[OutsiderFan]

WIM, I think you'd be shocked at how much better our receivers would look if the balls thrown their way were good passes.

How many times against the college near a BART station did you say to yourself (after a completion or incompletion by Stanford):  "that was a good ball?"

I think maybe 5 or 6.  Out of how many attempts?

In last year's NFC Championship game, Alex Smith completed ONE pass to a WR for 3 yards.  The conventional thinking was the Niners just didn't have the WRs. Given Michael Crabtree hadn't ever lived up to his high draft position, Josh Morgan was out injured, Ted Ginn Jr. was never an elite WR, and Kyle Williams was not seen as an elite guy, it was assumed an upgrade in WR talent would help Alex Smith and the passing game.

The Niners signed Mario Manningham and Randy Moss, then drafted a WR with their #1 pick.  Well, even with Moss and Manningham, the Niners still don't have much of a passing game.  That was demonstrated clearly against the N.Y. Giants two weeks ago.

There seem to be a lot of parallels with Alex Smith and the 49ers and Josh Nunes and Stanford.  Namely, in each case the WRs were blamed, but the reality is the evidence, at least in Alex Smith's case, demonstrates the lack of a top shelf play making, accurate QB is the real issue.  My guess is if Stanford had QB production somewhere between Nunes and Luck, the WRs would be considered to be just fine by most obvservers.

[OutsiderFan]

WIM, I think you'd be shocked at how much better our receivers would look if the balls thrown their way were good passes.

How many times against the college near a BART station did you say to yourself (after a completion or incompletion by Stanford):  "that was a good ball?"

I think maybe 5 or 6.  Out of how many attempts?

In last year's NFC Championship game, Alex Smith completed ONE pass to a WR for 3 yards.  The conventional thinking was the Niners just didn't have the WRs. Given Michael Crabtree hadn't ever lived up to his high draft position, Josh Morgan was out injured, Ted Ginn Jr. was never an elite WR, and Kyle Williams was not seen as an elite guy, it was assumed an upgrade in WR talent would help Alex Smith and the passing game.

The Niners signed Mario Manningham and Randy Moss, then drafted a WR with their #1 pick.  Well, even with Moss and Manningham, the Niners still don't have much of a passing game.  That was demonstrated clearly against the N.Y. Giants two weeks ago.

There seem to be a lot of parallels with Alex Smith and the 49ers and Josh Nunes and Stanford.  Namely, in each case the WRs were blamed, but the reality is the evidence, at least in Alex Smith's case, demonstrates the lack of a top shelf play making, accurate QB is the real issue.  My guess is if Stanford had QB production somewhere between Nunes and Luck, the WRs would be considered to be just fine by most obvservers.