Quote:
Originally Posted by Strange Brew
The worse Smith plays, the more pressure there is on Rittich to prove he can carry the load. That’s not ideal.
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That's exactly what I was thinking too.
That's why I wanted them to swap back to Rittich even after the decent performance for Smith in San jose. It's better that Rittich sees it as him being in a 1a/1b situation where he's in healthy competition with the other guy than "please take the reigns because Smith can't carry the load right now", which has more potential to put pressure on him mentally.
The kickstart Smith strategy has backfired. Now you hope Rittich has toughened up mentally since last season and that's not a gamble you want to have to make.