Alex Smith Finally Talks About Demotion, Calls It 'Tough Pill to Swallow'

Alex Smith is finally talking.

The San Francisco 49ers quarterback, who recently lost his starting job to rookie Colin Kaepernick, had until recently not been speaking about his demotion or role on the team. Until Thursday, that is.

Smith told The Associated Press that he doesn’t necessarily think he deserved to lose his starting spot. Until suffering a concussion in a game against the St. Louis Rams, Smith was ranked fifth in the NFL with a quarterback rating of 104.1, and was fifth with a 70 percent completion percentage. In other words, Smith was having a career year.

“I feel like the only thing I did to lose my job was get a concussion,” said Smith. “You kind of state your case with your play and I felt like I’ve done that. It’s tough. It stings the most just because I really felt there was something special going on here and you sacrifice and invest so much time. I felt like I was playing good football. I have no idea what’s going to happen from here. All I can do now is just prepare and get ready.”

49ers coach Jim Harbaugh has left the door open to going back to Smith at some point (as he originally put it, he’ll be going with “the hot hand”) but for now Kaepernick remains the starter heading into this weekend’s rematch with St. Louis.

But, for the record, Smith was 21-6-1 in the 28 consecutive starts he made before suffering the concussion.

Photo of the Night

They go a little too crazy for football down in Texas.

Photo via Twitter/@Brian_Lee22

Quote of the Night

“I like to think that my economic degree would get me some type [of] job. There are certain perceptions about athletes whether they’re warranted or not. But I know what and who I am and I’m comfortable in my own skin.”
–New York Jets linebacker Bart Scott, who probably meant “economics”