Alex Smith led the San Francisco 49ers back to the playoffs

27-year old Alex Smith was much more than a game manager as he led the Niners to a 13-3 record and a first round bye in the playoffs.  Smith played in 16 games (all starts) for the 49ers this year and he completed 274 of 446 passes (61.4%) for 3,150 yards with 17 TD passes and only 5 INTs (90.7 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 52 times for 179 yards (3.4 ypc) with 2 TD runs this year.  Smith has now played in 70 games (66 starts) in his NFL career so far and he has completed 1,138 of 1,960 passes (58.1%) for 12,549 yards with 68 TD passes and 58 INTs (76.4 QB Rating).  He also has carried the ball 181 times for 629 yards (3.5 ypc) with 4 TD runs so far in his career.  The 49ers are now 32-34 (48.5%) with Smith as the starting QB.  Alex Smith is starting to repay the 49ers for not giving up on him when it would have been really easy to do. 24-year old rookie Colin Kaepernick pretty much just held a clipboard in his rookie season.  He played in 3 games (0 starts) for the 49ers th...