I still am not. I thought the trade was horrible. When news of Smith’s trade to the Redskins started to leak and word of his new contract along with the news that Kendall Fuller would no longer be a Redskin here were some of my reactions:I even had this gem The women in my life have told me about being loud and wrong. Alex Smith is not making more guaranteed money than any other QB in the NFL but he is still getting paid a pretty penny. Smith’s is guaranteed 55 million dollars as a part of his new deal which makes it virtually impossible to move on from him before a couple of seasons pass. Alex Smith is 34 and is not going to get better beyond what we know his baseline of play is.Alex Smith’s career year last season was an anomaly. Andy Reid sold stock at the right time. I will not deny this is a damned if you do damned if you don’t situation for the Redskins. Kirk Cousins was gone. Colt McCoy is not a starter. The Redskins had no plans to move up in the draft and the free agent options consisted of A.J. McCarron and Case Keenum. Smith was available so they went for it. Of course they did but for God’s sake 55 million AND Kendall Fuller AND a third round pick? We don’t pay $8.99 / lb for overripe bananas folks. You shop for value and you only pay for premium and rare ingredients. Smith is not that. Aside from bananas it makes me think about locksmiths. You have lost your key (starting QB) and you need to get back into your place (be competitive and win). Your particular key is your sole resource (QBs run the offense) you do not have a stash of hidden keys nearby (You have not properly prepared to get a new QB). You call a locksmith (NFL teams) because there is no way you are breaking into your own place (field a team with no viable QB at all) and the one locksmith that is still open at 10pm (the team that is willing to trade) charges you $250 dollars to open your door because they know you basically have no other option and they are giving you a premium specialized service. I hope ya’ll followed that but here is my point. The Redskins got taken for a ride and paid full price and currently aren’t getting the value out of Smith that they paid for. I don’t think Alex Smith is a bad QB. I think he is decent but to fact of the matter to me is he is not going to get much better than he is now. We have too much on tape and paper to objectively say otherwise. Alex Smith is not playing well as a Redskin right now and it is almost halfway through the season. He may play better but the results and production will likely be marginal. I was floored by people who said it looked like he was getting more comfortable. It looked the exact opposite to me this past Sunday. Smith clearly is not comfortable in this offense or with its options. We can and do talk for hours about the quality of this team. The coach has said it best and has set the expectation for the season and for the play of this team. The team is built and they have to win right now. To me right now means RIGHT NOW like this season and at the latest next season. Alex is not Benjamin Button either and I know some of you all enjoyed that picture of him running on the ocean floor with a rock but that exercise did not improve his straight line speed or arm accuracy. But guess what? The team IS built to win now. Through a series of fortunate events this team HAS planned and lucked into some key players who are carrying this team. They ran into an ageless Adrian Peterson they have been building the defense for a few years now and those elements are carrying the team. The law of gravity applies here though and what comes up must come down. The team is not playing in a sustainable way. The team has great pieces but what if Adrian Peterson can’t play? What if one of the Bama boys gets hurt? What if the defense simply has a bad game? Who will be left to carry the team? It certainly won’t be Smith that that is what’s scary and disappointing. We can not count on our QB to play from behind. We can’t count on our QB to put the team on his back. We can’t count on our QB to make that special throw. Smith is going to compete with very few QBs in a shootout situation. You need that in the NFL to make it all the way. The Redskins don’t have it. Before you invoke Trent Dilfer or the 2017 Jaguars I will remind you it is neither 1999 (they cant even fall on guys anymore) and the Jaguars lost in the AFC title game and did not go all the way. The irony in all of this was I looked at Smith’s numbers and despite the eye test Smith is actually on pace for another Pro Bowl season. If Smith continues his current production he will finish the season with 3 Washington Redskins Womens T-Shirt ,688 passing yards, 18.6 TDs, 5.3 INTs, and a 62% completion rating. What is funny is if I see this guy run out of bounds on 3rd down during a close game in the 4th quarter with 200 passing yards under his belt I might blow a gasket and yet the team is winning. The bit of good news is like getting a warm pitcher of Corona at happy hour. You’ll take it but you know it isnt good for you in the long run and in the grand scheme of things. What often happens in the comments section is people will revert to the ‘why can’t you enjoy it’ argument. The team won. Shut up be happy. My friends accepting mediocrity in the face of defeat OR victory is something I can not do. There are times I watch this team play and I feel ill. I must point out where the team can do better because I love my Skins. My QB does not need to throw from 450 yards and 4 TDs for me to be happy. But I expect him to not look borderline incompetent at times Washington Redskins Hats , I expect him to hit open receivers, I expect him to under stand game situations, I expect him to see open receivers. These are all familiar criticisms of past Redskin starting QBs so I think I’m being pretty fair. Unfortunately I don’t expect Smith to have some sort of epiphany and but it all together next week or this season. The Redskins are first in the division that is lit AF. They are in control of their own destiny. We know there are going to be a lot of challenges. We know there are going to be tough moments where the team has to play from behind. The team will have to lift each other up and pick up the slack when things are going well for one aspect of it. The defense has proven it can do it. Now the question is can and will the offense do it for the defense when we need it most? The team may have payed $8.99/ lb for overripe bananas or payed $250 to get into their own apartment will there be times this season where the expense will finally seem worth it? I won’t hold my breath. The Redskins are through 5 games (31%) of their season and sit in first place in the NFC East at a respectable 3-2. Though the Redskins have a lot of positives to get excited about over their first 5 games, one troubling concern has been their inability to put up points in the 2nd half of games. That is something that has been consistent throughout the year and if it continues it could doom the Redskins promising season.Sign up for FanPulse Washington Redskins Womens Hoodie , our weekly Redskins surveyThrough five games the Redskins have 11 total touchdowns and 10 field goals equating to 106 total points (a missed 2 point conversion in their only attempt is why it’s not 107 or 108). In the first half though that breaks down to 10 touchdowns and 4 field goals for 82 points versus 1 touchdown (and the missed two-point try) and 6 field goals for 24 points. That is a massive difference in scoring and looks even worse when given context to the league as a whole.Based on points per game (in fairness this includes defensive/special teams points as well) the Redskins rank 24th in the league averaging 21.2 points per game. In the first half though the Redskins rank 6th in the league averaging 16.4 points per game. The 2nd half is a different story as the Redskins rank dead last 32nd in the league with a paltry 4.6 points per game. That is something that needs to change if the Redskins hope to continue to contend for the division. Their offense is generally running great in the first half scoring at least 13 points in 4 of 5 games. While the overall first half scoring numbers is overweighted due to the 21 and 28 points in the Cardinals and Packers games respectively, that kind of 13 point consistency is a good sign. On the flip side the Redskins have never had more than 6 points in a 2nd half this season. That is extremely troubling that you can’t even manage a TD plus extra point worth of scoring in a single game this season. Now in some fairness part of the reason for the lack of scoring has been game script induced. The Redskins got up to big leads in both the Cardinals and Packers game and took their foot off the gas more than they should have. Had those games been more competitive versus those questionable defenses, it’s likely the Redskins could have scored more if needed. Versus the Panthers the Redskins scored on two of their three full offensive drives in the 2nd half, but both they and the Panthers were using so much time on their drives they didn’t have the typically 5 or 6 drives you see in a half. Now so far the only game that the lack of 2nd half scoring cost the Redskins was the Colts game. The Redskins were so far ahead versus the Packers and Cardinals that them playing flat in the 2nd half or taking their foot off the gas Womens Customized Washington Redskins Jerseys , wasn’t going to be a factor. Against the Saints they were so far behind, that they basically needed a perfect 2nd half to come back. The Colts game and the Panthers game are the two that are more troubling. In the Colts game the Redskins were down 14-3 at halftime, so they needed their offense to step on the gas for the 2nd half and make-up for the one game of first half struggles. Unfortunately while they moved the ball decently, they could only manage two field goal drives versus the one Colts TD drive. What’s troubling is that the Redskins needed to score TDs and they just couldn’t do it. It almost caught up with them in the Carolina game as well. Though it was a positive to score points on two of their three offensive drives in the second half www.redskinscheapshops.com , the Redskins lucked out in this game. Their first field goal was a 56 yard kick, which is not a high percentage kick. Had Hopkins missed that field goal this game and outcome would have looked a lot different. Most concerning though was their final drive where they had the chance to put the game away by scoring a TD and making it an 10 point lead, with 3 minutes to go. The Redskins did move the ball enough to eat up some time and kick a field goal forcing the Panthers to respond with a TD, but it almost came back to bite them. Cam Newton moved Carolina to inside the 20 with just under a minute and two timeouts remaining. Luckily the defense held and the Panthers didn’t attempt to extend the game with some questionable play calling Washington Redskins T-Shirt , but it really never should have been in that situation.It’s still definitely early in the year and it’s possible that this is an area where the Redskins normalize, but it’s a concerning early trend. The Redskins need to start finding a way to carry their offensive success of the first half into the 2nd half of games. If they do, this could be a playoff team and a solid contender in the NFC. Custom Kansas City Chiefs Jerseys