Quote:
Originally Posted by SunnySide
Rivera didn’t want to put Kyle Allen back in after he was cleared because he didn’t want Allen to take another shot.
— JP Finlay (@JPFinlayNBCS) October 11, 2020
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I can understand Ron not wanting to send Kyle Allen back in with an arm injury to protect him, even if he was cleared to go back.
I think the head scratch is that in doing so, youre not "protecting" Alex Smith. I guess the thinking is, the second Alex Smith takes a live snap his prior injury is in the past. Kyle Allen had an injury in the present. If he didnt think it was safe to send Alex Smith back out in the second half .. then he shouldnt/wouldnt have made Alex the active #2 on Sunday and wouldnt send Alex Smith out in the first half.
Alex Smith needs to play with no memory of his prior injury. If Alex and medical staff say he is a full go, Ron is going to treat him as if he is a full go.
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This. Smith has to be mentally strong enough, not just to get through all that healing, but also to go out in front of a DL that don't care if he's on the comeback or not and want to tear him a new one (within the confines of the rules of course). Didn't matter if it was Aaron Donald or some other guy riding his back, he was going to get pressured, hit and sacked if he played anything more than a symbolic snap again, especially behind this OL. If he wasn't up to it, he should have retired, no matter how romantic the idea of a comeback is.
Well he was up to it, but only physically. I'm not sure he was mentally ready, and the question now is will he ever be. But RR had to put him in to test where he is, if only to show him he should retire (which I think he will do at the end of this season).