Alex Smith is an Above-Average NFL QB

If you're going to look at quarterbacks, then you've GOT to consider yards. Yards are to quarterbacking what hits are to batters; it is their most important statistic. That is because this is now a passing league; a good passer gets two to three times what the rushing game can accomplish. Hell, Christian Ponder has twice the yardage of Adrian Peterson, and Ponder is about half-way qualified to carry Peterson's water-bottle. There are 27 quarterbacks right now with more yards than Smith [1]. That's below the likes of M Sanchez, C Ponder, B Weeden, R Wilson, R Tannehill, A Dalton, and of course all of the contested names below. It's no wonder that, when Peyton Manning hit the market, the 49ers entertained offers with him despite publicly humiliating their starting QB by dangling him over a cliff (it wasn't known at the time if Manning could even play with his neck injury). Risk analysis dictates that they must not have felt they had much to lose. Much of your points revolve around QB rating. QB Rating doesn't take into consideration "attempts." He never breaks 20 attempts in a game, and that is in order to keep his high interception rate (per attempt) under control. No starting QB in the league has been used less than Smith. If he was above average, there's no way in hell that could be true. And despite all this somehow he manages to get sacked more than all but 7 other QBs behind an o-line that is rated pretty highly. Alex Smith has 1,731 YD, 13 TD Joe Flacco - 2,331 YD, 13 TD. He only has 7 INT, while Smith has 5. That's a difference of 2, not 8! Before you go into your "we don't need to pass because we have Frank Gore" argument, consider that Ray Rice is arguably better than Gore yet Flacco still managed exactly 600 more yards (2,331) through half the year than Smith. Carson Palmer - 2,723 YD, 15 TD. Those numbers DWARF Smith. And Palmer is considered to be slumping. Phillip Rivers - 2,203 YD, 15 TD. The Chargers have always been a terrible team for QBs. Even Drew Brees couldn't shine there! And they just traded away his best receiver. Another QB who is considered slumping, while Smith is supposedly having a career-year! Matt Schaub - 2,013 yards, 13 TD. Behind the most TD-greedy RB in the league (Foster), Schaub still manages to eek out as many of them as Smith, AND 300 more yards. Also, Johnson is his only weapon. Andrew Luck - 2,631 yards, 10 TDs. Luck is a rookie, so it's reasonable to assume his numbers are in a state of rapid increase. He also doesn't have an elite RB and TE like Smith does, as well as Smith's other weapons (Moss, Crabtree, Manningham). Matthew Stafford - 2,722 yards, 11 TD. His only weapon (Megatron) is coming out of a slump. And 1,000 extra yards is worth a couple TDs ANY DAY. Cam Newton - 2,143 yards, 8 TD. Despite the greatest depth at RB in the league, he also adds 354 yards and 4 TD rushing. And he's not Tebow HE CAN PASS. RGIII - 1,993 yards, 8 TD. But on the ground he's amazing, adding another 529 yards and 6 TD. And like Luck in Indy, he was drafted to a crap team with no offense to speak of. Tony Romo - 2,603 YD, 12 TD. Hella more yards than Smith. Michael Vick - 2,165 YD 11 TD. Another rushing QB who has over 300 yards on the ground and a rushing TD to add. Also, perhaps the worst o-line in the league to work with. Ryan Fitzpatrick - 2,179 YD, 17 TD. And come on now... how much worse would Smith's numbers be in BUFFALO? Josh Freeman - 2,257 YD, 18 TD. And all this with the same pick-total as Smith. That's a lock if I ever saw one. With the previously conceded 7 QBs, that makes 19 (I dropped Cutler and Bradford) more desirable QBs than Smith and their production shows that. They are used more because they CAN be used more while Smith must be coddled and protected as a weakness. You must show that I am wrong about at least 5 of these. Perhaps one or two are close, but 5? No way! 1. http://aol.sportingnews.com...