Smith and Russell are ridiculously different
Alex Smith in 43 games....completion pct. over 56%, over 7,000 yds, 37 TD's 43 INT's
2009 - 11 games, 60 pct comp., 2350 yds, 18 TD's 12 INT's
Jamarcus Russell in 31 games....comp pct. 52%, lil under 4100 yds., 18 TD's 23 INT's....
2009 - 12 games, 49% comp., 1287 yds, 3 TD's 11 INT's
stats are comparable but Alex Smith seems to be progressing at least.....Russell has had 4 good games in his career....Alex Smith had about 6-7 really good games last season....Russell is more Ryan Leaf than Alex Smith....and Alex Smith got thrown to the wolves his first season on a really bad team....if you discount that season where he was basically running for his life on every play he has a much better TD-INT ratio. Russell got to sit behind a veteran QB almost the entire year and should have been taking notes or something.....
Not to defend Alex Smith but comparing him, or anyone, to Jamarcus Russell is absurd