2016NFLBy Alex Putterman on

Pro Football Focus is one of the smartest, most evidence-based sports web sites out there, but even they’re prone to some hot-takery once in a while.

On Nov. 28, PFF published an article, by a writer named Sam Monson, headlined “The Chiefs can’t win a Super Bowl with the 2016 version of Alex Smith at QB.” Here’s the conclusion of that piece:

You can win a championship with a quarterback as flawed as Smith, but you need everything else to go right, and that QB needs to be able to provide the occasional spark. This year’s Chiefs defense isn’t the Denver Broncos defense of 2015, even with Houston returning, and the one thing that Alex Smith does not provide right now is spark. Without that this team may continue to rack up wins, but they will come undone in the postseason.

Fast-forward 10 days to Thursday morning, when PFF tweeted out an article by staff writer Mike Renner that appeared on the Washington Post’s website. This one was headlined “It’s time to stop hating on Alex Smith and realize the Chiefs can win the Super Bowl.” That piece included no acknowledgment of the previous one but did feature this passage:

Most, if not all, arguments against the Chiefs’ chances begin and end with Alex Smith. The maligned Chiefs quarterback is not “elite,” nor will he ever be. For all his flaws, though, he has a trump card that often gets overlooked: Smith protects the ball. Sometimes to his detriment. But he won’t derail the rest of his team’s chances of winning solely through his play. He’s the definition of a game manager, and that has value.

 

There’s certainly nothing wrong with two writers at one publication having different opinions on a subject. But when the same site tweets out authoritative assertions that directly contradict each other, it’s hard not to laugh.

Put next to each other, these two pieces form a pretty hilarious contrast:

About Alex Putterman

Alex is a writer and editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. He has written for The Atlantic, VICE Sports, MLB.com, SI.com and more. He is a proud alum of Northwestern University and The Daily Northwestern. You can find him on Twitter @AlexPutterman.

View all posts by Alex Putterman

Comments are closed.