Chiefs QB Alex Smith talks about importance of his eyes and his feet

Our own MNChiefsfan wrote yesterday about Alex Smith's eyes. Besides the fact that they're dreamy (per Mrs. Arrowhead Pride) he wrote about the Kansas City Chiefs QB seemingly not looking downfield when pressure was coming. It looked like Alex wasn't keeping his eyes downfield. There is an example in the piece of Smith not keeping his eyes downfield and then a good example of him keeping his eyes up under pressure and delivering a strike. So it can be done. It just didn't seem to be done very well against Green Bay.

Alex was asked at Wednesday's media session how tough it is to keep his eyes down the field in the face of a pass rush (which I will fully admit I would be way too scared to do).

"I think the thing that gets you, that can get you, is eyes and feet," Alex said, via quotes from the Chiefs. "And when pressure's coming, I think, as the game wares on, it can affect a quarterback's eyes and feet and really that's what a quarterback plays with back out there. When you're well trained, and that's why you're doing all of those reps - to make sure your eyes and feet are well trained. And pressure sometimes can make those two things do funny things - feet are off, your eyes are in different places, so I think it's important. Even when there are games like that, it's not always clean, you have to keep those disciplined."

During training camp, Andy Reid sits behind the quarterbacks running the offense and watches the quarterback every play. He almost always has something to say to the quarterback and I bet it's about the eyes or the feet or some other mechanic so minute I don't even understand. Reid is a good quarterbacks coach (really, he is) because he understands the mechanics so there's no doubt if there was an issue in that Green Bay game that Reid has told Smith about it.

The key now is seeing actual improvement on the field next week in Cincinnati, which is not an easy task. There will be pressure coming up the middle thanks to a guy named Geno Atkins. He's a really good Bengals defensive tackle. Alex will also be tested because his two guards -- LG Ben Grubbs and RG Laurent Duvernay-Tardif -- have each given up three sacks (per Pro Football Focus). The next closest qualifying guard in the league? Two sacks. That pressure is coming right up the middle.