It's become painfully obvious that Steve Smith...

[bigdog10]

We run the same plays on offense.

Quick out to smith, fade to smith, and playaction 15 yard pass to smith across the middle.

[Scrumtrilescent]

He's totally lost a step or two.

[Panther_Fan]

Smith a pussy? LMAO. You should have seen him curse out that Falcons player in today's game. That's the total opposite of a pussy.

i am a smitty fan. but is fan bashing another way to be considered a man and not a pussy?

[GRWatcher]

I've been wondering the same thing. I don't think he's any less physically than he has been. But even he said that he lost focus during the Philly game. Did he lose focus on that 4th & 10? It use to be that Smitty had no problem staying "in game".

[Proudiddy]

Steve doesn't look like he's lost a step. That INT on the load of bread Jake threw to Asante Samuel last week, Smitty had a good 5 steps on him, it was just badly thrown.

Now, I have to admit, Smitty does look like he's half-assing on his routes, it looks like he's just jogging through them now. The INT yesterday, before he saw the ball was thrown, on the double move, he looked like he was just going through the motions... Maybe he was tired, but on several replays of him running similar routes, he wasn't exploding out of cuts, he was running the same speed.

Like I said, I don't think he's lost a step, but I do feel he is dropping more balls than ever and is jogging routes now. Btw, I have NEVER, NEVER, NEVER seen Smitty get taken down by one tackler the way Houston did him yesterday on that last WR Screen... I told my friend, no one has ever tackled him one-on-one like that.

[Proudiddy]

I've been wondering the same thing. I don't think he's any less physically than he has been. But even he said that he lost focus during the Philly game. Did he lose focus on that 4th & 10? It use to be that Smitty had no problem staying "in game".

I think he's lost that chip on his shoulder that made him go all out every play before. He even said on Jim Rome during the preseason that he's more mature now and that same stuff that used to motivate him doesn't do it anymore. He also said something along the lines of "How can I be made about dropping a ball or messing up a play?" when he was talking about how people had to live in other places (I believe he had visited Israel over the summer, could be wrong though).

But, then again, ask that guy on the Falcons who he called a "punk ass b*tch" during the timeout yesterday. Followed by a nice fat "f*ck you!"

[CRA]

Smitty can still breakaway from any corner in the league and he is still just as physical as ever.......he is 100% in his prime right now. He is at the peak......I fully expect him to repeat and lead the league again this year in rec yards per game.

[Snake]

Come to find out he was playing on a injured ankle. So.... No he has not lost a step. He was just showing how tough he really is.

[Jase]

Doesn't explain his effort last week and late last season.

This thread is all about a trend, not an individual occurrence.

[neverlosethefeeling]

???

As for the topic at hand, is nobody going to mention that he tweaked his ankle twice yesterday?

Meant Andre Johnson...whoops.

[panthersforever16]

dude this is ridiculous. it's not smitty at all. delhomme is not as good as he used to be and that is affecting smitty. plain and simple.

[CarolinaHustla]

This is just absolutley fugin silly:banghead: It's all Jakes fault:beatdeadhorse5:

[Porn Shop Clerk]

Smitty from 3 years ago would have had two touches yesterday. One on the interception, and one on the deep cross.

[Jase]

It's become painfully obvious that many have stubbornly picked their scapegoat.

Remember when smith showed up to camp chubby last year? It took him almost half the year to get back down to his old weight and up to any pro-bowl level performance.

The slow decline is in progress. It was visible last year if you were paying attention and it's become obvious this year. The question is, how much more will his abilities decline in the next year? And after that?

Our next QB won't trust him nearly as much as Jake does, this much is for certain.