SAN FRANCISCO – Here is the complete transcript of Jim Harbaugh’s postgame press conference, courtesy of the 49ers.
At what point did you know that you weren’t going to have QB Alex Smith for this game?
“Monday morning, today.”
How had the reps been distributed throughout the week to get QB Colin Kaepernick ready?
“We were giving him more reps on Wednesday and Thursday. And then I believe it was Saturday, Sunday he got all the reps.”
Is Colin your starting quarterback going forward?
“We’ll see. I usually tend to go with the guy who’s got the hot hand. And we’ve got two quarterbacks that have got a hot hand. So, thought Colin did an outstanding job. Thought he did a great job. Poise in the pocket, pushing the ball and throwing with accuracy. Did a nice job running the game plan. Everything he did was exemplar, again. And really acquitted himself great. And very proud of him for that. And there are a lot of guys to highlight. A tremendous effort on our defense. Tremendous effort by our special teams. Thought [TE] Vernon Davis had a big night, [RB] Frank [Gore], [WR] Mario [Manningham], [WR] Michael [Crabtree]. A lot of guys that you could highlight. [LB] Aldon Smith, huge night.”
Did Vernon Davis have a big night because Colin was throwing to him? It seems to me that he threw, you’re laughing. That Vernon Davis got—
“I’m smiling.”
It’s nice to see you laugh. I really like that. That Vernon got the ball more tonight than I’m used to seeing him getting the ball?
[Shrugs.]
Is that an answer?
“He got the ball more tonight than you’re used to yeah definitely he’s gotten the ball more tonight than he’s gotten in the last couple games. But, there’s been—.”
I’m wondering if that’s because Colin was the quarterback?
“I think Colin did a great job getting Vernon the ball. And Vernon did a great job getting open. I don’t think that those are mutually exclusive or inclusive, however the way to say that is. They both played great. And there’s nothing here that you can dig for to get more. I’m not covering up or anything, or hiding anything. Thought Colin played really well. Thought Vernon played really well. And a lot of guys played really well. Aldon Smith had a heck of a night. Our offensive line played very well. Pass protection was outstanding. And just really give a lot of accolades to the players tonight. They played great in a big game and it’s a big win for us.”
You said you tend to go with the hot hand. Is it possible to have a hotter hand than what Colin had tonight?
“Yeah like I said, well we really have two guys that have a pretty hot hand. But, we’ll make that decision as we go forward.”
Do you think the league is more attentive this year in health and safety issues than last year?
“I thought they were pretty attentive to it last year as well. I can’t say that there’s, maybe it’s more.”
As a coach does it play more in your mind than it might have for coaches in the past?
“I can only speak for myself and just really have always, since I’ve been a coach, just put that in the hands of the doctors. Sounds simple, but us coaches don’t have a medical degree. So, they make those determinations and it’s very simple. And that’s just the way it works.”
There’s an unwritten rule that a guy doesn’t lose his job because of an injury. Does that hold true? In other words, if Alex is completely healthy next Sunday will he start?
“We’ll make that determination as we go. But, there’s no rule.”
Had you decided before this morning that Colin was going to start?
“Yeah, made the decision Sunday that Colin would start the game. And then we found out Monday that Alex would be out. So, but that decision was made to start Colin on Sunday.”
So was the decision to start Colin a health issue of Alex? Or, was Colin going to be your starter?
“Again, not a big mystery here. Just felt that Alex still had some symptoms on Sunday and we were going to make the decision to go with Colin.”
What impressed you most tonight about Colin?
“I think several things. The accuracy, the poise in the pocket. Again, you saw the running ability. Playmaking ability. Understanding of the game plan and just executed really well. So, all those things impressed.”
How were his pre-snap reads? And how did he manage the game?
“He did good. He did really good. He was on top of it. I can’t think of … maybe one, maybe one thing. But, other than that, that’s pretty good. That’s operating in the high 90s. That’s A-plus operation.”
How much did him playing earlier in the year, getting those reps that he did, do you think contributed to his poise and comfort level tonight?
“I think that helped. Most definitely helped. I felt better about it, him starting the game tonight because of those reps and the way he’s played when he’s gotten in the game.”
Given his performance, is it realistic that the dynamic has changed though at the quarterback position since you’ve seen him now through this game?
“The dynamic?”
Is he outright competing for Alex on an even board, close to even basis right now?
“We’ll make that decision as we go forward, yeah. But, like we said earlier, I don’t know if you were in here, we’ve got two quarterbacks that have a hot hand. And we’ll make the decision when we have to make it.”
On the touchdown pass to Crabtree, it looked like he surveyed the whole end zone before coming back to Michael on the left side, was that his third read on the progression? What did you see on the play?
“Really saw great pass protection. That’s where it started. And then cool-headed decision by Colin. And then floated to his left and Michael got separation. Kind of mirrored what Kap was doing, broke off his route. And they both made a heck of a play.”
Why did the practice snaps start with Smith and then shift to Kaepernick? Was it something Smith started to show symptoms again later in the week and didn’t in the beginning of the week?
“Right, correct. He was having some symptoms later in the week and wanted to make sure that if he didn’t get cleared that Colin at least got half the reps or more for the week.”
Are those symptoms something concerning long-term issues right now? Or is this something where he can be cleared?
“Yeah, he just wasn’t cleared this week. So, again, doctor questions and it’s just really in their hands. But, yeah, wanted to get Kap sufficient reps. There’s really nothing else to add on that, full disclosure.”
A lot of people probably thought you might come out with a more conservative game plan offensively with Colin. Obviously, the first pass was a throw. You threw quite a bit. Was that part of it just to establish him early, get him throwing, and get him into a rhythm?
“Yeah, that was part of it. It felt like two play-action passes to open the game, or at least two out of the first three. We had planned to have two straight play action passes and then we threw a run in between the two of them. But, yeah thought maybe they wouldn’t expect that. Think we were going to run with the backup quarterback. That was part of the plan.”
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Though Harbaugh is tough to read at times, it’s no question that he’s in a little bit of a dilemma with how to proceed. As you’ve said before Grant, you can basically tell all season that they’ve tried to work in Kaepernick. Now, he’s here and lived up to Harbaugh’s expectations/hopes.
So, now what?
Last year when AS had a phenomenal game against the Saints, everybody was talking about how great he was. How great JH was.
Are we going the same route with Kap?
Did any of you see him play against the Rams???
Yeap, we saw it. What we saw is a guy getting his first meaningful helping of NFL playing time in a game that he wasn’t expected to play in. We saw both nerves and potential in the same game. That’s last weeks news. Why rewind past what happened last night to a team that was argued over us as the best defense in the league?
I get your point, one game isn’t enough to go crazy. That’s fair…so let’s fix that and give him another shot next week against the Saints. However, I don’t anticipate the outcome being much different against the porous defense they have.
Since your names are both new, this is how it went down here: There are three or four fanatical (and very vocal) Smith haters who had to admit (on the blog) that Smith had a very good game. The bandwagon thing lasted til the end of the season then all the hate fired back up, schizo-like.
There were one or two fanatics here on the other side of this, that I don’t think are here anymore, who insisted on rubbing it in the haters’ faces over and over, ad nauseum. Basically the two extreme camps are made up of Tools who can’t debate, they just call each other names and it’s been this way since Matt Maiocco left.
Gets real old, real fast. With basically zero moderation here, certain people are allowed to write just about any nasty thing they want to other posters which isn’t a lot of fun to read – would be nice to have a skip button :P
Now the same Smith haters are in the “see I told ya so” mode. So this will be insufferable for a while. It’s based on the irrational hatred of Smith (who has done nothing but win under Harbaugh) and the drive to be proven right no matter how many times they’re proven wrong each week. It’s a bunker mentality thing. There’s no rationality or moderation left in the debate for the extremists on both sides – they’d rather just call each other names. The refuge of the weak mind and all that.
There are always knee-jerk reactionaries in just about everything in life. There are also shameless blowhards who think they know things that they actually don’t. And there we have it in a nutshell – you are now caught up on three or four years worth of BS here.
The facts are: CK had a very good game. He can certainly carry the water while Smith is recovering – and probably more. He proved some things about his game last night that no one has seen here before: Pocket presence, pass-first, progression check-downs, better accuracy, better decision making/audibles, etc. The numbers are pretty much the same as Smith’s – a lot of that is by design (so far – the attempts and YAC are going to be similar). However… saying that, if CK can continue to sustain drives like last night, it’s his to lose, in my opinion. The only caveat there is what Harbaugh always says: the other team has veto power. They will certainly try to figure CK out and stop him. It will be how he responds to this next phase that will determine whether he’s good enough to upset the applecart. One game isn’t enough BUT… it was a fantastic game and may certainly give us hints of what’s to come.
He looked a little rough last week for a couple of reasons. The whole team looked flat or rusty or whatever you want to call it, so that was part of it. So now we see if he can string two good games together back-to-back.
Last night, with better preparation, CK was great. There are plenty of excuses for starting him against the Saints. I say give him a shot and see how it goes.
Ah yes, “Young Adam” … the voice of reason played by Ewan McGregor in a modern-day Libertine tale of lust and broken families!
Adam,
In all my time here I have never read a better written or well reasoned post. That was a great read and I couldn’t agree with your points more. Very well done.
Best comment of the day!!
Numbers weren’t even close to the same, Adam. See Grants post from PFF about balls flying 20 yards in the air. That tells the entire story.
I especially enjoyed the ‘refuge of the weak mind’ characterization. Nice post, and hard to disagree with any of it.
Not hard to disagree with the mischaracterization of CKs numbers as similar to Alex’s numbers. That’s a pretty big misstatement.
First off new guy, ‘Young Adam’ is the other Adam.
Second, let’s try this:
Smith (all 9 games)
———————-
Comp: 70%
Net yards per pass play: 6.6
Average yards: 9
Yards per attempt: 8
Sacks per game: 2.2
TDs per game: 1.44
Longest pass play: 55
passer rating: 104
Kaepernick
————–
Comp (StL and Chi): 67% (or all 7): 65.3%
Net yards per pass play (all 7 games): 7.3
Average yards: 9
Yards per attempt: 9
Sacks per game: 6 total (all 7 games)
TDs per game: 2
Longest pass play: 57
Passer rating: 108
Right now these numbers look similar. The offense isn’t a high-power pass offense. Keep in mind, CK’s sample size is too small to mean anything at all, other than it’s interesting to see the similarities in the same kind of offense. We may see how this looks with a few more games but this has a lot to do with the current scheme / plays called.
What will be interesting to see (later) is if the percentage of incompletions is similar when broken out: poor throw, dropped, defensed, etc.
Oh and both have three fumbles apiece. ;)
No misstatement here. Look it up. I try to be fair to the players. I don’t dislike CK at all and if you weren’t new here you’d have seen posts to back that up. I also do not dislike Smith, he’s capable of doing some good things if given the chance.
Adam,
Looks good, but you might want to go back and add passes of 20+ yards and the % of passes each throws that distance.
Why not just focus on the wins or should we point out losing QBs that have passes over 20+ trying to play catch up when behind?
Shadow,
Last time I checked Smith was a winning QB. If you want to compare Smith and Kaep use all of the stats, not just those that show Smith is equal to a guy who has played a total of 2 full games in his entire career?
Jack,
You must be frustrated having to resort to name calling or it just more drama to add to your very objective analysis! I can’t wait for you next blog article. LOL
It is an appropriate name since you keep following me around.
If you don’t care for my takes, why do you keep reading me?
C’mon guys don’t get into the slap fights that so many do around here. Both of you are great posters with a lot to offer in your analogies.
I just looked it up and Smith has thrown 17 passes of 20 or more yards which works out to be a little more than 2 per game on average seeing as though he’s played 8 games and a quarter and a half.
Kap threw 4 last night so double the normal output for Smith but still not a lot in general. This offense relies more on the accuracy than the distance which is why it was so encouraging to see Kap put the ball on the money most of the night.
Thanks for looking that up Rocket.
Rocket,
Thank you for looking up those stats. You know that I always appreciated you and Adams comments as the best reads here. My issue with Jack is he gets caught up in the drama and I ignore it period. He acts as though he is non-biased but it’s just not true. Jack and I were friendlier when he called it straight and he didn’t get swayed by the extremists. I’m open to appreciating Jack’s opinion and reads if he can call it straight without getting caught up in the drama. TBD.
My delima with this quarterback controversy is that both players are very likeable and deserving (for different reasons). If one of the quarterbacks was a raving egotist it would be easy, but both Smith and Kaepernick are humble, hard working, down to earth guys. Makes it tough.
Aside from the “who should start” question, I wonder what would be better for the long term development of Kaepernick… (1) Become the starter after 1.5 seasons or (2) become the starter after a slightly longer apprenticeship of 2 seasons or more.
All you guys who said Kap wasn’t ready – go to the back of the blog. :^)
All you guys who think one good game means more than a year and a half’s worth of excellent, winning play…go get in line behind those other guys.
Kaep was GREAT…in one game. No reason to believe that he can’t improve, as well. But one game does not a career make. And one game doesn’t justify taking out the #3 rated QB in the league. I love what Kaep can do, and what he brings to the party. But thinking LONG TERM, I’d rather see him seasoned a bit more, learn a bit more, and stay on standby till we really need him again. Alex has brought the team this far (a 6-2-1 record), so it ain’t like we’re hurting with him at QB. I think, with as creative a game plan as the coaches put together last night, Alex can demonstrate that his ceiling hasn’t been CLOSE to being reached.
“If Kap starts I will cheer just the same. That’s what fans do. If Smith starts will you do the same?”
This is a total BS quote from Primate. At halftime yesterday he was doing everything he could to say that Alex would have had better numbers than Kaepernick did. (Statistically impossible, given Alex’s pathetic history). And yet here, today, he says he will cheer just the same no matter who gets the start.
Well Prime Alex Fluffer, did you know CK got the start or were you just throat deep with Alex?