Chiefs’ Alex Smith part of mixed crop of playoff QBs

There’s an NFL playoff game Saturday that will pit Connor Cook against Brock Osweiler.

The Oakland Raiders against the Houston Texans.

Osweiler, from the Texans, showed himself to be one of the worst quarterbacks in the league before being replaced late in the season by Tom Savage. When you’re replaced by Tom Savage, it goes without saying, really, that you’re not exactly lighting things up.

But Savage is hurt and the 6-foot-8 Osweiler, whose quarterback rating of 72.2 ranks next-to-last in the NFL, is the Texans’ next-best choice.

The severity of Houston’s QB problem cannot be overstated, but at least the Texans have a sturdy defense.

Which brings us to Cook, a rookie from Michigan State who just a week ago was a dim star in a bright galaxy. Nobody outside of the most ardent Raiders fans even knew Cook was in the NFL, let alone the best option to start in the Raiders’ first playoff game since they lost Super Bowl XXXVII, XIV years ago.

Cook is playing because the dynamic Derek Carr suffered a broken leg in Week 16 and because his replacement, Matt McGloin, injured his shoulder last week in an uninspiring loss to Denver that knocked the Raiders into a wild-card spot in the AFC and enabled the Kansas City Chiefs to win the AFC West and secure a first-round bye in the playoffs.

Oakland-Houston looks like a train wreck, but one of those teams is going to advance to likely face New England in the next round and there’s a guy named Brady with the Patriots.

Five of the quarterbacks left standing in the playoffs – Brady, the New York Giants’ Eli Manning, Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger, Seattle’s Russell Wilson and Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers – have combined to win 10 Super Bowls.

There are two rookies: Oakland’s Cook and Dak Prescott of the Dallas Cowboys, who has a puncher’s chance of becoming the first rookie QB to start a Super Bowl, let alone win one.

It would seem Ostweiler’s career is hanging by a thread and Miami’s Matt Moore has been mostly a career backup who is starting for the Dolphins against Pittsburgh only because Ryan Tannehill is hurt.

That leaves three: Atlanta’s Matt Ryan, Detroit’s Matthew Stafford and Kansas City’s Alex Smith.

Ryan should be the NFL’s MVP this season after a ridiculously-good regular season in which he averaged 309 passing yards per game and 9.3 yards per attempt. He threw for 38 touchdowns and was intercepted seven times.

Yet Ryan, who has led Atlanta to 10 or more wins five times in his nine-year career, is 1-4 in the playoffs. Which is probably why the Falcons are not being taken all that seriously despite their NFC South title and first-round bye.

Ryan has to perform.

So does the Lions’ Stafford, who has put up big numbers but has yet to crack through in the postseason after only two tries.

Detroit could win at Seattle in an NFC wild-card game Saturday night, but Stafford will have to step up in one of the NFL’s most hostile environments and go toe-to-toe with Wilson, a Super Bowl vet.

Finally, there is Smith. Poor Alex, who doesn’t have a friend despite winning 20 of his past 24 regular-season games as the Chiefs’ starter.

It’s not Smith, though, who gets the credit. It’s Andy Reid, or the defense, or tight end Travis Kelce, or the offensive line, or rookie sensation Tyreek Hill.

Smith manages the game, they say. He stays out of the way and lets others take care of the dirty work.

It’s not easy to come to Smith’s defense time after time because his numbers aren’t sterling. He ranks 22nd in passing yards and his 15 touchdown passes are tied with Osweiler, of all people. He is 16th in QB rating but seventh in completion percentage (67.1).

It’s hard for Chiefs fans, as excited as they are about making the playoffs, getting a first-round bye and being guaranteed at least one game at Arrowhead Stadium, to fathom a scenario in which Smith is the last quarterback standing among a group that includes all the previous Super Bowl winners.

There is a general belief out there that Smith doesn’t accelerate the Chiefs, but that he holds them back. If he could just throw the ball farther downfield, Kansas City would be such a threat. If Smith had more pizzazz, the Chiefs would be all that jazz.

Smith is an OK quarterback on a team striving for greatness. He’s not even doing the one thing that set him apart from his contemporaries, which is running the football.

But Smith has been more of a runner of late and I expect him to show more of that in the playoffs. He has developed a tremendous rapport with Kelce and, remember, the Chiefs’ best wideout, Jeremy Maclin, has been hurt much of the season.

Hill is slowly but surely working his way into more of the offensive scheme, but it’s not necessary to have him run deep routes to be effective. Hill can catch the ball behind the line of scrimmage and get to the end zone.

Smith isn’t flashy, he doesn’t roll up huge stats and he doesn’t complain about those who complain about him.

He hangs in there, does his job and wins. There should be a stat for that.

This story was originally published January 6, 2017 at 2:49 PM with the headline "Chiefs’ Alex Smith part of mixed crop of playoff QBs."