For what it’s worth, I believe Alex Smith made a mistake calling out Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers with no provocation. I hope you agree. If you don’t, please tell me why.
I don’t think Smith’s statements prove he has guts or has become a leader. I think his statements were ill advised.
And they are so out of character. Smith is a gentleman. By calling out Newton he appears something less than that. I wonder if all the doubting by others and the criticism by others is finally getting to him, and so he lashed out. It sure is human to lash out — we all have done it. It’s usually something we regret.
Ukiah Tony
Makes sense, Harbaugh said he thinks Alex Smith deserved to go to the Pro Bowl this season, and who was the 3rd qb that went instead of Alex Smith… Cam Newton… now his comments make complete sense.
May 25th, 2012 8:57 pm
B-Rad
No, no, no, no, and no to you, Mr. Cohn.
Alex has some piss and vinegar in there somewhere? Good for him!
I heard a story when Nolan drafted Alex that he selected him over Rodgers,
in part, because when trying them out before the draft, he had given them
both some ridiculous stepping drill to try to do; Alex did it and Rodgers
told Nolan where to cram it. I don’t know if the story was true, I heard it
once from some maven on the radio. Nolan choose the more submissive QB.
That’s a great QB for Nolan to abuse and maybe a good leader for the
local Boy Scout troop, but for an NFL team?
……………..
I couldn’t remotely care whether Newton likes it or not. Do you?
If Alex takes his statement back and apologizes, I’m going to throw up.
May 25th, 2012 9:08 pm
msclemons67
I didn’t think it was an especially bad comment. Arrogant, sure. A bit rude, yeah. But nothing compared to what a lot of NFL players say.
It was huge surprise to hear it from Alex. He’s one of the last guys I’d expect to denigrate another player in order to excuse his own lack of production.
May 25th, 2012 9:18 pm
glenellen
Right Ukiah,
Alex is looking for respect. He was thinking 13 – 3 cuts some slack. I get it. His TEAM was 13 -3. He played safe instead of gambling at all (long ball in coverage, ect.) he did not get 300 yards but his team still did better. I get it. He used Cam and his team as an example as to why he should be able to get cut some slack. He feels he actually did better, better results in the long run.
.
You are a great (HOF in my book) writer. In your opinion you have never respected Alex in the top rated department.
It seems evident you do not want to cut Alex any slack at all. You want to jump on the bad Alex bandwagon. I get it.
.
From the news I am getting Alex will show an improvement this year. Come on Lowell, after all, Tom House !
.
I hear where Alex was trying to go here but it would not hurt to take some public speaking classes.
May 25th, 2012 9:22 pm
Neal
AS who over thinks everything, actually didnot think this through. Cam Newton probably does not think much of Smith or actually does not think of him at all.
May 25th, 2012 9:55 pm
Loneraider78
just don’t name drop.
Very unSmith like.
Cam was on the highlight reels every week. He lit up the league. But their defense was awful.
Poor choice of words by Smith and not serving his purpose at all.
May 25th, 2012 10:42 pm
Johnc
I also think Alex lashed out in frustration. I think he is feeling the pressure to perform and deliver red zone touchdowns this upcoming season because there can be no more excuses with all the upgrades to the offense..
May 26th, 2012 12:25 am
Brady
I think he just said it without realizing he was calling out Newton. His point was very valid, and there was no malice in it. Had he said “lots of guys throw for 300 yards because they’re losing, but who cares if you throw for 300 yards and lose 10 games?” everyone would’ve said “good point.” but smith, being cerebral, used a good – albeit ill-advised – example, and is rightly getting flack for it. I don’t think he meant to call out Newton at all, I think he just made a mistake while speaking.
May 26th, 2012 1:03 am
RednGold1
If you want to get across the field, to where the trophy sits in a glass case, so you can claim the trophy… and there are guard dogs all over the field, dogs that growl and bite and keep you from the prize *but* the dogs are sleeping… here’s some advice: DON’T WAKE THE DOGS.
May 26th, 2012 7:45 am
Common Sense
Smith was dumb for using Newton as an example… Smith is in his 8th year while Newton played his first… Alex has nothing on Cam. Put Alex on that Carolina team and it would have been like his rookie year all over again. Put Cam on the Niners last year and we would have won the SB. Smith needs to stick his foot in his mouth. He sounds like a hater…
May 26th, 2012 8:32 am
Dennis
I don’t think Alex called out Cam Newton. He just used him as an example of some one with good stats, but not too many wins. He didn’t blame Newton for the losses, he credited him for the stats. But the point he was make was that great QB stats don’t necessarily lead to wins. What’s wrong with speaking the truth?
May 26th, 2012 8:48 am
mike
Bottom line is that Alex is sensitive to the criticisms that he has been receiving from the media as well as the fact that when he was on the market as a free agent, he really did not get a legitimate offer.
Being a free agent and getting no real offers or sincere buzz from the rest of the league should give Alex a very real impression of what the rest of the talent evaluators on teams which desperately need a QB in a QB driven league that the NFL now is think about his abilities.
Or, is somebody going to cry collusion and claim that the 49ers and Harbaugh, on the hush hush, put out the word that Alex really was off the market even though he technically was a FA.
Frankly, Alex needs to understand that through his performance on the field he is the only person who can change the perception the league has about his abilities as a starting QB.
Who would you rather have as your franchise QB in today’s QB driven league…..a talented, young athlete who runs like a gazelle and has big play ability with both his feet and his arm and can win games on his own talent and improvisational skills or a QB who is intelligently methodical and cautious to an extreme and requires structured game plan management?
Who worries opposing defensive coordinators the most…Newton or Smith?
May 26th, 2012 8:55 am
ninerfan2012
I completely agree with Dennis. This situation has been blown up because Beason took offense to the quote and he lashed out. Is Beason taking any flack for his comments? He was the one that actually was in the wrong for putting Smith down. Smith used Cam as an example that yards/game stat doesn’t win you games. Simple as that. There was no calling out. There wasn’t any comparing of the two Qb’s talent. Never did Smith say he was a better Qb than Cam in any period of his career. Everyone needs to stop making assumptions and just read between the lines. If he hadn’t named Cam specifically this wouldn’t be news at all. This wouldn’t be news if Beason hadn’t responded the ignorant way he did. He did use Cam as an example, a accurate example to back up his point. That’s it. I wish the Panthers were on the 49ers schedule this year so Smith’s point could be further proven. That being the 49ers win the game with Smith throwing for 200 yards, plays conservative by staying in his teams system, while Cam gets his 300 while playing from behind the whole game and forced to throw. At the end of the day, the only stat that would matter is the W. And I wish for this not to prove anything between Smith and Cam, but for Beason to have his foot lodged in his mouth. If only…
May 26th, 2012 9:30 am
Tiburon Dave
Whatever your field…winners perform….losers justify poor performance through comparison.
Harbaugh brought his guy in from USD for a reason.
May 26th, 2012 10:21 am
Dennis
Tiburon Dave,
Who is the winner and who is the loser here – based on what? Smith did not compare his abilites to Newton’s. He merely stated a fact – QB stats do not win games.
And if the guy from USD lines up behind the center during a game it will mean that it is preseason or Smith and Kaepernick got hurt.
May 26th, 2012 1:14 pm
Dennis
ninerfan2012, no surprise that I agree with your take on Beason. He is the one that made this personal.
May 26th, 2012 1:18 pm
B-Rad
While I’m delighted Alex made this controversial statement and it gives me more
confidence in his psychological state for football, was he correct?
“……because if you’re losing games in the second half, guess what, you’re like
the Carolina Panthers and you’re going no-huddle the entire second half. Yeah,
Cam Newton threw for a lot of 300-yard games……”
The implication is that Newton got most of his passing yards in the second half
playing catch-up.
Alex must have watched exactly as many Carolina games as I did.
………………..
According to ‘espn.go.com’ here are Newton’s passing stats by half:
…………….. CMP……..ATT……..YDS……….LNG………TDs………RAT
1st half………161………259……..2,071…….91…………14………..95.6
.
2nd half……..149………258……..1,980……62…………..7…………73.5
May 26th, 2012 1:20 pm
GeoffC
Alright, how do you define calling out? IMHO calling out is what Ali would do. This was an example to make a pont, but in a social aetting it’s best to speak in general terms and not name anyone, for example the blog commenter who may reference “those people”.
May 26th, 2012 3:45 pm
Tiburon Dave
Winners in any field don’t define themselves by the failures of others…
In football could you ever imagine Tom Brady, Either Manning, Troy Aikman, John Elway, Joe Montana, Steve Young, Cam Newton…could you ever imagine any of them trying to deflect a shortcoming by speaking negatively about a fellow quarterback…I sure can’t!
And if it is alex smith’s contention that passers in this league put up gaudy stats when they’re behind on losing teams…
Where were alex smith’s gaudy stats during 6 years of losing?
There is nothing good about any professional running his mouth…tearing down another professional…in an attempt to look good…
May 27th, 2012 9:47 am
Dennis
I didn’t see where Alex made one negative comment about Cam Newton. In fact, I kind of thought what he said was positive about Cam Newton, in that he had good stats. I didn’t see where he blamed the Panthers losses on Newton either. He just dsaid Newton had great stats but the Panthers only won 6 games in comparison to Alex’s meager stats but the Niners won 13 games. I took Alex to be asking the question – which is more important?
May 27th, 2012 1:47 pm
Lo Sbandato
Have the league switch ‘em up, and let’s see who’s a real QB and who’s a placeholder whose brief merely extends to not making a fatal mistake (that’s a job for special teams).
By the way something, whether or not AS was “calling him out”, how about the Niners’ record in the years leading up to last? I suppose that wasn’t Alex’s fault, but now the wins are down to him. Sounds like a great future as a politician awaits him.
May 27th, 2012 4:23 pm
Ian
I don’t think he even called him out. It was perfectly legitimate example for the statement he was making.
May 28th, 2012 10:20 am
Frippertopia
This was predictable! Cam Newton did a great jib as a rookie QB on a team that was probably as bad or worse than the Niners of Alex’s rookie season. Newton had every right to fire back at Alex: he’s a mediocre QB on a team with a phenomenal Defense and great Special Teams.
Alex’s career has been hexed and the poor guy obviously is sick of the scrutiny. But the fan base, which had several decades of hall of fame and pro-bowl QB’s, is frankly tired of him.
I was probably one of the last to jump off his bandwagon 2 years ago (and still appreciate the improvements he made last year), but I’m really hoping he’s gone in 2013.
He’ll have zero excuses this year given the eye-popping offensive weapons. If it breaks down, the likely source will be Moss if he an Alex can’t connect for big plays.
May 28th, 2012 11:14 pm