You may have noticed something odd in Sunday's Kansas City Chiefs win over the San Diego Chargers: Alex Smith wore gloves.
I was racking my brain to think of another time I had seen Alex wearing gloves and I couldn't think of one. Alex said after the game that he had never even practiced with them, let alone play a game with them on. Alex attributed the gloves to the rain, which was coming down steadily throughout the game.
"It was coming down pretty good pregame and in that first half, I just felt better with it," Alex said of wearing gloves, via quotes from the Chiefs. "I knew we had some of that ball handling stuff in the shotgun and I just felt good with it. I'd fooled around with them, I'd never practiced with them, I'd never played in a game with them. I tried them out in pregame and felt OK with it, I felt like I could get a decent grip on the ball so I just went with it."
When Alex threw his interception - the first one in 312 attempts - I immediately blamed the gloves. But he says they're not to blame.
"It might have been worse if I didn't have them on," Smith said of his interception. "I felt good about it, it was coming down good in that first half. I felt good with the gloves. Nothing is going to be perfect in those kind of conditions, like I said, we're trying to take a shot and (Chargers DB Jason Verrett) made a nice play."
Quarterbacks are generally obsessed with preparation so it's a little surprising to me that Alex would wear gloves without practicing with them on.