Redskins have to hope Alex Smith grows more comfortable

Don’t look now, but the Redskins are 4-2, sitting atop an underwhelming crop of teams in the NFC East.

After the Washington Redskins 20-17 win against the Cowboys, there is a comfortable gap between Jay Gruden’s squad and the next one down in the division. But now is not the time to become complacent. There are clearly areas where improvement can be attained, and no area is more obvious than the quarterback position.

The Redskins traded a third-round pick and slot cornerback Kendall Fuller for Alex Smith in January, when it became clear that any long-term marriage between Washington and Kirk Cousins was on the borders of impossibility.

Smith was brought in to do two things immediately, and perhaps more later on. His calm and even-keeled demeanor was believed to be a future asset for a young, growing squad, and Smith’s individual style of play was well-documented as a winning style, if not reserved. He doesn’t put up eye-popping stats, but his lack of turnovers helps in the long run.

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So far, six games into 2018, most of those predetermined truths have revealed themselves to be accurate. Smith has seven touchdowns to just two interceptions, and he’s on pace for just under 4,000 yards. His touchdown percentage (3.6) is the lowest it’s been since 2011 (3.8). Part of that is the lack of consistency with Smith’s targets, but there’s no denying that Smith has looked very limited in the early goings.

Luckily for the Redskins, Adrian Peterson has (against the narrative of my bad summer takes) been a pleasant surprise, keeping the running game alive behind an angry offensive line, and the young defense has blossomed far earlier than expected, emerging as one of the top units in the league.

Those developments have allowed Smith to get away with less solid play. But that doesn’t mean it hasn’t gone unnoticed. Smith’s early play has led many to believe that his 2017 season was an outlier, and the most brash reactions have featured calls for Colt McCoy.

The calls for McCoy are irrational, but the concern is legitimate. Smith, the safe quarterback, has looked off, and it’s fair to wonder if there’s a limit to how far he can take the Redskins, if he does not improve. He was missing Paul Richardson, Jamison Crowder, and Chris Thompson in Week 7, so his weapons were clearly stunted. But he also had Jordan Reed available all day, and Josh Doctson was having one of his better days. Smith needs to adapt and elevate the offense when they need that kind of play from their signal caller. He’s never consistently been that kind of player, and so far, it looks like he won’t be.

That said, conclusions on how far Smith can truly go lie in the realm of speculation, as until the truth is revealed, no one can know. But the Redskins, winning on the backs of their defensive players and their running game, have to hope that Smith improves as he grows more comfortable in Gruden’s scheme. He threw with a bit more confidence against Dallas, but he still isn’t where he needs to be.

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There will be situations where Washington will need a better Alex Smith. Thus, a lone question arises: Will a better Alex Smith come along?

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