeaway from watching this all again is that Smith did a pretty good job, but maybe not as great as I'd thought before (be gentle with me, drummer). In fact what struck me this time was that I thought the play calling was pretty good. Smith was not as accurate as I would've liked, but I think he did show a lot of poise and awareness, and thankfully he didn't make any punishing mistakes.