Alex Smith played his best football under Nagy’s watch
Yes, the Chiefs lost in a really unfortunate way on Saturday night with Nagy (ostensibly) calling plays. And yes, Andy Reid did call plays for most of this season before ceding control of the play-calling duties to Nagy in Week 12 against the New York Jets.
But let’s not lose sight of how Smith flourished under his guidance this season and, perhaps more importantly, revived under Nagy’s play-calling following a mid-season slump.
On the whole, this was Smith’s most productive season ever in the NFL.
Though he still remained a risk-averse quarterback for the most part better suited for short and intermediate throws, he posted by far his highest yards per attempt (8.6) this season. However, his completion percentage remained excellent (67.5%).
The result: he broke the 4,000-yard passing mark (4,042) for the first time in his career. He also threw for the most touchdowns (26) and the second-fewest interceptions (5) that he ever has, leading to a career-best rating of 104.7.
This man got Alex Smith, he of every checkdown joke in history, to throw daring sideline fades and stretch the field, which only also maximized his strengths as an accurate short/mid-passer. Highest Y/Att of his career. Trubisky can take a step with Nagy. #Bears pic.twitter.com/yMUp8l0AOD
— Khari Thompson (@kdthompson5) January 8, 2018
Plus, if you go back to Smith’s play since he joined the Chiefs in 2013 (with Nagy has his quarterbacks coach before being promoted), the upward trajectory in his play has been undeniable. Smith hasn’t thrown for less than 3,200 yards, had a completion percentage under 60 or posted a rating lower than 89 since then.
And after Nagy took over play-calling duties from Reid at the end of the season, Smith proceeded to put up two of his five best yardage totals of the season in his last four starts.
The creativity that Nagy used to produce big plays should translate well to an offense that desperately needed that last season.
A taste of some of the creativity Matt Nagy could bring to the #Bears offense. A double-fake screen in the red zone that ends up as a tight end screen all along and goes for 16 yards? I dig it. pic.twitter.com/8KoxaMn90z
— Khari Thompson (@kdthompson5) January 8, 2018
Furthermore, if you can get throws like this out of the notoriously gun-shy Smith, imagine what Nagy can get out of Mitch Trubisky.
Speaking of that…