Cheifs Quarterback Alex Smith Can't Shake The 'Game Manager' Label
For better or worse though, the stats show that's exactly what Smith is. In nine years in the NFL, he has become a conservative but efficient quarterback that makes smart decisions to lead his team to win.
Coach Andy Reid expressed his thoughts earlier this week on Smith's role as a game manager:
"Listen, he's taking care of the football, and when it counts, he makes the plays. I appreciate that. We're winning football games and he's doing a nice job of managing it, and everyone feeds off it, both sides of the ball, his ability to manage it."
Over his last 30 starts in the NFL, Smith has a 24-5-1 record. He led the 49ers to the NFC Championship game in 2011, an 8-2 record before he got hurt and lost the starting job to Kaepernick in 2012, and a 6-0 record currently with the Chiefs.
Unfortunately for Smith, being a good "game manager" isn't good enough for a lot of NFL critics because of his high expectations when he entered the league in 2005. He was taken first overall by the 49ers in the 2005 draft.
His former coach in Jim Harbaugh scoffed at the idea that Smith is a game-manager saying, "That offends my sports sensibility, to call a quarterback a game manager." As for Smith, he doesn't seem to care as long as he's winning games: "I could really care less...I managed myself into a victory. That's all I care about. At this point in my career I've been playing long enough that I don't really care what anybody's saying...They can call me whatever they want to call me as long as we're winning, so fine with me."