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Alex Smith doesn't believe in assigned seats.As he tried to get to know his new Washington Redskins teammates Authentic Danielle Hunter Jersey , Smith sat in a different seat for each meeting.Defensive line coach Jim Tomsula knew that from his time with Smith in San Francisco, and running back Chris Thompson beamed, "That's a trait from your quarterback that you like to see."It's a concerted effort by Smith to fit in with the guys, something he did quickly after taking over as the Redskins' franchise quarterback.Be it his personality, his depth of NFL experience or the long-term contract that previous starter Kirk Cousins never had in Washington, Smith has already assumed the place of unquestioned leader and made players sense an entirely different vibe around the team."(It's about) putting yourself out there, being real and nothing fake, nothing phony but getting to know the guys, letting your guard down," Smith said. "I'm more conscious of it as I've gotten older about that, about the responsibility as a teammate, being a good teammate."No one around the Redskins is calling Cousins a bad teammate, and team brass is reluctant to compare him and Smith on or off the field. But ever since Smith took the field in practice in burgundy and gold, he has been the subject of glowing praise about his ability to lead."He's always been a leader," left tackle Trent Williams said. "You could tell he's comfortable in that role. He's what we needed."A series of one-year contracts made Cousins unwilling or unable to fully fill that void. After signing a guaranteed $84 million, three-year deal with the Minnesota Vikings, Cousins felt he finally had a "license to lead" that was never there with the Redskins, who took him in the same draft as Robert Griffin III, made him compete for the starting job and never agreed to a long-term contract.Washington not only acquired Smith from Kansas City but signed him to a $94 million, four-year extension with $71 million guaranteed and put the pressure on him to get back to the playoffs for the first time since the 2015 season. That's as much as license to lead as anything http://www.vikingsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-eric-kendricks-jersey , but the 34-year-old brushed off the trappings of that kind of security."All you're guaranteed is a year at a time here and even game by game," Smith said. "I appreciate so much the opportunity I have today and right in front of me and I'm not really thinking past that. Contract, all this and that, I'm not feeling any kind of comfort in that. No. I've got a huge sense of urgency to go out there and to go right now, to go today. I'm not waiting on anything. So it doesn't change my approach at all."It's that approach that quickly won Smith the respect of teammates, who spent the opening days of training camp talking about things feeling "different" this year.This was a team with Jay Gruden entering his fifth season as head coach with almost the same core of players except at the most important position."We got a lot of leaders on this team, especially with your quarterback," safety D.J. Swearinger said. "When you get a guy like Alex Smith in here, a lot changes. ... He's changed the leadership of how the offense approaches (the game). When they break the huddle, it's a different bounce. It's a different way he comes on the line and commands the offense."That's what senior vice president of player personnel and retired QB Doug Williams thought the Redskins were getting in Smith, who is coming off a season in which he set career highs with 4,042 yards passing and 26 touchdowns. Cousins threw for 4,000 yards the past three seasons, but Washington wanted a long-term answer and found it in Smith."What we've seen since he's been here is everything that we thought, that Jim (Tomsula) was talking about, from a leadership standpoint," Williams said."When he walked in the building, you could feel Alex Smith taking control of the locker room and being part of what we were looking for from a stability standpoint."The practice field has been the setting for Redskins players getting an up-close look at Smith. Cornerback Josh Norman bemoaned not being able to get enough work in because Smith was too accurate and wouldn't make mistakes, and Swearinger called him the kind of player defenders hate to face.Gruden, a former QB himself and an offensive guru Youth Harrison Smith Jersey , sees Smith as someone who can run his playbook and is also tailoring some things to him to maximize his mobility and decision-making prowess."Really what CAN'T he do?" Gruden said. "We're just trying to come up with a plan of attack that utilizes his skillset and make him as comfortable as possible."Smith looks and feels comfortable off the field, too. In addition to players admiring how the playbook has grown because of his addition, Thompson and said Smith "seemed to just fit in with us right away."Gruden said Smith "doesn't walk in here like he's king. He's walking in here like he's one of the guys." As one of the fittest players on the team, Smith sets a work ethic example, and his personality is such that Gruden thinks he could play a pickup basketball game with anyone and fit in.Perhaps that's why his transition to Washington has been so seamless that Williams said it feels as if Smith has been around a long time. The Redskins hope he actually is."He has the charisma, he has the character, he has everything that you want in a quarterback," Williams said. "And that's what they're supposed to be: a face of the franchise, and I can tell you this: Alex Smith fits that mold as the face of a franchise."Follow Stephen Whyno on Twitter at ://SWhyno . Hi kids, how are we feeling this afternoon? A three game win streak that puts the Vikings alone in first place in the NFC North should have you feeling pretty good about the local team and life in general, I would think. But yeah, it’s also Monday, so I get it if things kind of blow today.I have to admit I was a bit worried last week about the Jets game, and I talked about it in this piece right here. A loss against the Jets would have been pretty bad, for any number of reasons. Turns out I was right in thinking how brutal a loss to the Jets would have been for the VIkings and their playoff chances. But, they won. It might have been ugly for awhile, but they got it done.And in so doing, their playoff chances and playoff seeding increased substantially. If you fine folks here at DN have read any of my musings on a regular basis, you know I’m not a number cruncher type of writer, for the most part. I’ll look at trends and use them to form my ridiculously obtuse opinions http://www.vikingsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-everson-griffen-jersey , but using a lot of stats in my writing isn’t something I’m particularly good at. However, one site I’ve really started to enjoy is the playoff predictor from 538, a site more known for political polls and predictions as opposed to sports. But they’ve been doing a playoff predictor for the NFL for awhile now, and I really enjoyed following it last season as the Vikings chased Philly and New Orleans for homefield advantage and a first round bye. If you’re not familiar with the site, they take the results of the games each week, the remaining schedule, and using math and formulas that I don’t understand they come up with weekly playoff percentages for each team, to include the chances of winning the division and getting a first round bye. I didn’t look at it the first month or so of the season, but I think I’m going to make this a weekly post, now that we’re almost halfway through 2018.Anyway, last week, the Vikings had a 57% chance to make the playoffs, but only a 43% chance to win the division, and a miniscule shot at a first round bye. If I remember correctly, the Bears were ahead of the Vikings in all those categories, and both the Packers and the Lions were in the 30-40 percentile range to make the playoffs.After yesterday’s games, let’s take a look at where things now stand in the NFC North in terms of making it to ‘The Dance’ (playoff percentages taken from 538):That’s a pretty dramatic one week jump for the Vikings and drop off for the Bears, the Packers lost a lot of ground even though they had a bye, and Detroit changed very little. But how bad would it have been if the Vikings had lost? Well, I also found a site called Playoff Predictors Stefon Diggs Jersey , and I think I could waste hours going over all the different possible what if scenarios. (Warning: this site is a ginormous time killer so it’s not my fault if the rest of your work day is unproductive). Had Minnesota lost to the Jets yesterday and fallen to 3-3-1, they would have gone from the number four seed in the NFC playoffs to ninth. So yeah, that was a big game. Had both the Vikes and Bears won, the Bears would currently be the fourth seed, and the Vikings sixth. That loss to the Patriots really hurt the Bears, though, as they dropped from division leader hosting a first round playoff game to the 10th seed, with Green Bay still the sixth seed...even though 538 predicts the Packers have the lowest chance to make the playoffs, muahahahaha.Detroit is currently the ninth seed, sitting at 3-3 right behind two other .500 teams in Seattle and Tampa Bay. Had the Lions lost to Miami, they would have tumbled to 2-4, the 13th seed in the conference, and in my opinion almost no shot at the post season. They have yet to be seeded in a hypothetical ‘if the playoffs started today’ scenario, but have climbed out of an early 0-2 start to get back to .500. You’ve probably seen the stat that says teams that start out 0-2 have an 11% chance to make the playoffs, and what a difference a 1-1 start would have been for Detroit.Let’s say they won their second game of the year against San Francisco, and every other result in the NFL so far this year remains the same. At 4-2, Detroit would be in first place in the NFC North and the number four seed. Minnesota would be the sixth seed, and Green Bay would be out of the playoffs. Starting 0-2 really is a tough hurdle to overcome, and puts teams behind the power curve early.Speaking of Green Bay...let’s go back to that week two tie the Vikings and Packers had. All other things being equal, if the Packers win that game Authentic Kyle Rudolph Jersey , they’re 4-2 and the number four seed currently, with the Vikings the number six seed. If the Vikes win that game, they are the number three seed in the NFC and the only NFC North playoff team, as Detroit, Green Bay, and Chicago fall to the number eight, nine, and 10 seeds, respectively.I know there’s still over half the season to play, and a ton of things can and will happen. The Vikings have only played one divisional game, and how they do in those five remaining games will largely determine whether or not they go to the playoffs. Lose most or all of those games and no matter where the Vikings sit today, they won’t be going anywhere come January.Still, I always enjoy these ‘if the playoffs started today’ kind of things, because I think it really shows just how crucial each game in the NFL is on a week to week basis.