49er’s QB’s go scoreless in the Battle of the Bay!

         There is a very interesting three man quarterback competition occurring in San Francisco between Alex Smith, J.T. O’Sullivan, and Shaun Hill. All three quarterbacks have legitimate chances at the starting position for the 49er’s depending on how they perform during the pre-season.

       In the 49er’s first pre-season game between their crosstown rivals The Oakland Raiders, all three quarterbacks failed to reach the end-zone. J.T. Ossullivan surprisingly started the game over Alex Smith and threw some tough passes, including three strikes of 11, 22 and 20 yards to the rookie wide-receiver Josh Morgan (Virginia Tech),but he also committed two bad turnovers which resulted in a 51.6 QB Rating. Shaun Hill was given the most passing opportunities, but also finished with the worst overall rating at 40.2. He completed 10 of 20 passes for 83 yards, and was intercepted on an underthrown deep ball. Out of all the three quarterbacks, Alex Smith looked the best although that did not say much.The fourth-year 1st round pick by the 49er’s completed 5 of 9 passes for 51 yards and led his unit to a field goal. Smith was the only one of the three without an interception, leading to the highest QB Rating of 72.0. 

 

     Overall, Alex Smith still seems like he will be the starter at the beginning of the season, although I found it weird that the team did not start Smith. As a fan, I am giving Smith one more year to prove himself to the 49er’s, but if he does not look good half way through the season, they need to make a change. Lets hope the guy finally gets some confidence and leads the 49er’s to the playoffs!