Alex Smith must once again prove his doubters wrong

After suffering a broken leg against the Houston Texans, quarterback Alex Smith must once again prove his doubters wrong.

It didn’t take long for the doubts to surface.

Only seconds after Alex Smith had been carted off the field, having suffered a fractured tibia and fibula after getting sacked by the Houston Texans, the negative assumptions moved into place. The Washington Redskins quarterback was clearly done for the season. A broken leg will do that to anyone in Week 11. But the conjecture quickly moved beyond the present to the future.

Alex Smith is done.

For some, the ghosts of Joe Theismann were proof positive. For others, it was about his age. Yes, Theismann’s was effectively ruined by the sack he took from Lawrence Taylor on the same day as Smith’s injury 33 years prior. Yes, Smith is also 34-years-old, not exactly a spring chicken in NFL years. Age eventually catches up with any man, and it also makes it harder to stay healthy.

Smith undoubtedly has a very difficult road ahead. The emotions alone of realizing his season is over will be difficult enough—the realization that the time, the effort, the preparation all led to an ending out of his control. The physical side will be just as grueling, obviously, the surgery, the forced rest, the rehabilitation to get back to form, the process to learn to trust your instincts again after being off the field for so long.

Smith faces an uphill climb, an arduous road, a difficult journey. It doesn’t mean he won’t make it.

Smith has been here before with an injury. In 2007, a dislocated throwing shoulder kept him out of games and ultimately led to his season ending early. A subsequent surgery gone wrong kept him out for the entire next season in 2008. He returned to perform better than ever.

In 2012, Smith was locked in a quarterback controversy with Colin Kaepernick under head coach Jim Harbaugh, a situation that saw the Niners go with potential over production. Harbaugh chose Kaepernick as the team’s long-term starter despite Smith only losing the role due to a short-term injury. Yet Smith did exactly as he was told and waited for his time to shine. Meanwhile, he became an exemplary teammate with Harbaugh even saying that Smith coaches Kaepernick more than he did.

One year later, Smith became the starting quarterback for the Chiefs and, for the next five seasons, he would help establish a new normal in K.C. under head coach Andy Reid. Smith averaged 10 wins per year in Kansas City and delivered them to the postseason four times in his five seasons with the Chiefs. Just last season, Smith had his finest season statistically and led the NFL in quarterback rating (104.7).

Smith saved his best season for last despite sitting in yet another hot seat, this time due to the presence of first-round phenom Patrick Mahomes. Despite the presence of his understudy for a full year, who was clearly being groomed to replace him after the season was over, Smith was a consummate team leader and proved himself on the field as well with 26 touchdowns and 5 interceptions.

All of this is vital to know about Smith before throwing out such easy critiques because it’s so easy to forget that Smith has established himself as someone who isn’t defined by the present situation. He’s overcome significant injuries in the past, even ones that kept him away for well over a full season. He’s handled unprofessional coaches. He never complained when he had four new offensive coordinators during his first four NFL seasons. He was a team captain and community leader in every single place he’s ever lived.

These sorts of intangibles are exactly the things that separate the players who can return from such a devastating injury and those who cannot. Smith knows that nothing is going to be given to him during this process. The Redskins must think about the possibility that he might not recover or return—that’s simply the responsible thing to do on Jay Gruden’s part. Smith knows that his age will make things a bit more difficult. Smith knows that it’s going to be grueling physically and mentally.

But Smith has also proven to be the man who succeeds when you think his time is over. This brutal leg injury is yet the latest hurdle that Smith will have to overcome, and it might even be his toughest yet. But if you think you’ve seen the last of Alex Smith as a starting quarterback, just know that you’re not the first one to question it. You should also know that the others who thought the same before you were eventually proven wrong.