Though the Chargers have departed San Diego for supposedly greener pastures in Los Angeles, Bonita Vista Middle School alumnus Alex Smith continues to keep America’s Finest City in the NFL spotlight after leading the league with 368 passing yards in last weekend’s round of season opening games.
Smith and the Kansas City Chiefs earned the spotlight in Week 1 with their 42-27 defeat of the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots Sept. 7 in Foxboro, Mass.
Smith completed 28 of 35 passing attempts for 368 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Chiefs to the upset win.
Few expected Smith, now in his 13th year in the league, to out-play New England quarterback Tom Brady, the MVP of Super Bowl LI (51).
But the former Helix High School and University of Utah signal-caller put together one of the finest games in his career to win the head-to-head matchup against Brady, a five-time Super Bowl champion.
Smith, who was sacked three times and rushed five times for three yards in the Thursday Night Football contest, finished the game with a 148.6 quarterback efficiency rating.
Brady, 40, playing in his 18th NFL season (all with the Patriots), completed 16 of 36 passing attempts for 267 yards with no touchdowns and was sacked three times. He finished the game with a 70.0 quarterback rating.
Smith finished Week 1 as the NFL’s top-rated passer both in efficiency rating and adjusted completion percentage.
Minnesota’s Sam Bradford ranked second in the league with a 143.0 passer rating through the opening weekend, followed by the L.A. Rams’ Jared Goff (117.9), Atlanta’s Matt Ryan (116.1), Oakland’s Derek Carr (114.3) and Detroit’s Matthew Stafford (113.1).
According to statistics maintained by Pro Football Focus, taking into account drops and throwaways, Smith was 30-for-33 with an adjusted 90.9 completion percentage following Sunday’s game.
Smith, 33, is in his fifth season with Kansas City after an eight-year career with the San Francisco 49ers. He looked at the season opening win over the Patriots with the guarded optimism one might expect from a seasoned veteran player.
“It’s a big win but we’ve got to be able to handle it the right way,” he told reporters at a post-game press conference. “We’ve got to be resilient and turn our attention to next week. We’ve got to be able to stack ’em and stay shortsighted, and have a sense of urgency about our business.”
That being said, he did offer one candid observation. “It’s certainly the biggest opener I’ve been a part of,” he said. “I’ve just been playing, enjoying the opportunity and not looking beyond it.”
The Chiefs, the defending AFC West champions, trailed 17-7 late in the second quarter before Smith got his team in comeback gear.
Smith beat the Patriots both on the blitz and with the deep pass.
Smith completed eight of 10 passing attempts for an average of 17.9 yards and a 158.3 quarterback rating when blitzed by the New England defense. He was just as deadly with the long pass by completing three of four aerials for 178 deep passing yards and a 156.3 passer rating.
The former two-time CIF champion with Helix (2000-01) aired it out against the Pats.
He threw a 75-yard scoring pass to Tyreek Hill and a 78-yard TD pass to rookie Kareem Hunt. Both players caught the ball on the fly and never missed a stride.
Hunt had a big night with 246 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns. The yardage total set a NFL record for a rookie in his pro debut.
Hunt rushed 17 times for 148 yards and scored one touchdown. Hunt also made five catches for 98 yards and two touchdowns, including scores of three and 78 yards.
Hill, who electrified crowds last season, had seven catches for 133 yards and one TD. He scored on a 75-yard strike from Smith in the third quarter to boost the visitors to a 21-17 lead.
Smith also completed a seven-yard scoring pass to Demetrius Harris in the first quarter to tie the game 7-7. Hunt’s three-yard TD reception late in the second quarter made the score 17-14 Patriots at halftime.
The Chiefs put the game on ice with three touchdowns in the fourth quarter, including the 78-yard score by Hunt and TD runs by Hunt and Charcandrick West.
Ironically, Hunt fumbled on his first NFL carry but came back to right himself with three touchdowns.
“To start on your first carry like that and have it go like that, it would be hard to overcome for a lot of guys,” Smith explained. “I thought it was awesome coach coming right back to him.
“There was a good chunk there where we were going as Kareem was going, He was a good chunk of the offense. For a young guy we put a lot on him, on all facets of the game plan he was able to handle it, so hats off to him.”
Kansas City head coach Andy Reid said Hunt and Smith have already developed a chemistry together.
“They hit if off from the get-go,” Reid said. “They’re fun to watch.”
The Chiefs enter their next game as favorites when they host the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, Sept. 17. The Eagles opened the season on Sept. 10 with a 30-17 win over the host Washington Redskins as second-year QB Carson Wentz threw for 307 yards and two touchdowns with one interception.
Kansas City will enter its game against Philadelphia without the services of safety Eric Berry, who ruptured his Achilles tendon during the win over New England. He is set to have surgery and has been placed on injured reserve by the Chiefs.
Berry, the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year in 2015-16, is expected to be out six months, likely for the duration of the season. His chances of returning for the 2018 season appear good, however.
Reid coached Philadelphia for 14 seasons before becoming Kansas City’s head coach.
Locals only
Five players/coaches with ties to South County are under NFL contract this season, likely a record for the region, with four active for the 2017-18 season.
Mater Dei Catholic High School and San Diego State University alumnus Nico Siragusa suffered a knee injury in training camp with the Baltimore Ravens earlier this summer and is out for the season.
However, Eastlake High School graduate Tony Jefferson remains on the active roster with the Ravens and had a hand in Sunday’s 20-0 win over the Cincinnati Bengals in Ohio.
Jefferson, who signed as a free agent with Baltimore during the offseason after playing four years with the Arizona Cardinals, led the Raven defense with nine tackles while also recording a sack.
Overall, Baltimore intercepted Cincinnati quarterback Andy Dalton four times — one each by C.J. Mosley, Jimmy Smith, Lardarius Webb and Brandon Carr.
The Ravens host the Cleveland Browns (0-1) on Sunday, Sept. 17, in a bid to remain undefeated.
Another Mater Dei Catholic alumnus, kick Jason Myers, recorded 11 kicking points in the Jacksonville Jaguars’ 29-7 upset win over the host Houston Texans on Sunday. He made three of four field goal attempts and was successful on two of three extra-point conversions.
His longest field goal of the game came from 42 yards out.
The Jaguars host the Tennessee Titans (0-1) on Sunday, Sept. 17, in a bid to start the season 2-0.
Meanwhile, ex-Castle Park, Southwestern College and SDSU standout John Fox kicked off his third season as head coach of the Chicago Bears. Fox has experienced an up-and-down two seasons in an ongoing rebuilding process with the Bears. He could be on the hot seat this year to produce results after winning a total of nine wins his first two seasons with the team.
The Bears put up a fight in their season opener while dropping a hotly contested 23-17 matchup against the defending NFC champion Atlanta Falcons. Chicago quarterback Mike Glennon was sacked on a fourth-down after the Bears had driven to the Falcon five-yard-line in search of a game-winning touchdown.
What-hurts: Chicago receivers dropped three potential touchdown passes in the game.
Fox is 9-24 with the Bears a game into his third season with the team. He remained upbeat after the disappointing setback to the Falcons, telling the media in a post-game interview that he felt his team is good enough to beat the best teams in the league, the Falcons included.
The Bears will look for their first win when they travel to Tampa Bay this coming Sunday. The Bucs have yet to play a game as their season opener against Miami was postponed due to the approach of Hurricane Irma.
As a result, both teams will lose their bye in Week 11 and play 16 consecutive games to end the season. The revised schedule have some observers concerned that it could increase the injury risk for players on both teams without a bye week to rest and recuperate.
Game of the Week
Green Bay out-dueled the Seattle Seahawks defense in claiming a dramatic come-from-behind 17-9 win Sunday in Wisconsin. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was sacked four times and intercepted once in the first half but came back to finish the game with 311 passing yards and one touchdown as Green Bay rallied with two touchdowns and a field goal in the second half.
Defensive play, as well as controversial calls by the officiating crew, spotlighted the play of both teams in the nationally telecast game on the FOX network.
The Green Bay defense harried Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson all game, limiting him to 14 completions in 27 attempts and 158 yards with no touchdowns. He was sacked three times.
The Seahawk defense was stellar in the first half but tired in the second half due to extended Packer ball possession as well as the first-half ejection of cornerback Jeremy Lane.
Seattle head coach Pete Carroll also was upset by a non-call on a second-half pass play in the end zone involving Seahawk receiver Jimmy Graham that could have been flagged for pass interference.
Early in the game, Nazair Jones intercepted Rodgers and returned the ball for an apparent touchdown. However, two penalties called on the play negated the touchdown return. One of those penalties was declined but resulted in Lane’s ejection from the game after allegedly throwing a punch against Packers receiver Davante Adams.
In the Sunday Night Football nightcap, the host Dallas Cowboys defeated the NFC East rival New York Giants, 19-3, in another game highlighting defensive play.
Dallas second-year quarterback Dak Prescott passed for 268 yards and one touchdown (to 15-year veteran tight end Jason Witten) while sophomore running back Ezekiel Elliott rushed for 104 yards.
Witten became the Cowboys all-time receiving leader, passing Michael Irvin (11,904 yards), after catching seven passes for 59 yards in the nationally televised contest.
In a pair of Monday Night Football games telecast by ESPN to conclude the NFL’s opening weekend, the host Minnesota Vikings defeated the New Orleans Saints, 29-19, while the Chargers missed a potential game-tying field goal in the final seconds in falling 24-21 to the host Denver Broncos.
Denver will host Dallas while Green Bay will travel to Atlanta in a pair of high profile games to highlight Week 2 of the NFL’s 2017 regular season schedule.
Super Bowl LII (52) is scheduled Feb. 4, 2018, at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minn. NBC-TV will handle the telecast in the United States.
Extra points
Six quarterbacks passed for 300 or more yards during opening weekend.
The Vikings’ Bradford threw for a career best 346 yards and three touchdowns in Monday night’s win over the Saints.
In games on Sunday, Atlanta’s Ryan threw for 321 yards in the Lions’ 23-17 win at Chicago while Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers recovered from being sacked four times in the first half to chalk up 311 yards in a 17-9 comeback victory against Seattle. Philadelphia’s Wentz passed for 307 yards while the Rams’ Goff collected 306 yards in a 46-9 rout of the visiting Indianapolis Colts.
Detroit’s Stafford turned in an 89.5 adjusted completion percentage, followed by the Raiders’ Carr (83.9 percent), the Jet’s Josh McCown (81.1 percent) and Buffalo’s Tyrod Taylor (81.0 percent).
