I find it interesting how the main stream media is making a huge deal about the return of 36 year old quarterback Alex Smith. Granted the return of a player who had a major injury and went through the kind of rehabilitation Smith has is a great inspirational story.
The way the networks are spinning the story is that Smith had made a brave and inspirational comeback in Sunday's game against the Rams.
Before I get started I want to point out that Alex Smith is brave indeed. Very, very brave. I say that because most people, including myself, would have left the stadium, got in my car and drove home to have diner with my wife and kids if I saw what the Rams were doing to Washington quarterback Kyle Allen like Smith did.
The truth of the matter is that Washington (I can't bring myself to call them 'The Football Team') had no answer for Rams defensive lineman Aaron Donald and after Allen had just taken a vicious shot from corner Jalen Ramsey, coach Ron Rivera essentially sent Smith out to get killed.
Not wanting to subject Allen (who was cleared to come back in the game), or backup Dwayne Haskins to the Rams pass rush, Rivera trotted out Smith to literally take it for the team.
The media basically ignored this fact and the statistics from the game. After the dust had settled Smith had completed a mere nine of seventeen passes for thirty-seven yards and no touchdowns. The veteran signal caller was sacked six times and fumbled the ball after being hit by Donald. His only bright spot was leading the team to a twenty-nine yard drive that resulted in a field goal after a Rams turnover just before halftime.
Smith couldn't even get away from Rams backup linebacker Troy Reeder who sacked him three times.
In the second half the Smith lead Washington offense generated zero first downs and zero points.
Now, I know it sounds like I'm picking on Alex Smith, which I'm actually not. I have nothing against Smith, actually I've enjoyed watching him play over the years. I think that throughout his career Smith has been a very underrated quarterback.
The actual reason that I am composing this is to point out how media outlets put spin on stories. I saw the game and from the news report I just saw I began to believe that Smith had engineered some kind of miraculous victory over the Rams. It made me doubt my own memory. I had to go back and check the box score.
I urge everyone to take what they see, hear and read these days with a grain of salt. Always research things that sound fishy. The media discovered a long time ago that actual news is boring and people just want to be entertained. That's why 'the news' has morphed from actual news to opinion pieces and editorials.
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