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Jeff Gordon
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/jeff-gordon/ers-smith-can-relate-to-bradford-s-ordeal/article_3d402222-3224-11e1-92ad-001a4bcf6878.html#ixzz1hxvnp52v" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/ ... z1hxvnp52v</a>
[wrapimg=left]http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/a/96/a967dc6e-7cff-5ea0-af2f-74320b5ab084/4eef6af4f3319.preview-300.jpg[/wrapimg]San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith can feel Sam Bradford’s pain.
Smith has been the first overall pick in the NFL Draft. He has taken the helm of losing football teams and taken the physical and emotional beatings that come with that unpleasant assignment.
He adapted to new offensive coordinators, overcame injuries and played from behind year after year. He has withstood media ridicule and withering fan criticism.
Smith has had to carry the “draft bust” label like a yoke around his neck. So he is uniquely qualified to comment on Bradford's young career.
[textarea]“Yeah, it's tough,” Smith said during his Wednesday conference call with the St. Louis media. “No one understands that at the quarterback position you rely on so many people just to have a chance to do your job. Just from an outside perspective looking in, obviously he had a really big rookie year. I think he did a lot of good things and then the expectations just continue to rise and a new system, the lockout, all of the injuries the Rams have had this year especially on the offensive side of the ball at the receiver position and offensive line, things like that . . . No one wants to talk about that or hear that.[/textarea]
“A lot of times so many people just look at your stats and all of that stuff can be deceiving. So for him I still think just continue to work to get better every day. You’re going to get through this. The NFL is so much ‘what have you done for me lately’ and just looking forward to the next game and putting that stuff behind you.”
These days, Bradford is hobbling around with a high ankle sprain. He wants to play in the season finale and end his 2011 season on a high note.
But playing hurt hasn’t done him or his team any good this season. Rolling him back onto the field on one good leg — with limited practice time over a huge chunk of the season — would make no sense.
Bradford and the Rams need to write off this season as a lost cause and prepare for the team’s re-launch in 2012. Take the lessons learned from this fiasco and move forward.
Some Rams fans are hoping the team gets the first overall pick so it can take Andrew Luck. He is the Next New Thing coming into pro football.
Luck is an impressive prospect, for sure, but his most marketable quality is his absence of failure at the NFL level.
If Luck goes to a good team, as Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco did, he will be fine. If he goes to a patient team, as Carson Palmer, Tin Tebow, Aaron Rodgers and Philip Rivers did, he could excel once his turn comes.
If he goes to a bad team — as Smith and Matthew Stafford did — then he will get knocked around. Perhaps he will fight through, as Smith and Stafford have, or maybe the circumstances will get the best of him.
And then USC quarterback Matt Barkley will become the Next New Thing.
Should the Rams fall into the first overall pick, they should leverage that position into a package of assets. They should stick with Bradford, who has seen good, bad and ugly during his two years on the job.
That experience has given Bradford perspectives a rookie cannot possess. He will have an opportunity to parlay that maturity into breakthrough success, as Smith finally has in San Francisco.
The 49ers stuck with Smith. They finally assembled a coaching staff capable of moving the franchise forward. Now they are 12-3 and the reigning NFC West champions. Now they can earn a first-round bye and the right to host their second-round playoff game.
Bradford could travel this road given the same opportunity.
“I think for him, he's such a young player in this league, he's got such a long road ahead of him that if he just continues to work on becoming a better player, he'll be just fine,” Smith said.
In the meantime, Bradford better tune out sports talk radio and stay clear of the Internet message boards and chat rooms.
“Yeah, you learn that one real quick,” Smith said with a chuckle. “It's tough. Even look at Sam a year ago, everybody is singing your praises, and then a year later all of the sudden it's not the same story. You learn how quickly things can change and obviously this is the most popular sport in America and it is that for a reason. Obviously, that's a part of it. If you play quarterback, you're going to be under a lot of scrutiny, people are going to say a lot of things either way about you, so you better have some thick skin. If you don't have thick skin you're not going to make it very long in this league.”
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/jeff-gordon/ers-smith-can-relate-to-bradford-s-ordeal/article_3d402222-3224-11e1-92ad-001a4bcf6878.html#ixzz1hxvnp52v" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/ ... z1hxvnp52v</a>
[wrapimg=left]http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/a/96/a967dc6e-7cff-5ea0-af2f-74320b5ab084/4eef6af4f3319.preview-300.jpg[/wrapimg]San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith can feel Sam Bradford’s pain.
Smith has been the first overall pick in the NFL Draft. He has taken the helm of losing football teams and taken the physical and emotional beatings that come with that unpleasant assignment.
He adapted to new offensive coordinators, overcame injuries and played from behind year after year. He has withstood media ridicule and withering fan criticism.
Smith has had to carry the “draft bust” label like a yoke around his neck. So he is uniquely qualified to comment on Bradford's young career.
[textarea]“Yeah, it's tough,” Smith said during his Wednesday conference call with the St. Louis media. “No one understands that at the quarterback position you rely on so many people just to have a chance to do your job. Just from an outside perspective looking in, obviously he had a really big rookie year. I think he did a lot of good things and then the expectations just continue to rise and a new system, the lockout, all of the injuries the Rams have had this year especially on the offensive side of the ball at the receiver position and offensive line, things like that . . . No one wants to talk about that or hear that.[/textarea]
“A lot of times so many people just look at your stats and all of that stuff can be deceiving. So for him I still think just continue to work to get better every day. You’re going to get through this. The NFL is so much ‘what have you done for me lately’ and just looking forward to the next game and putting that stuff behind you.”
These days, Bradford is hobbling around with a high ankle sprain. He wants to play in the season finale and end his 2011 season on a high note.
But playing hurt hasn’t done him or his team any good this season. Rolling him back onto the field on one good leg — with limited practice time over a huge chunk of the season — would make no sense.
Bradford and the Rams need to write off this season as a lost cause and prepare for the team’s re-launch in 2012. Take the lessons learned from this fiasco and move forward.
Some Rams fans are hoping the team gets the first overall pick so it can take Andrew Luck. He is the Next New Thing coming into pro football.
Luck is an impressive prospect, for sure, but his most marketable quality is his absence of failure at the NFL level.
If Luck goes to a good team, as Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco did, he will be fine. If he goes to a patient team, as Carson Palmer, Tin Tebow, Aaron Rodgers and Philip Rivers did, he could excel once his turn comes.
If he goes to a bad team — as Smith and Matthew Stafford did — then he will get knocked around. Perhaps he will fight through, as Smith and Stafford have, or maybe the circumstances will get the best of him.
And then USC quarterback Matt Barkley will become the Next New Thing.
Should the Rams fall into the first overall pick, they should leverage that position into a package of assets. They should stick with Bradford, who has seen good, bad and ugly during his two years on the job.
That experience has given Bradford perspectives a rookie cannot possess. He will have an opportunity to parlay that maturity into breakthrough success, as Smith finally has in San Francisco.
The 49ers stuck with Smith. They finally assembled a coaching staff capable of moving the franchise forward. Now they are 12-3 and the reigning NFC West champions. Now they can earn a first-round bye and the right to host their second-round playoff game.
Bradford could travel this road given the same opportunity.
“I think for him, he's such a young player in this league, he's got such a long road ahead of him that if he just continues to work on becoming a better player, he'll be just fine,” Smith said.
In the meantime, Bradford better tune out sports talk radio and stay clear of the Internet message boards and chat rooms.
“Yeah, you learn that one real quick,” Smith said with a chuckle. “It's tough. Even look at Sam a year ago, everybody is singing your praises, and then a year later all of the sudden it's not the same story. You learn how quickly things can change and obviously this is the most popular sport in America and it is that for a reason. Obviously, that's a part of it. If you play quarterback, you're going to be under a lot of scrutiny, people are going to say a lot of things either way about you, so you better have some thick skin. If you don't have thick skin you're not going to make it very long in this league.”
