Its The Line, Stupid…

Well, it seems our golden boy has gotten himself landed on a dubious list this week. Sports Illustrated has deemed that Alex Smith is the #10 Biggest Disappointment so far this year. I suppose I shouldn’t be all that shocked, after all – as we’ve learned all too many times in the past several years, football analysts don’t really spend much time actually thinking, but are rather more concerned with simple stories, simple statements and simple explanations. Actual analysis and evaluation is often put by the wayside in todays ESPN culture.

That just goes along with attempting to get more people to watch and to sell more magazines I suppose – but it is hardly fair to the players these so called “analysts” critique. I mean, do any of us, for example, really buy into anything that Sean Salisbury says? The same man who some time ago advised Marcus Vick to go follow his brother Mike around and learn how to conduct yourself with class and keep your nose clean? No, I should hope we wouldn’t. This Sports Illustrated list is no better, of course. They had this to say about Smith:

The Niners quarterback was supposed to take a big jump forward in his third season, but he’s thrown just one touchdown pass in three games and completed only 51.8 percent of his passes (down from 58.1 last season).

Now, let me be clear. Obviously, I am disappointed and extremely frustrated by the production we’ve gotten out of our quarterback through three games. Watching our offense has been ugly, and even with a 200 yard game last week, the ugliest part has been the passing game. There has been no rhythm, no timing, no chemistry and no consistency. Just when you think they get it going, a couple incomplete passes later and its 3rd and 10 and you just know the 49ers are going to have to punt.

But does that make Alex Smith the disappointment? No my friends, it does not.

So what is driving this malaise in Alex Smith, and the passing game? There are a number of culprits, but when you break them all down, it ALL comes down to the offensive line. Lets explore.

THE OFFENSIVE LINE
First, lets start with the struggles of the line itself. Through the first three games, a few things have become extremely clear. Eric Heitmann is apparently still feeling the effects of his injury last year. Last year, he was arguably a pro-bowl caliber center for an excellent line. This year, he has been anything but. A large majority of the pressure Alex Smith has faced has come directly up the middle, and its because Heitmann isn’t providing protection. Nothing is worse than pressure up the middle, because it gets to the quarterback the fastest, and it takes his eyes off the receivers. But its not all Heitmann’s fault. Larry Allen is playing smaller, weaker and older than he has in a very long time. The man is 35, he is playing somewhat underweight, and I’m not seeing the same power I saw from him last year. The two of them combined have really caused problems up the middle.

But its not just the middle. Jonas Jennings hasn’t been all that impressive so far either – and now we even get word that he got injured in practice (I lost the office pool on that one, I had put down week 5 as the week he went down). So we have an injured, poorly playing tackle on the left side, making the entire west side of the line borderline useless. On the right, at guard we have what was the “soft spot” (besides Kwame) on our line last year, and he isn’t that much more impressive this year. And at tackle, we have a rookie who is still learning the ropes.

All of this has resulted in a line that is doing a terrible job protecting the quarterback. When Alex Smith drops back to pass, he routinely has only a couple of seconds to read the defense, find a receiver and release the ball. Stick Tom Brady, Peyton Manning or Carson Palmer in San Francisco this year, and see how they’d do. Sure, they’d probably be better than Smith, but I don’t think by a whole heck of a lot.

It doesn’t matter who you are as a quarterback, if you don’t get time, you don’t make plays. Remember the pre-season when every 49er fan was leaping for joy at Smith’s development and how great he looked? What was different then? It was preseason and there was no pass rush, so the warts of our offensive line were being hidden. Smith had time to throw, and he was picking people apart.

THE RUNNING GAME
We run a variation of the Coryell offense, with some west-coast philosophies mixed in. In such a system, a power running game is used to set-up the passing game. The success of the running game opens up holes in the defesne, and allows it to be stretched vertically. In that way, the deep ball is an extension of the running game. When it is shut down, it becomes increasingly difficult to generate a rhythm in the passing game, ESPECIALLY on deep throws. Is it really a wonder we haven’t had much opportunity or success going “down the field”? Not only has no time been available for deep plays to even develop in the first place, but when the running game has been shut down, going deep doesn’t work. It tends to work when defenses are afraid of getting gashed on the ground, and cover safeties cheat up.

But, my assertion in this article is that “it all comes down to the line”. So, am I blaming Frank Gore for this problem? No, I am not. Who would? Gore is a gamer, and can suck more yards out of less than nearly any running back in the league. I’m afraid that once again the problem lies with the line.

They aren’t only struggling in pass protection, they can’t run block either. You don’t have to do anything more than focus on the color of the 49ers jerseys to see why. They get no push, no drive and they aren’t athletic enough to block players who are tackling Gore before he can get in the open. When the ball is snapped, you see the 49ers line get pushed BACK. What do you see when you watch a Colts or Patriots game? You see their line push DEFENSES back. That drive is what is required to open holes for a running back to exploit, and we aren’t seeing it.

So, the running game is struggling, and that comes back to the line.

THE WIDE RECEIVERS
Jerry Rice, where have you gone? The once dominant wide receivers of San Francisco are no more. We are left with a lot of mediocre receivers. We have a receiver with an afro so large its hurting his vision – and he has a case of the dropsies anyway. Our most solid guy is Battle, who as reliable as he is, can’t be called “dominant” in any way. Ashley Lelie is (as I predicted) more or less useless. Taylor Jacobs can’t even read a defense to decide what kind of route to run, and Jason Hill has a hamstring problem. Oh yeah, and Vernon Davis is out for two weeks too.

Still, as pedestrian as these receivers are, they’re a lot better than several other receiving units in the NFL right now. They should certainly be producing more than they are. Yes, they have dropped something in the neighborhood of 11 passes in 3 games (which were they all caught would give Alex Smith a 65% completion percentage and an additional 120 yards, as well as a couple more TDs) – but the real problem with the wide receivers is that they are simply not getting open.

But, yet again, this all comes down to the offensive line.

What happens when there is only 2-3 seconds before a play breaks down and your quarterback gets hammered? Wide receivers don’t even have a CHANCE to get open. Very few receivers can run their routes in 2 seconds and get open against a DB playing on the line – many of them might not even be by their 5 yard jam zone for Christ’s sake. So, Smith drops back, is going to get sacked, his receivers don’t have any time to get open and he is left with two options – force the ball in somewhere dangerous, or throw it away. How many plays might have been succesful if they simply had another 2-3-4 seconds to develop. That’s what the elite QBs in the league get from their line. Guys like Randy Moss, Marvin Harrison, Chad Johnson, and Terrell Owens can’t produce if they don’t have a chance to do their thing. Do you think Moss could really have produced like he has if he didn’t have time to burn some defensive backs? Why do you think he was horrible in Oakland – its not because he’s bad. The offensive line and quarterbacks were bad.

So its really unfair to the wide receivers to blame them for not getting open with that little time. Again, its all back to the line.

So, the 49ers in my mind really have ONE problem offensively – the line. Its not Alex Smith – I firmly believe in both his ability and his mind. Its not Frank Gore – he is a beast when he has a chance to be. Its not the wide receivers – even if they are somewhat average, they can still make some plays. Its not even Hostler – in week three, the game he called was a lot better.

No, its the offensive line.

Good coaches have known since Lombardi that dangerous teams are built on solid players in the trenches – the offensive line and the defensive line. When they are successful, they allow all the skill players around them to play to the level they should. Right now, neither line of ours is playing particularly well.

The optimist in me says that Heitmann just needs some time to work the rust off, Larry Allen will get stronger as the year goes on, Jennings is what he is, Baas might get a chance at guard, and Staley is an elite level tackle just waiting to happen. I hope that’s right, because if they can start playing like they did last year, Gore will start making defensive coordinators cry, and Alex Smith will be able to show exactly why he is NOT a disappointment.

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Tags: Matt Gagnon