SANTA CLARA, Calif.
– Big things happen when quarterbacks leave the pocket.
By Matthew Barrows – McClatchy Newspapers
SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Big things happen when quarterbacks leave the pocket.
That was one of the messages Jim Harbaugh instilled in his quarterbacks during training camp, and the lesson came to bear Sunday against the Seahawks.
Quarterback Alex Smith finished with modest passing numbers – he was 15-24 for 124 yards – in the victory, but two of his biggest throws were made when he was on the run. That includes a 27-yard gain down the right sideline to tight end Vernon Davis in the second quarter.
“It’s just something a quarterback has to do,” Harbaugh said Wednesday. “I’m sure there’s risk, but you saw Alex make two big plays when he was out of the pocket. I think this year will be no different than any other year in football. The most touchdown passes are off of quarterbacks moving. Whether they’re scrambling, buying time in the pocket, you’re going to see the highest amount every single year unless this is an aberration.”
Harbaugh loves quarterbacks who can make plays with their feet. He had that at the University of San Diego with Josh Johnson and at Stanford with Andrew Luck.
His second-round draft selection, Colin Kaepernick, excels in that area, and so does Sunday’s opponent, Tony Romo of the Dallas Cowboys.
Romo didn’t have many advocates coming out of Eastern Illinois, a Division 1-AA school, in 2003. He went undrafted and was signed by the Cowboys as a free agent.
But he caught the eye of Harbaugh, who was an offensive assistant with the Raiders at the time and who gave him a high grade in his pre-draft analysis of the incoming quarterbacks that year.
“An elite quarterback, no question about it, when it comes to the accuracy, the improvisation, the confidence to throw it into tight windows,” Harbaugh said of Romo. “All those things make him a top flight quarterback.”
Romo never accumulated prolific rushing totals at Eastern Illinois or with the Cowboys. But he’s been very good at dodging blitzers and buying extra time to make big plays downfield.
Harbaugh wants to see the same out of Smith, who did have impressive rushing statistics at Utah but who to this point has only been an occasional scrambler at the NFL level.
Smith said Harbaugh has given him more license to abandon the pocket than he’s had previously. “Absolutely, especially when things break down and something’s not there, just use my feet,” Smith said.
Was he instructed to do that in the past?
“Yeah,” Smith said, “but there was a different point of emphasis with different situations, different coordinators.”
Smith also wasn’t shy about taking on tacklers against the Seahawks.
He ran the ball seven times for 22 yards, the most carries he’s had since he ran eight times in a win over the Lions in 2006. His Sunday total included a one-yard touchdown plunge before halftime. He also joined left tackle Joe Staley as a lead blocker for a 12-yard Frank Gore run in the first quarter.
With two rookies behind him on the depth chart, aren’t coaches concerned about keeping Smith safe and sound, especially early in the season?
Not really, Harbaugh said.
“(If) you’re out of the pocket, the coverage doesn’t hold up as long,” he said. “I’m happy he was doing it and playing the game that way.”
Said Smith: “They just told me not to get hurt, be smart and don’t take dumb hits. I didn’t feel the block was necessarily dangerous. The goal line, you’re on the 1 (yard line) and time’s running out – there’s certain situations you have to take that risk.”
