After a year of highs and lows, Chiefs’ Alex Smith knows the stakes this month

On Monday morning, just hours after Pittsburgh bludgeoned Miami to set up a divisional-round showdown in Kansas City, the Chiefs’ quarterbacks and their coaches poured into a room at the team’s training facility to begin preparing for the Steelers.

It was the first meeting of the day, and there was an undercurrent of enthusiasm in the room, co-offensive coordinator Matt Nagy noticed. And as any good coach would do, he made sure to keep an eye on his quarterback, Alex Smith.

Nagy knew that this is the time of year when all quarterbacks are judged, and it’s always interesting to see how your guy is handling it. But when Smith, a 12-year veteran, started talking to the room, it didn’t him long to make a positive impression on his coach.

“He was composed — he was driven, but it was composed,” Nagy said. “There was a balance of ‘Yeah, I’m ready, let’s go. But let’s not peak too soon.’ ”

Nagy is not the only one who has noticed Smith’s even demeanor this week.

“It’s business as always with him,” receiver Jeremy Maclin said. “The way he’s approaching it is very similar to how he’s approached the season. The composure he shows, attention to detail he shows, it’s second to none. So whenever you see the guy doing that — the guy that leads your team — everyone else follows.”

But don’t think Smith doesn’t know what’s at stake — he does. Big Ben is coming to town, and provided the Chiefs find a way to topple Roethlisberger, a two-time Super Bowl winner, a rematch with four-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady and the New England Patriots looms for the right to go to the Super Bowl.

His reality is simple: Come up big, become a hero. Come up short, and people will question whether he can deliver when it matters.

Smith has no illusions about any of this, and is confident he’s made enough strides over the last four years under Andy Reid to be prepared for this moment.

“For sure — without a doubt,” Smith said, when asked if this is indeed the time when quarterbacks are judged. “At this point, you’ve been dealing with it for so long that you know it. At the same time, when you play long enough I think you embrace it more, too.

“I think when I was younger, sometimes the big stage can be daunting, you know? But as you get older and you’ve been there ... you don’t know when your next opportunity is ever going to come, if at all. So at this point, this is living, right? This is why we’re doing it.”

Smith’s playoff track record is one reason to believe in him. A year ago, he led the Chiefs to their first playoff win in 22 years, and in five career playoff games, he’s completed 112 of his 186 passes (60.2 percent) for 1,309 yards and 11 touchdowns and only one interception.

“It’s a tribute to his competitiveness I would say,” coach Andy Reid said. “He loves that challenge and does well with it.”

Smith’s statline this season — 67.1 completion percentage, 3,502 yards, 20 total touchdowns, eight interceptions — is about on par with his previous three in Kansas City. His passer rating of 91.2 is a small drop off from 2015 (95.4), 2014 (93.4) and a bit higher than 2013 (89.1).

But despite the Chiefs’ 12-4 record this year — not to mention Smith’s 41-20 record as a starter in Kansas City — he still has his fair share of critics, most of whom come back to the fact he doesn’t regularly throw people open the way some other quarterbacks — like Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady, for example — do.

“For him, he’s always judged by the amount of touchdowns he throws and the amount of yards and all that,” Nagy said. “But he’s doing what we’re asking him to do and he does a great job at it.”

The Chiefs put a lot on Smith’s plate. Remember all that talk last year about the newfound control Reid gave Smith to audible out of bad plays? Well, to hear Smith and Nagy tell it, he actually has been given even more responsibility to do that this year, which has contributed to the Chiefs’ league-best turnover margin of 16 this season.

“Alex has always done a great job at that,” Nagy said. “Now he’s had a couple games this year where he’s had the picks, but he’s learned from that and hopefully that will help us here as we go.”

The Chiefs lost both games during which Smith threw critical red-zone interceptions — against Tennessee and Tampa Bay — that were highly out of character given his conservative nature. Still, his eight interceptions were the fifth-lowest among quarterbacks with as many attempts as him.

An argument can also be made that Smith has made more championship throws — loosely defined as tough passes into tight windows or clutch throws with the game on line — than ever before. Remember those late drives in the 30-27 win at Denver? How about all those throws he made in the 33-27 season-opening comeback to defeat San Diego?

“Sometimes when your back is up against the wall and you’ve got nothing to lose, it’s easy to be aggressive and make aggressive throws because what the heck — what’s the alternative?” Smith said. “I think the balance, though, is keeping that edge about you early in games, when it’s even.”

Nagy agreed with the notion that Smith has made more championship throws this year, and also defended his quarterback against those who love to compare him to the Rodgers and Bradys of the world.

“It’s funny … we’re only always watching our guys, and we’re harping on he’s not doing this, he’s not doing that,” Nagy said. “But you go back and, as you’re watching other defenses, you’re watching other offenses, and those quarterbacks — some of the great ones now, don’t get it twisted — they’re missing championship throws, too.

“So people can be hard on him, but that’s the position, in general, and what matters to him is how we coach him and how he responds to that.”

One of the tools that Smith uses to beat defenses — his legs — went on a bit of a hiatus this year before roaring back of late.

Smith finished the season with only 134 yards rushing in 15 games, his lowest total since 2012, when he rushed for 132 in only 10 games. But in the Chiefs’ last three games combined, he rushed for 78 yards — more than 50 percent of his yearly total — and, more importantly, scrambled for three touchdowns.

Smith insists he wasn’t slowplaying everybody.

“Oh yeah — I wish man, I wish,” Smith said with a laugh. “The crazy thing is, I think — even going back to preseason — I felt like I ran a bunch. It felt great, my legs felt great, and I kind of thought I was just going to roll from where I was last year.”

In retrospect, however, Smith says the Indianapolis game, during which he suffered two injuries the Chiefs classified as head trauma, didn’t help matters, especially when it came to the designed runs he’d been thriving on for over a year.

“All of a sudden, that (Indy game) happens and when I’m asking for (those runs), coach isn’t real keen on it after that,” Smith said. “So it’s been nice to kind of get it back going these last few games.”

Nagy added that teams have actively tried to take away Smith’s running ability, too.

“I think it’s just the looks (they give),” Nagy said. “Teams are aware he runs, so they gameplan for it.”

Nagy said the Chiefs don’t coach Smith to run, but when he chooses to, he must be smart and get down, especially against an increasingly nasty Pittsburgh defense.

Then again, Alex’s brains — which are part of his intangibles — have never been a problem. But as several teammates pointed out, a good leader isn’t always cerebral — a quarterback also has to be able to lead with force, and Maclin says Smith does this, too.

Take the Chiefs’ 37-27 win over San Diego on Jan. 1, for instance. The memory of what Smith said in the first huddle after throwing a pick-6 that cut the Chiefs’ lead to three in the third quarter of a game where the No. 2 seed and first-round bye were on the line still makes Maclin grin.

“He called the first play and he’s like ‘Let’s effin’ go,” Maclin said.

Let’s effin’ go?

“He’ll do that every now and then,” Maclin said. “Get fired up.”

Smith proceeded to mount a 12-play, 60-yard scoring drive capped by a 2-yard touchdown throw to Charcandrick West.

It was a killer drive, one in which Smith accounted for 56 of those yards using his brain, arm and legs. He knows that for the Chiefs to get to their ultimate destination, they’ll need more drives like that, and he’s confident he’s done all he can to prepare.

“This is it,” Smith said. “At this point, it’s not like you can go out there or sleepwalk or anything like that.”

This story was originally published January 14, 2017 at 3:01 PM with the headline "After a year of highs and lows, Chiefs’ Alex Smith knows the stakes this month."