Alex Smith grew up today

<p>SAN FRANCISCO</p><p>Start anywhere you want with Alex Smith’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Start with his second touchdown pass. Yes, start with that.</p><p>Late in the first half, Smith drove the 49ers to the Jaguars’ 4-yard line and he rolled right and for a moment he looked confused. He just stopped and you might have thought, “Here we go again with this guy, his deer-in-the-headlights routine.”</p><p>He stood there and some big Jaguars defenders ran at him and you could imagine them downing Smith hard and Smith even fumbling.</p><p>But that wasn’t it. As the big guys rumbled toward him, Smith lobbed the ball over their heads, lobbed that sucker to Frank Gore waiting in the end zone, where he made a beautiful catch for the touchdown. And you understood Smith had faked out the Jaguars defenders, drawn them to him. He showed the ultimate poise running right and holding the ball and letting them think he was baffled. He had been a quarterback.</p><p>There were other important moments — many of them — but you get the idea. For this one game, Alex Smith looked like a quarterback you might take in the first round of the draft, maybe even with the first pick. This is the first time anyone in sane mind could make that claim about Smith, who has been hesitant, erratic, apparently timid, confused and just plain hurt.</p><p>Consider these basic facts. His passer rating was 96.8, a very good passer rating, a passer rating very good quarterbacks are happy to achieve. He threw two touchdown passes and generally seemed like a man doing his job with assurance and nerve.</p><p>Watching Smith against Jacksonville, you might want to put the stamp of approval on his helmet. You might want to say he has arrived. But it’s not that simple. The Jaguars are not very good and they couldn’t put a rush on Smith. That meant he was free to operate with hardly any stress — the really good quarterbacks handle stress; the substandard ones crack. So there are still significant Smith unknowns. </p><p>But this was a crucial beginning — for many reasons. The Niners have five more games to evaluate Smith, and so much is riding on this evaluation. If he does not work out — and no one is saying he won’t — the Niners need to get yet another quarterback through the draft or free agency. And things won’t be settled going into next season and the team’s program will be set back for years.</p><p>If he does work out, the Niners are in business. The best chance for them to be a factor in the next few years is Smith excelling, Smith absolutely locking up the quarterback position and knocking everyone’s socks off. If the Niners don’t need a quarterback, they can go after other players they crave like a maniac pass rusher and better offensive linemen. So Smith being good is essential, what the franchise cries out for.</p><p>Gary Plummer put it appropriately on radio. He said Smith working out this season is more important than the 49ers making the playoffs. Plummer is right. An outstanding Smith — if he is outstanding — gives the Niners hope going forward.</p><p>After the game, Mike Singletary still referred to Smith as “a work in progress.” That lets you know Singletary is being cautious — call it cautiously optimistic.</p><p>“I’m very proud of what he’s been able to do and the decisions he’s been able to make,” Singletary said. “He and (offensive coordinator) Jimmy Raye continue to work together, continue to build a relationship, and he continues to let Jimmy know, ‘This is what works; this is not what’s good.’ The more that relationship develops, the better our offense is going to become.”</p><p>Smith came to the interview room after Singletary. He is serious and he always tries hard to answer questions and he is polite.</p><p>Was this the most complete game he’s played?</p><p>“I don’t know about that. It’s the best I’ve felt out there seeing things, reacting, making good decisions and being accurate.”</p><p>Was he confident early in the season he would eventually get on the field?</p><p>“This is the NFL. I was confident my opportunity was going to come sometime. I didn’t know when it was going to come, the circumstances of it. I was confident that, ‘Yeah, at one time or another I’m going to have to step out on the field and help this team win.’”</p><p>Is he more confident now than in the past?</p><p>“Absolutely. I just feel better about seeing what I’m seeing out there, understanding it, trusting it and pulling the trigger, if that makes sense. Reading and reacting. What are they doing? Seeing it and pulling the trigger. When I was younger, you don’t see things clear, you don’t trust things. You hold the ball longer. You’re tentative. I just think I have a better grasp.”</p><p>Is this how he felt in college? He laughed before he answered this.</p><p>“I’m getting there. College is different. For me it’s understanding what you’re seeing and trusting what you’re seeing and cutting the ball loose. Not second-guessing yourself. Not hesitating. Trusting what you see and letting it go.”</p><p>The theme reappears. For years, Smith did not see things clearly. He was talking about defenses and defensive alignments and defenses disguising their coverages. In college he saw. He saw perfectly. He saw a high-definition world. He knew what everything meant. And he thrived. In the pros the picture faded out. And that fading — that inability to see clearly — made him seem what he was. Confused. Inefficient. Downright bad.</p><p>So he’s had to adjust the controls in his head, had to see the world anew. His hope and Singletary’s hope is that he sees clearly from now on. No glasses. No contacts. He just sees. Sees.</p><p>One thing everyone can see as plain as day. Alex Smith got a win.</p><p>For more on the world of sports in general and the Bay Area in particular go to the Cohn Zohn at blog.pressdemocrat.com/cohn. You can reach Staff Columnist Lowell Cohn at lowell.cohn@pressdemocrat.com.</p>