An Open Letter to Alex Smith
Dear Mr. Smith,
Actually, can I call you Alex? I feel like with everything we’ve been through together I should be able to call you Alex. Whatever, I’m calling you Alex.
Dear Alex,
Dude, you’ve got to help me out. I’ve stuck up for you. A lot. I called your trade to the Chiefs before the 49ers even won the Super Bowl. I actually said in a tweet or a comment or something, “I wouldn’t mind seeing Alex Smith come to Kansas City.” I’m pretty sure I was in the minority, as the Chiefs had the No. 1 overall draft pick the following year and most of the fans around here wanted the team to draft that Geno guy out of West Virginia. I guess we sure dodged a bullet there, didn’t we?
You’ve had a good run. I’ve always thought you would thrive in an Andy Reid system, and for the most part, you’ve done well, but I’m running out of excuses for you. In 2013 you didn’t really have a great defense, so you were fighting an uphill battle. Still, you made the playoffs and had it not been for the worst football luck I’ve ever seen–I mean, the ball literally bounced into Andrew Luck’s hands–you would have won that game.
2014 started out with you signing a jersey for me at training camp. You literally gave my daughter a hi-five at the fence. You’ve been her favorite since that day. Whenever I’m watching football, it doesn’t matter which team is on, she always asks me, “Is Alex Smith playing? Is he doing good?” Last week against the Panthers when you weren’t playing so hot, my mom called you an idiot. Sorry, she’s passionate. My six-year-old daughter informed her grandmother that she was “not allowed to call Alex Smith an idiot in this house.” Funny moment, but a lesson my sweet, innocent six-year-old shouldn’t have learned: when you miss Travis Kelce, wide-open in the end zone, you’re an idiot.
That pick you threw today? I called you more than that. Andy Reid can stick up for you all he wants and say it was his call and it’s on him, but that’s a bunch of bull you-know-what and you know it. I watch your press conferences, I listen to what you say. I get it, you can do better and the team can do better. It’s all lip service man. You guys ACTUALLY need to do better. There was nobody rooting harder than me on week one when you brought this team back in the second half and beat the Chargers. Where is that guy? I’m getting tired of having to bring that game up as your sole saving grace.
Maybe after your concussion your head’s just not in it anymore — no pun intended. I think about that, and then I watch you lead the no-huddle drive down the field in the fourth quarter today and think, “He can do it, he just did it right there.” Where is that drive and that execution the rest of the game? Why can’t you do that the other three-and-a-half quarters of the game instead of waiting until the very end?
Please, man. I’m begging you here. Your schedule doesn’t get any easier. You’ve got Denver next week — in primetime no less, and we all have seen how good you’re not when the whole world is watching — and then Oakland in primetime again. Let’s not forget the Falcons in there somewhere and the Titans who the Chiefs always struggle with before we play the Broncos again in… wait for it… primetime.
At the end of the day, I know you can make the throws. I’ve seen it and anybody who says otherwise is an idiot. It’s not a question of talent. I know you have the brain power to outthink the defense. I know Reid lets you change your calls at the line of scrimmage. So what’s the deal? I can’t continue to defend you against the “Twitter Analysts.” They’re out in force now and they’re not backing down. Some of these idiots actually think that Foles is better than you. I want to defend you but I just can’t anymore. Please, man, for the love of God, pull your head out and get to work.
There are six games left and they’re all winnable. This team has the talent to go 13-3 but how far they go is up to you. You’ve got to do better. I would like to look at the jersey you signed for me in the future and say, “That’s the guy who took the Chiefs to the Super Bowl.” Right now, I just don’t think that’s going to happen. I guess we’ll see.
See you in Denver.
With all my love,
Jason Seibel
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