Remembering Alex Smith’s 5 greatest games with Kansas City Chiefs

No. 1 – September 7, 2017 @ New England Patriots
Throughout Alex Smith’s career in Kansas City, he was considered a quarterback who could keep you in games but rarely would do anything spectacular enough to put the team on his back and win the game himself. Coming off a 2-14 season, having a quarterback who wouldn’t directly put the team at a disadvantage was a sight for sore eyes. However, as the fifth year of the Reid/Smith era came around, fans were getting tired of having a game manager.

This year’s opening night game against the Patriots changed the narrative, because Alex Smith played MVP caliber, first-overall-pick worthy football. With his eventual replacement on one sideline, and arguably the best quarterback of all time on the other, Smith shocked the world and out-dueled Tom Brady, leading the Chiefs to a memorable 42-27 win in an offensive showcase Chiefs’ fans hadn’t seen in years.

In one game, Alex Smith went from game manager to MVP frontrunner. Smith shattered the narratives around him by completing 28 of 35 passes for 368 yards with 4 touchdowns, good for a 148.6 quarterback rating. With 17 passing first downs, multiple 75+ yard touchdowns, and an average of 9.3 yards per pass, Smith took command of the game and put the team on his back.

The game manager title has followed Smith throughout his career, but after leading the Chiefs on three 4th quarter touchdown drives in the comeback win, he finally got credit for being one of the better quarterbacks in the league, both nationally and in Kansas City.

Alex left K.C. with a wide range of opinions about his time here, but I doubt there’s anyone out there who wasn’t proud to say Alex was their quarterback after his opening night in Foxborough. [Jack Weber]