Smith vs Newton: The battle for the best quarterback
How can one best judge the value of a quarterback? Is the best measure of the position wins or statistics?
While the ideal is a player who can provide a high number of both, one who puts up eye-popping numbers while leading his team to victory, players of that ilk are both rare and extremely valuable. More often teams do not have the luxury of such an athlete, and this offseason, the remaining quarterback styles have stirred up a controversy that features former first-overall picks on both coasts.
In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, 49ers quarterback Alex Smith answered some questions about his own relatively poor statistical performance during a season in which San Francisco went 13-3, yet lost in the NFC Championship game. Smith took a swipe at Rookie of the Year Cam Newton’s failure to win more than six games, despite 2011 being the first winning season of Smith’s seven-year career.
“I could absolutely care less on yards per game,” Smith said in the interview. “I think that is a totally overblown stat 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. That’s great. You’re not winning, though.”
Those comments have sparked debate about how to judge a quarterback, as well as the amount of credit Smith can rightfully take for the 49ers’ success. Smith benefitted from a top-five defense that only gave up an average of 14.3 points per game in 2011; a unit that has widely been credited as the key to San Francisco’s turnaround. On the other hand Newton’s Carolina Panthers were ranked 28th in total defense and gave up an average of 26.8 points per game.
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Perhaps one of the best indicators of Smith’s importance, or lack thereof, to his team’s success is the fact that 49ers’ brass spent weeks this offseason wooing Peyton Manning, a 36-year-old coming off of major neck surgery. Many saw those efforts as a lack of faith in Smith, especially since it appears the team had been willing to let him sign elsewhere had the team been able to bring Manning to the Bay Area.
Panthers linebacker Jon Beason, a multiple time All-Pro, is one of those who saw the pursuit of Manning as a public criticism of Smith’s skills, and he took to Twitter to saw as much in defense of Newton:
“Alex smith, don’t hate on Cam Bc your stats would’ve gotten u cut if Peyton decided to come 2 San Fran.Truth b told..That’s after a 13-3 yr (sic)”
Of course, it just wouldn’t be 2012 if another player didn’t take to Twitter in response. While not directly addressing Beason’s tweet, San Francisco’s own All-Pro linebacker Patrick Willis threw in his two cents recently on the micro-blogging website:
“Wins are Wins I stand with My Qb Alex Smith and all my teammates. I can’t wait for the season,” Willis wrote.
The one player who hasn’t weighed in yet is Cam Newton himself, but that hasn’t kept his name out of the headlines. While we are still months away from any meaningful action, one of the hottest debates of the 2012 season is in full swing.
So who contributed more directly to the 49ers’ success, Smith or Willis? Is Smith capable of putting up better statistics? Can the 49ers keep winning? Can Newton start winning? Will Newton’s statistics get better or worse in 2012, and how will that affect Carolina’s record? Most importantly, how can we best judge a quarterback’s value and skill to his team?
Moving forward into this upcoming season and beyond, eyes will be on both Smith and Newton, thanks to the San Francisco QB’s words, with these questions and more surrounding them both.
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