DTexHawk":27epheip said:
No doubt RW had a fantastic season and one of best for rookies, but I don't think the W-L record is a main factor.
I'd agree with that, and Roethlisberger is the other end of the debate as far as rookie years go, even though he played 14 games in his rookie year and did not start the season in his rookie year, Rich Glennon did. Roethlisberger also had 98 fewer passing attempts than Wilson. 295. Like, a historically low rookie passing attempt number in the modern era for a QB playing 14 games. They had a sick defense and run game.
Disp":27epheip said:
Roland why do you constantly go so far out of your way to act simple minded just to spite a rival team? The coaching staff had doubts about Kaepernick ever developing into a starting caliber QB because he was so erratic in practice, let alone replacing a quarterback with the ridiculous efficiency Smith had to that point. Smith was in the top 3 in completion %, YPA, and rating when he was injured. If you're implying they could just plug anyone into that system and have that same success, then Harbaugh and Roman are actually significantly better than they get credit for. You don't have to like the team or coaches, but only people who know nothing about football would say that move didn't take balls, just like the move to start Wilson over Flynn.
Wait, adding a reply that took all of 30 seconds to type is "going out of my way"? How do you figure? Also, what I said is
true. Harbaugh never even made Kaepernick a starter, Kaepernick started games because Smith got injured, and Harbaugh kept him in after Kaepernick looked good for his first two starts. Where's the big-balls risk here? What, it was risky making a career average QB who only looked better than that once you had a stupid-simple offense that only worked because of a great defense and a powerful running game lose his job due to injury?
Seriously, I want to see someone explain, in detail, how it was risky. Scotte, you say he was blunt with the media about not bringing Smith back; so what? Harbaugh has always been media-unfriendly in San Francisco. What'd you expect him to say to the press once he started getting asked about it? "I'm tired of keeping half of the playbook on a shelf gathering dust because that's all Smith can handle"? No, saying
that would have taken balls. I'd actually have given Harbaugh major props if he had found a way to say something like that. In other words, the truth. Don't misunderstand me, I don't fault him for not saying that, it's just that I can't fathom why anyone considers it a ballsy move for Harbaugh to not have put Smith back in. It was absolutely the right move for the team. He did the right thing. The only thing was, it wasn't a
ballsy thing. He was handed an excuse on a silver platter; Smith got injured and had to be out two games, and Kaepernick was the new young guy and he looked good in the two starts. What more could you ask for if you wanted to transition QBs mid-season?