You can always get better throwing the football.
— Alex Smith
That's what you want; that's what you want to play for: fans that are in it and want it as bad as you do.
Certainly, there were tough times, but no, you can't go back and change it. So, why dwell on it?
There is a strike zone in the pocket that's very clear. Can't hit QBs low, can't hit them high.
That's a special time, to get drafted.
No quarterback goes out there and plays well on his own.
You're frustrated when things aren't going right. When you're out there, you have your piece of it, your view. It isn't until usually the next day when you're watching the film that you get to put all the pieces together: 'Oh, this is what happened on that play'; 'This is why I did that.' You don't totally know that game day.
As a quarterback, especially when I come off to the sideline, I am trying to get things corrected, trying to get things figured out and move on to the next series.
I think you have to enjoy the wins. If you're not enjoying the process, there's a problem. You're not doing it for all the right reasons.
If you don't go out there and play winning football, they're going to try and find somebody who can.
I don't measure myself in my contract in terms of what I'm making.
It's football. Guys get hurt all the time.
To continue to fight, not get frustrated, to stay together and find a way - I think that's important. I think good teams do that.
This is the honest truth: I could absolutely care less on yards per game. I think that's a totally overblown stat.
As flashy as draft picks are, the reality of them helping out in Year One anyway is not necessarily the case. That's not the reality.
The No. 1 stat is wins. As a quarterback, you get evaluated on winning.
Failures and setbacks are inevitable for all of us.
I used to make fun when I got into the league, and I couldn't believe these old guys that didn't know artists on the radio, like in the weight room.
When I watch good friends play, it's almost worse when you're watching, because you have zero impact: you have zero hand in what's going on. When I'm playing, you don't have that because I'm involved in it. I have some kind of say in what's going on.
I don't know if there were many pros for me playing early. I feel like I dug myself a pretty deep hole that rookie year.
In the pocket, you do have some protections, but you get out of the pocket, and defenders' eyes get big. Sometimes you learn that the hard way.
If you're going somewhere, you want to go somewhere where you have a chance to have success.
When the guys are playing well around you, you look good.
Quarterback play starts with your eyes and feet. Those have to be in the right place and have to be on time.
Game day can be emotional, and there are a lot of ups and downs throughout a game, but as a quarterback, you have to be able to see the bigger picture, steady that ship, get all the guys focused in on the task at hand, and keep the thing moving.
When you take shots downfield, you want to be good at them.
There are a lot of peripheral things that you have to deal with in this league, and I dealt with a lot of them when I came in. It's everything from being on your own to facing the media.
As a quarterback, you certainly don't want to hamstring your team in any way because - I know this more than anyone - you rely so heavily on those playmakers around you.
I love Kansas City. I love the coaching staff, the players.
I don't really care how many yards I throw for; as long as we score more points than the guys we're playing.
Winning is all that does matter.
Utah will always be special to me. They were the school that gave me an opportunity, and I grew so much as a person and player there.
Embrace the new, no matter how uncomfortable, and make it work for you.
When I graduated from Utah, I was headed into the biggest job interview of my life, the NFL Draft.
I definitely grew up a Chargers' fan.
Most of the time, you're just trying to be the point guard out there based on the play call and the defense that you're getting; that really dictates where the football goes.
You play for your teammates; you play for each other.
To a lot of people, I might just be the guy who went No. 1 in the draft. Or the guy who lost his job to Colin Kaepernick. Or the guy who helped turn a 2-14 Chiefs team into a back-to-back division champ... but then couldn't put them over the top.
More often than not as a quarterback, your performance is a reflection of the guys around you. I've been fortunate to be around some pretty good guys.
Instincts and fundamentals take over sometimes.
As a quarterback, when you do have a three-and-out or things do not go right, you are the first one to know. You know more than anyone out there what went wrong and what needs to be corrected and don't necessarily always need to hear it when you come off to the sideline.
As a quarterback, I always feel like it's my job to be that steady, calm presence in there.
I carried around a lot of weight and anxiety - expectations of being a top draft pick and fulfilling those. It was really burdensome and not fun. Stressful. I had to go through some things before I finally turned that around and got back to playing for the right reasons.
It's far different aging as a quarterback than aging as a tight end.
It's fun to come in when it's first down. It's not fun to come back in when it's third-and-long.
In this league, you can't take your foot off the gas pedal. You think you have something won, but teams are too good, too talented.
For me, it's about winning games. I'm trying to score more points than the other team. I don't really care how we do it.
I think that's the great thing about the NFL. You're out there, and there are very few perennials. It's a battle every single year. You can go first to worst, worst to first.
That's the great thing about the NFL: A team can get hot and win a championship.
It wasn't until I stopped worrying about my own validation and finally refocused my energy on things I could actually change that I finally grew as a person and as a professional.
