We are going to get plenty of Alex Smith vs. Nick Foles talk this week. The simple analysis we’ll see is that Foles can stretch the field more than Alex can. We will local weathermen slam Alex for passes he can’t make while ignoring that he made the same pass to the same player the week before.
Foles came into the game and threw a strike of a touchdown pass to Travis Kelce down the middle of the field. I saw several people cite this as evidence that Foles will make passes that Alex can’t or won’t. I thought they were kidding because Foles’ touchdown to Kelce on Sunday was nearly identical to one Alex threw to him back in Week 1 last year.
Watch Alex vs. Houston the left and Foles vs. Indianapolis on the right (GIF via Reddit):
I’m sure you can come in here and tell me the play call wasn’t exactly the same or that Kelce juked this way instead of that way but for all intents and purposes this is the same play, same throw, same catch.
I don’t want folks to take this as me saying Alex has a better arm than Foles. I don’t think that he does. The eye test told me Foles went downfield more than Alex did and that’s something the Chiefs need to do more often. A couple of these comments stood out to me because Alex made the same throw.