SANTA CLARA – Here’s what Alex Smith said at his locker Wednesday afternoon.
Q: How do you feel?
ALEX SMITH: I feel good.
Q: What’s your status?
ALEX SMITH: Justin going along with the process right now. Nothing’s been decided. It’s a whole long process that’s up to the doctors. I just kind of do what they tell me.
Q: You’ve been cleared for non-contact field activity. What enabled you to do that?
ALEX SMITH: There are certain tests, you go meet with the neurologists – impact tests.
Q: What’s an impact test?
ALEX SMITH: It’s another impact test that we take.
Q: Were you able to participate in everything today?
ALEX SMITH: Contact obviously is the final straw. I was able to go out there today. I had the black jersey on me, which is a little redundant seeing as how we don’t get hit in practice. I felt good out there.
Q: Can you tell us what you felt and how you knew it was a pretty good hit?
ALEX SMITH: It’s tough to describe. For me, the vision was the biggest thing, for sure. I’ve taken a lot of hits over the years, and to try to play quarterback when you’re vision is not what it should be was difficult. For me, ultimately it didn’t get better. It wasn’t one of those things I could blink off and my focus was returning. I went on the sidelines and sat down and it seemed to get worse. It wasn’t getting better. It was not good for the team to go out there. I didn’t think I could help us much.
Q: When did your vision get better?
ALEX SMITH: After the game.
Q: Did you drive home?
ALEX SMITH: I think I could of, but I didn’t drive home.
Q: Did the JoLonn Dunbar hit contribute to your concussion?
ALEX SMITH: Yeah, it’s a great question. It’s all speculation. It certainly didn’t help. Talking to the neurologist, it probably contributed, for sure. Whether it loosens you up for the next one, don’t know. I felt fine after that though. The sneak was definitely when I came up and my eyesight went wrong.
Q: Did you have other symptoms?
ALEX SMITH: Nothing with the memory. Definite headache, nausea, things like that.
Q: It went away by the next day?
ALEX SMITH: Yeah.
Q: Were these symptoms similar to what you experienced after your concussion against Dallas last year?
ALEX SMITH: More severe. Similar in the sense that it was my vision. Last year was not even close to this. Last year I didn’t even think it was anything. I really thought I could continue to play. I didn’t even know to report. This year, for sure I felt like I couldn’t go out there and play.
Q: Is it tough to take yourself out of a game?
ALEX SMITH: It’s tough to play quarterback without your eyes. When you can’t see well, it’s 22 guys screaming around out there. You see bits and pieces and flashes of things, and those all help you make decisions. All of a sudden it was a bunch of stuff out there that I couldn’t make out. I just felt like I couldn’t help the team at all. It wasn’t like I was blind – I don’t want to make it seem like that. I was very concerned that I would go out there and hurt us.
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Nice guy. Good quarterback. Smart, noble. Athletic.
So Alex your saying you might miss the game?! Yessssssssssss lol
Come on, you can be better than that.
No he can’t be better. You can add whip cream but its still whip cream on sh?t!
Because it is a Monday night game, it gives the 9ers one more day to make a decision. My gut tells me he will be the starter.
It’s a “Prime Time” game. No one plays better under the lights. He is gonna play. Guy is a warrior!
No one plays better under the lights
Dang, talk about a jock sniffer.
By the way, what does your other identity think?
Jock sniffer? No it’s called being a fan and rooting for the best possible outcome.
You continue to be negative and dumb Cal boy, you do it well under the lights and day all the time!
now did he take all first team reps and did he have a chance to go through the chicago game plan
did kap take his usual 1st team reps or did he get more
In Texas High School football there is a new concussion protocol. When a concussion is disagnosed there’s a series of tests and benchmarks a player must reach before he’s allowed to practice or play in a game. When a player is diagnosed with a concussion he will miss a minimum of 10 days guaranteed.
I wonder when the NFL will adopt strict standards for concussions as they now have in High School. It’s very possible Smith suffered 2 concussions in the Rams game. I hope for Alex’s sake he isn’t rushing back too soon. Brain injuries are serious business and winning a football game isn’t worth the cost of long term effects of a concussion.
I totally agree. I think they should shut him down for good.
Ha ha!
I really care about Alex welfare and future health is more important than a Monday night football game. He should sit this game out, and let Kaep play, if Kaep plays good as I expect, AS being a team guy should not have a problem with this and sit out the following game as well.What Kaep needs to do to get some players to be excited about this change is pass the ball a couple of times to Moss and Davis and the players will be excited along with the fans.
Go back and visit with your relatives big mouth!
The Bears are not a good team to bounce back from a concussion, they are going to go after him like fly’s on poop. AS gets sacked way to often, especially when his primary receiver is covered and he has no time to dump it to a back for a gain of a inch. He needs to know how to slide as well. CK keep your helmet on, you will be in the game sooner than later.
Good post. Concussions should be called by a different name. Brain injury with a grade.
Brain Injury – Grade 1 thru 3 (least severe to most severe). Unless the public is educated about concussions, it will continue to be a subject we are concerned about, but not that concerned that we wish for the player’s health over their starting a game.
JStaley had a concussion earlier this year and he played the following week. I believe AS looking into a second opinion had to do with playing it safe and conservative. The first neurosurgeon probably told him he was ok, but with AS intelligence, he solicited advise from another expert. Good for him.
I think the second opinion also has a little bit to do with the way Harbaugh coaches. He wanted to send the message Smith might not play Monday night to Chicago so they have to continue to prepare for two QBs.
at lower levels of the game (ie some colleges and pop warner) they are testing out helmets with impact sensors. I think those should get incorporated into the progame as soon as possible. That would reduce players using their helmet as the leading point of attack.
Dangle
A FRONTLINE episode (PBS show) on concussions and football discussed the plays where pop warner kids could suffer cocussions. Basically,kids at that age don’t have their muscles (neck primarily) developed enough. So even if the actual hits that occur aren’t strong enough to cause concussions, their little bodies can’t take the sudden jerking of the head/neck that occurs while playing good, safe as can be…football. Thus resulting in concussions.
DS it is one thing to google some answers and try to sound professional on a blog. It is however completely irresponsible to give your opinion on matters you have no training in.
It would be my suspicion that perhaps you suffer from a genetic disease such as ms which is why you have intimate knowledge about diseased cells. Unfortunately, trauma and disease are completely different. So, offering your opinion on medical matters as if you were a professional in the field is reckless.
Matt
You don’t know if I’m an expert or not. Don’t think you know me. You don’t. School is another place you can learn things as well you know.
FRONTLINE is on the internet. Look at it yourself. Unlike some here, I know a little more than most about several things. I can care less if you believe me. Doesn’t change what I know or what is true.
I wrote legit info about cancer here earlier and things that can help. If you don’t want to believe it, don’t. But don’t tell me things that are true, aren’t. The greatest biologist of the 20th century kept himself alive against terminal cancer for many years because he consumed a ton of Viatmin C. I know it. If you refuse to know it, that doesn’t impact that it is true.
PS I would be careful about accussing people of having MS (not ms). That isn’t a disease to make jokes of/about/with/or randomly accuse. If you had the manners appropriate to what I had as a young child, you’d never say that.
Yeah, sane people give advice on how to treat cancer with alternative medicine on a football blog. I remember that crap from DS. “Reckless” isn’t the word for it. Complete nutjob is a much better description.
houston
Shut up. Thanks. You’re full of it. Why aren’t you upset with Matt for bringing up MS on a football blog? Especially accusing another blogger of having it?! It wasn’t even brought up by me or the FRONTLINE episode I am talking about.
And the episode I am discussing has to do with the thread. I know you don’t watch FRONTLINE. Because it is actually a show that deals with facts. Your FOX NEWS isn’t. You don’t like the topic of concussions which is what the thread was about till Matt and you showed up, skip the thread. Concussions though do belong on a football blog. Matt saying I have a genetic disease like MS doesn’t.
Guess which you favor though? Hate. Shocking.
DS,
Sell crazy some place else, we’re all stocked up here.
It was stoked full of crazy long before I was commenting.
And if you don’t like facts, don’t let that stop you from posting. It hasn’t yet.
And here is what the adversary is thinking about: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/ct-spt-1115-bears-chicago–20121115,0,5458848.story
i need an update on gore….he did have xrays…..
He says he’s fine.
What time was this interview? Jim Miller and Pat Kirwan read a report from Adam Schefter that AS was cleared to play on Monday. That was about 545 CST.
Video of Alex talking about his concusion at practice
http://www.49ers.com/media-gallery/videos/Alex-Smith-Participates-in-Practice-/07fd5407-bffe-4943-a369-114cd97996b4#/media-gallery/videos/Press_Pass_Alex_Smith/1ba4b302-4232-4689-9a2e-0fe1a6b08d18
I swear Alex has more lives than freddy Kruger or Jason and chucky lol
It’s called toughness!
It’s called 8 years of bad luck. Cont wait til we burn the number 11 Niner jersey. It’s a curse!
Go to bed 23hater, you need some rest.
You’re pathetic
Will Parys Haralson (#98) return to the active rooster this season?
No he is on ir.
Time for a subject change. Gore on the upcoming Bear game. From Branche s desk.
“We want their best, like they want our best,” Gore said. “I know they will want Alex Smith to play. We want Cutler to play. We want their best … If we keep winning and they keep winning, you never how it can go in the playoffs. So why not see what they’ve got now like they’re going to see what we have now? Then we imagine how it would go in the playoffs.”
Its going to be a sad day in Niner land when Gore hangs it up. He is the epitome of a warrior who come to battle and to win. It was never so evident then it was in the Rams game. The best wants to play the best to see who is the best.
It doesn’t matter who starts at QB this week. A concussed AS and a healthy CK will probably play at the same level. This will be a battle of the trenches type of game. The more physical team will win – kind of like the Seattle game.
For those who are interested in offensive line play and/or Ben Muth’s take on the same, he analyzes three plays from the 49ers-Rams game:
http://www.footballoutsiders.com/word-muth/2012/word-muth-tied
Or, we can keep arguing about Alex Smith and Colin Kaepernick. And, apparently, Scott Tolzien. The choice is ours.
Nice read
@ undercenter:
Yeah, I really like Muth’s articles. Not only does he explain things coherently, his use of the coaches’ film rivals Jack’s. I almost always come away from reading one of his articles knowing something that I didn’t know before I read it.
Claude,
This guy is really good. Thank you for the link.
Claude,
Excellent read thanks for posting.
@ Jack, Hofer:
No problem.
My fear is that Muth’s work will get overlooked because it’s too scholarly. He doesn’t make bold, unfounded statements, draw conclusions prematurely or trash players unnecessarily. He just breaks down each play, shows what happened and generally educates the reader. Plus, he’ writing about offensive line play, and it takes a little bit of an attention span to get through his articles.
With all that going against him, I fear that he is not long for the internet.
I hope your wrong about him not lasting long. He is refreshing to read and your right you come away with something that you might not know. I love reading material like this, unbiased and non bashing, just pointing out whats up.
Alex Smith has been cleared to practice by a neurologist. It looks like he will start on Monday night according to KNBR
Thanks Sherlock, that was yesterday’s news!
No dumb ass, this is fresh news. Many sources were noted as indicating that Smith will start on Monday. That was not known yesterday.
Actually it was reported that Smith was cleared and practiced and indications were he would start yesterday.
http://blogs.sacbee.com/49ers/archives/2012/11/back-in-black-alex-smith-cleared-for-non-contact-work.html
http://www.csnbayarea.com/football-san-francisco-niners/niners-talk/Alex-Smith-cleared-to-return-to-practice?blockID=801917&feedID=5936