49ers offense: Gabbert will struggle sans receivers
Blaine Gabbert won the starting quarterback job for the San Francisco 49ers, but he will struggle without good weapons at receiver.
Do not judge Blaine Gabbert purely by his statistics this week or this season. There are numerous reasons to be critical of Gabbert’s past — and likely upcoming — performances. Yet without sufficient weapons on offense Gabbert can only do so much.
Only a select few quarterbacks can consistently have success with mediocre receivers. Tom Brady is one of them, while even Peyton Manning had elite receivers throughout his career in Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne and the Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders combo in Denver.
It is fairly obvious that Blaine Gabbert is not in this quarterback echelon.
Most starting quarterbacks, though, are not. Hence, when Gabbert inevitably struggles to find open receivers in the next few weeks it would be foolish to place the blame entirely on him.
Torrey Smith is a very good receiver for the 49ers, but he is not a true number one. Without Anquan Boldin and with the numerous injuries that continue to threaten the 49ers pass offense to gloom and doom, Gabbert has an incredibly hard task ahead of him. That the 49ers first three games are against top NFL defenses (the Rams, Panthers, and Seahawks) does not help.
When, inevitably, a subsection of fans and commentators begin to call for Colin Kaepernick to get a chance remember that Gabbert may not be the problem at all.
A quarterback can throw the ball perfectly, but if he does not have anyone to throw the ball to, what good is the pass?
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It will be a tough season, 49er Faithful. Before blaming Gabbert, however, perhaps think about blaming those who assemble personnel, as a football team is supposed to have receivers.
All statistics, records and accolades courtesy of ESPN.com, Pro-Football-Reference.com and Sports-Reference.com unless otherwise indicated.
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