Smith’s comeback ‘amazing’
Many marvel at his return from serious injury
Alex Smith’s comeback is the NFL’s ultimate aweinspiring tale in a season craving one. He’s remarkably resumed a 15-year career that began with, in his words, “hard, really hard” years as the 49ers’ No. 1 overall draft pick.
His incredibly tough road the past two years, however, merits more praise and admiration than anything.
Smith is not only quarterbacking for Washington, he’s winning, and doing so on a right leg that, after a gruesome fracture in 2018, required 17 surgeries to stave off amputation and life-threatening infection.
“It’s truly amazing what he’s been able to do,” linebacker Fred Warner said among a chorus of inspired 49ers.
“I mean, his story is incredible and his resiliency is incredible,” quarterback Nick Mullens added.
“I’m incredibly excited for his comeback,” cornerback Richard Sherman said.
“For him to come back after going through that, it shows there’s a lot of special things inside that guy,” coach Kyle Shanahan said.
Elevated from third string last month, Smith has inspired Washington, along with its stout defense, to three consecutive wins. Now comes a Sunday “reunion” with the 49ers, who have no remaining players from his 2005-12 tenure, and just a few staff members.
“It’s so far removed,” Smith said of any vengeful feelings toward the 49ers. “I’m looking forward to seeing the handful of guys still around. You throw in the fact we’re in Arizona, it makes it more different.”
Indeed, the setting will be State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., where the
49ers remain exiled under Santa Clara County’s COVID-19 restrictions.
Smith, once his Hollywood-type journey ends, eventually will make his way back to the Bay Area, where his wife, Liz, grew up and where their three children were born. Until then, “I’m loving each and every week, lacing my cleats up, putting the helmet on and trying to really live that right now.”
Smith’s physical and mental fortitude is unparalleled. The NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year Award will be a mere memento for one of sports’ alltime conquests. Never has a win streak like Washington’s current one seemed so trivial, considering who is leading it and how much he’s overcome to do so.
“Not only did he want to come back just to show people, but it’s because he really, truly loved the game,” Washington coach Ron Rivera said.
How has Smith, 36, dealt with the deluge of adulation? “I’ve had so much gratitude through my recovery process,” Smith said, “because the list of people that I owe a debt of gratitude to get where I’m at is
very, very long.”
Atop that list is his wife, who went from being his hourly caretaker at home to a nervous fan in the FedEx Field stands upon his October return to the field. That came with her blessing, after what he called “very, very real” conversations.
Physically, Smith is completing a career-high 68.7 percent of his passes. Warner, the 49ers’ top defender, saw why that is through film study, saying: “I see a lot off decisiveness of where he wants to get the ball. He’s got that veteran presence.”
He just doesn’t have that same Smith mobility, which is forever stamped in 49ers lore with a fourth- quarter touchdown run in the 2011 team’s playoff win over New Orleans.
“He’s not going to run like he used to,” Rivera said. “He scrambles and moves around, but back in the day, he was prone to take off. That part of his game is not there.
“But everything else is: his arm strength, his decision making, his accuracy, his ability to move in the pocket. He has the ability to escape the pocket but he’s not looking to run down field.”
Smith arrived as a dualthreat out of Utah in 2005, and while he was adamant about proving himself as a pocket-passer, he reflects now on how he should have been more sure about his abilities.