SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Alex Smith threw for more than 300 yards last week and is showing more confidence and more control than he has since joining the 49ers almost five seasons ago.
But Jon Gruden wants to see more.
“I’m like most 49ers fans,” said Gruden, who will provide commentary for Monday night’s game on ESPN. “I’d like to see him take a giant step forward.”
That giant step, Gruden said, entails throwing more touchdowns and being the reason why the 49ers win a tough game, something Smith has not done this season.
Gruden is an interesting observer because he was coaching the Buccaneers when Smith came out in the 2005 draft. The perception at the time was that if the 49ers passed on Smith, Gruden and the Buccaneers, who had the No. 5 pick that April, were likely to snag him.
Only two teams gave Smith a private workout in Salt Lake City that spring. One was the 49ers. The other was Tampa Bay, which sent Gruden and quarterbacks coach Paul Hackett. The Buccaneers also were expected to be Smith’s top suitor if the 49ers hadn’t reworked the quarterback’s contract in March.
So were the Buccaneers eying Smith in 2005? Gruden said any team picking in the top 10 is obligated to check out quarterbacks but that Tampa Bay mostly was interested in a running back. The Buccaneers ended up selecting Carnell Williams that year.
At the time of the draft, Gruden said the Buccaneers were impressed with Smith because he was a proven winner, going 21-1 at the University of Utah.
“Did he have a cannon? No, he didn’t have a cannon, but he was accurate,” Gruden said. “And he had some improv skills.”
Gruden said that Smith has shown many of those same skills this season, but he also described the 49ers quarterback as “streaky.” He agreed with other observers that Smith must continue to show strong progress over the final four games of the season, including Monday night’s, which will occur on a national stage.
For Smith, it will be his first Monday night appearance since his disastrous outing in Seattle in 2007.
Dealing with a badly separated shoulder, Smith connected on only 12 of 28 attempts and the 49ers were shut out 24-0. It was the low point of Smith’s career.
“I think that there were a lot of things going on at that time,” Smith said of his throwing technique, which was roundly criticized by the ESPN broadcast crew that night. “I think that there was a lot of compensation going on throughout that whole process and the weeks leading up to that with me. So absolutely, I guess that looking back, there probably was a lot fundamentally that wasn’t right.”
Another ESPN observer is encouraged by what he’s seen from Smith since that game. Trent Dilfer spent two years with the 49ers and was on the sideline during Smith’s dark days in 2007.
Dilfer said he and Smith attended the wedding of a mutual friend this offseason and they spent two hours talking. After the conversation, Dilfer said he turned to his wife.
“I told her, ‘that is a different man,’ Dilfer recalled. “’Not a different player, but a different man. He will be fine now. Mark my words, honey, he will be fine.”’
Dilfer said he sensed more of a take-charge attitude in Smith than he had when their lockers were next to each other. And he said he’s seen that attitude translate onto the field this season.
“Now he runs the show,” Dilfer said. “You see it in his body language. You see everyone reacting to him. He is now in total control of what is going on out there.”
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