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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