Alex Smith is a Baked Potato

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ArmchairAddict1 /

I’m guessing that’s a headline you probably weren’t expecting to read when you hopped on the internet today. Fans of the Kansas City Chiefs have probably read just about every possible article on Alex Smith, and have heard him called every name in the book in the process at this point. You add to that the fact that we are officially in the NFL dead zone where so little new information is available, and that’s why I figured if I was going to write about Smith and his possible success with the Chiefs in 2017, I was going to need to put a fresh spin on it. That’s right… what I came up with is that Alex Smith is a baked potato.

Hear me out before you bail on this article and go read yet another profile/prediction piece on Patrick Mahomes (who will also not escape without a food metaphor of his own), because I actually believe I’ve got a couple of legit football points to make before I’m all said and done here.

First of all, I was clearly hungry when I was trying to come up with the best way to describe Smith and my feelings for him as he enters the 2017 season where he has both playoff expectations on his shoulders and the reality that this could very well be his final season as the Chiefs starter. I like and appreciate Alex Smith. He brought stability to the quarterback position and has allowed the Chiefs to become a consistent winner. He is not, however, someone that is the star of an elite NFL offense. If the Chiefs are going to win a Super Bowl with Alex Smith at quarterback, it isn’t going to be with an explosive 40 points-per-game offense. The Chiefs are going to have to win with—wait for it—more of a steak and potatoes offense.

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Last season the Chiefs won a lot of games, but if we’re all being honest, the offense never really seemed dependable. I would argue that is because the Chiefs didn’t even have a steak and potato offense, they just had a potato offense. The Chiefs tried to basically put the entire offense on Alex Smith’s back. During his first three seasons in Kansas City, the Chiefs had a top ten rushing attack. That was the steak of their offense. When paired with that steak, Alex Smith’s potato is a perfect compliment. In 2016, the potato became the main dish.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good baked potato. If I come home on a Thursday night and we’re having a baked potato bar for dinner that night, I’m good with that. You can do a baked potato as the main corse for a single meal, just like you can put the offense in Alex Smith’s hands for a single game. But over the long haul you need to get some steak back on the table if you’re going to do more than just get by.

The good news is that the Chiefs have a quarterback that can be part of a quality offense. I’ll take Smith’s “Baked Potato” over what some teams are playing at the quarterback position, which would be the equivalent of the convenience store hot dog that’s been spinning for 12 hours on that little warmer. Alex Smith is way better than that; he’s just not a five star restaurant main course type of quarterback. I believe the Chiefs understand that Alex Smith is not the main corse of a Super Bowl contender. Hence why they did what they had to in the draft to go get Patrick Mahomes.

While were on the subject of Patrick Mahomes, let’s go ahead and get him in on this food metaphor for the 2017 season. Mahomes is a brisket that the Chiefs need to properly season and put in the smoker to slow cook. You don’t want to pull it out before its done and you certainly aren’t going to throw it in the microwave just to heat it up and get it on the table. You ruin a high quality piece of meat doing that. No, Mahomes is not on the menu for 2017. Andy Reid is going to get just the right spice rub and slow cook him over the course of this entire season. That way we get the best finished product when all is said and done. In the mean time its steak and potatoes in 2017.

So what do the Chiefs need to happen to put the “steak” back in their steak and potatoes offense this season?

Let’s take a look at the four main ingredients.

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