Maiocco's post from this morning

Anyone who reads 49ers blogs reads Matt Maiocco's Instant 49ers. In fact, most readers probably start there. In spite of the fact that anyone reading this post has already read Maiocco's post from this morning, I just want to encourage you to read it again. Read it a couple times. It's that good.

My only contribution is this. It's been suggested that Smith will start one of the first two pre-season games and Hill will start the other. If that happens, then the quarterback who doesn't start each of those games will come in some time around the second quarter. When the second string quarterback comes in, he'll be playing against the other team's second string defense. Therefore, he will probably come away looking better than the quarterback who started the game.

But there's more, and this part's important. If Smith starts the first pre-season game against the Raiders, and I think he will, he'll go against a top-tier pass defense with Nnamdi Awsom-O 4000 (audio in link) and DeAngelo Hall. Those guys are bad asses. It's not going to be easy for any quarterback to look good against that defense. The Raiders' second stingers, Stanford Routt and John Bowie, aren't bad, but they're beatable. Hill will probably look dominant against these guys, causing the media and the fans to go monkeyshit crazy. Smith can't afford to let this happen. For the sake of his own confidence and the team's confidence in him, Smith needs to come out strong against the Raiders.

So here's my corollary to the scenario Maiocco posted this morning: IF Smith looks weak against the Raiders, and I think he probably will, and IF Hill comes in and looks great, and again, I think he probably will, then the tone will be set. The only way we don't have a quarterback controversy going into the season is if Smith comes out hot and Hill does not.