Jim Harbaugh spoke on KNBR Tuesday morning. Here’s what he said about Colin Kaepernick and the decision to bench Alex Smith.
Q: Was the safety a young mistake by Kaepernick, or was that just an NFL play that happens?
HARBAUGH: That’s a good way to say it – that was just an NFL play that happens. His reaction was pretty darn good – it was the trouble that he got out of. He managed that play about as well as he could have.
Q: What do you gain and what do you risk by changing quarterbacks this late in the season?
HARBAUGH: Alex has played very well for us – that’s all well documented. He’s won a lot of games for us. We’ve had a lot of faith and trust in Alex. And then Colin got in there and did some really good things. Has played extremely well. I really love the way he’s competed. There’s some of that same trust and faith that Colin deserves as well. That’s the thinking.
Q: Is it a risk to make the quarterback change this late in the season?
HARBAUGH: Yeah, I’m sure you could say there’s risk in anything that you do. There’s also reward.
Q: Are there intangibles and tangibles that have really gotten your attention about Kaepernick?
HARBAUGH: Mentally tough. Physically tough. Coming back after the safety and putting together a long scoring drive for our team. And then after the fumble-option play, I liked the poise that he had. I liked the mental toughness he had. He created the big 50-yard run and got us back in a position to win the game – that speaks volumes for his character, his mental toughness and his ability.
Q: Should we expect to see LaMichael James in December?
HARBAUGH: Yes. I think that’s a real possibility. He has worked hard for an opportunity. It’s definitely a possibility that he’s coming.
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In the first question you misspelled play Grant.
It’s OK, I don’t understand Harbs’ answer to the question anyway. :P
True. That was a mistake caused by inexperience that hopefully CK will learn from and continue to get better.
Q: Should we expect to see LaMichael James in December?
HARBAUGH: Yes. I think that’s a real possibility. He has worked hard for an opportunity. It’s definitely a possibility that he’s coming.
In other words: No.
Helping with the Harbaugh disingenuous translation.
I was thinking the same thing.
Same here. It would make sense to do so, but this is stubborn Harbaugh we’re talking about.
Grant
What other speed option do they have? He’s not stupid. He saw how impotent our running game was without Hunter.
LMJ will play. It may have nothing to do with earning it, though.
You ever see those Radio Shack toys that can tell when your friends are lying?
I’m thinking it would be interesting if the reporters showed up with those to the next presser.
No worries. LMJ will play. Exactly when, we don’t know :)
Aha… I get it! In order to look good one must clearly mess up royally on the previous play. If you can dig yourself out of the hole you’ve put your team in then you can keep starting. If all you do is win without getting yourself into holes then you are just, well, boring.
This is getting hilarious. Someone please stop Harbaugh from trying to rationalize the irrational. Then again, maybe it’s his own way of digging himself a deep hole to come out of. Brilliant!
Harbs is gonna be awesome soon. :P
Lol, well said.
Q: Is it a risk to make the quarterback change this late in the season?
HARBAUGH: Yeah, I’m sure you could say there’s risk in anything that you do. There’s also reward.
Attaboy Harbs!! Positive thinking….. Zig Ziglar would be proud!
Nice Crab15.
Ahh, the power of positive thinking!
I know that I’m remaining very positive about the teams outlook.
Was I happy with the way this situation transpired? No.
But I’m giving coach Harbaugh the benefit of a doubt because he makes decisions based on what is right for the team.
Harbaugh has to win, period. He and AS may golf together and even chauffeur in the SFGiants parade.
But I’m happy to know that my coach is not afraid to make the very tough decisions even at the risk of losing a friendship and being raked over the coals by the fans for the better of the team.
This whole transition had more to do with Harbaugh then CK.
CK no doubt was coming to work every day and doing his job.
Harbaugh mst have seen CK getting better each day, which prompted the change.
Someone here once said that jobs are won on the practice field. I not only agree with that statement, I believe that this is where CK really won the job.
AES – I enjoyed that post…..better late than never.
On a side note, apparently JH is Screetch’s cousin:
http://youtu.be/87d2duPjmjc
(from MM)
15:00 mark
No wonder I never seen him on that show. It’s when the scrubs took over. Who in the hell were these kids? Lol
Lol! *scrubs*
When he says, “maybe I can make it,” I’m thinking… emm… no. Nope, can’t make it. :P
Ya know what, if CK grows his hair out a bit he looks a lot like Cousin Screech.
You don’t suppose… nah, couldn’t be. Never mind.
grinning
Well, if they’re not going to play LMJ anytime soon, why not give Jewel a shot? He’s built more like Gore and maybe would have more success in blocking. Love to see either one of them on the field…
Let me ask.
Q: Jewel Hampton is an intriguing player. Do you see him getting on the field in these upcoming games?
HARBAUGH: Yes. He’s one of the hardest workers on the team. Very much a team guy. Knows the concepts extremely well. Runs hard. Very much in the mix.
Translation: Dude’s got a snowball’s chance of Hell on getting any playing time.
LOL, I think your’e right!!!
What do you mean? He’s our starting RB. Along with all our starting WR’s (literally all of them), our starting QB who doesn’t start and that guy whose tires we were only kicking a while back.
Translation: Don’t believe a word this guy says.
Mr. President – The hell with the economy, 6 NFL teams still don’t have cheerleaders!
Bears, Browns, Giants, Lions, Packers, and Steelers.
“PRIORITIES” Mr. President!
I thought the Lions had Jim Schwartz
Schwartz still can’t use a pom-pom with his right hand.
I don’t really want to know what Schwartz does with his right hand.
Alex smith was given a rookie pass last season. Most said its a fresh start with a new hc and OC. Most had faith in him in the new system. Most had faith in him during the playoffs. Remember now. It was all new to him.
So what’s the problem now? Ck knows the system. Where’s the faith that he can do just as or better than smith?
Md,
I’ve never had faith in Alex Smith. We lost Sunday. That hurt, but damn that game was gut wrenching as well as exciting. Even in that low scoring game. It’s a good feeling when you know your QB could drop back and throw a 70 yard bomb for a touchdown. I’ll take that and knowing it could be a pick rather than expecting a 4 yard check off of 1 read. I’m great, even with the loss. Feels like old times. Can’t wait to get to the game Sunday!!
notice I said most. Lol it is good. Although I thought we would still be ok with smith. The 3rd and longs are a little easier to believe in now.
How many 70 yd bombs have we seen? His ypa for the last game was 6.5. So what’s your point again?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Football_League_Quarterback_Challenge
Here, go read this. Let football fans talk about real football here.
Coach hand picked Kaep. Kaep is his guy. He doesn’t like AS (as a player. I’m sure Alex is a nice guy.) Last season we go 13- 3 and Coach goes after Manning in the off season.
This Ram’s game could have been won by Akers or a different play called that got the Ram’s a TD.
Kap is the guy. Absolutely no doubt. Coach has a lot of self confidence. Also, a ton of support from his high profile brother and father. Then there’s that other qb Coach hand picked to lead his Stanford team, Andrew Luck. Coach has a good, no, great, track record. And he develops qb’s as well. (Josh Johnson.) Coach will live or die with his own decisions.
Alex will be released or traded in this coming off season. Kap looks like a keeper to me. No time to look back. Not now, anyway.
Btw, anyone watch RGIII run and throw last night and think, “Kap can do that.” I did.
I didn’t have that “Colin can do that” moment. I did though, have that “Now if only Josh Morgan was still on the Niners, he could have picked up that Colin pitch and ran it into the Rams’ end zone instead of Janoris Jenkins into our own end zone” moment.
I’m not down on Colin. It would be a lot to expect of a second year starter to yell, “Kill, kill” once he saw Jenkins creeping up to cover Ginn when he saw him in the back of the I formation. After all, Colin gives us the best chance to win and that means using his über skills to overcome whatever trap the defense is daring him into.
He could have used his eyes, brain and arms to, you know, not throw it over the receivers head and give up six points basically. We are ALREADY worse than last year. We WILL NOT match 13-3. Hopefully we can scrape 12-3-1. With Patriots and Seahawks on schedule that could be really tough. Coach capitalized on magic last year, a group of guys who believed and performed well. Now coach has done his best to destroy that magic. I just hope our guys can ignore all this and continue to fight blindly.
Careful Josh
msc doesn’t like words like Karma or magic or such silly nonsense. Even if they apply.
Before the season started, I saw experts saying the Niners would have a worse record but be a better team. Eric Davis, who actually played and calls the Niner games said as much on KNBR by virtue of better weapons, including the current QB.
Kap’s position as starting QB is cemented, regardless of what JH says to try to pacify AS.
The magical unicorn is no longer pooping rainbows.
He’s sitting on the bench where he belongs.
Since I see some AS CK points being made, I agree the CK does awesome things AS doesn’t do/has never done. But I can’t believe for a second, CK can win a shootout in the playoffs (at least not this upcoming postseason).
Yeah but we know AS would never win won. IMHO, CK will get exponetially more experienced as the weeks go on.
Let me guess Faith71, you crawled into a hole in 2010 and crawled out just now to post this and missed the 49ers-Saints game in the playoffs…. the most historic offense in a long time in the Saints, AS outgunned and beat. Shaking my head at you.
Q: Was the safety a young mistake by Kaepernick, or was that just an NFL play that happens?
HARBAUGH: That’s a good way to say it – that was just an NFL play that happens. His reaction was pretty darn good – it was the trouble that he got out of. He managed that play about as well as he could have.
This comment makes me cringe. Running backwards 20 yards into your endzone is not a play that happens unless your name is Aaron Brooks. Again, I like that he won’t call out players in the media but that was a horrible mistake.
In Harbaugh we trust!
So here’s one: If Harbuagh is in a “moving on with his guys” mode, and the GM is saying LaMichael James is about to get touches (and sounding confident about it), I think not only does Smith get traded, Gore could be on his way out too. His contract expires 2014 – this offseason would be the time to get value out of a trade and clear the space. I definitely don’t want to see this, but I can envision it now with everything going on.
Hey, Mister Harbaugh: the power rankings for week 14 have you back down to fourth place. Miami, the Patriots, and Seattle… plenty of opportunities to slide down to fifth or sixth or… When you speak about Alex and Colin needing to feel trusted (faith and trust / trust and faith), you are leaving out your own emotional needs. DO YOU STILL FEEL TRUSTED IN THE LOCKER ROOM? Just wait until the end of week 14….15…..16. Alex Smith is still available. Think it over, Coach.
I didn’t realize so many people in Utah were allowed to use the internet.
@helix grad
I’m sure the power rankings are a good indicator of the teams pulse. But after seeing the what the NYG’ did last year, the power rankings are only computer based numbers that don’t forecast the intangibles.
BTW, the NYG’ were ranked 10 and 12 on some power rankings after 10 games last season.
The next couple of games will determine who we are, and how far we are going this season. Harbaugh is going with CK. CK has to show a marked improvement over his game. If he does, our chances of a Super Bowl will look much better.
It’s amusing that the phrase “In Harbaugh we trust” was benched at precisely the same time as Alex.
Some folks really are fans of just one niner.
You mean oneniner……? :)
I think that “in Harbaugh we trust” lasts as precisely long as the winning does. Whomever is on the field, QB or otherwise. Would you not agree?
Mister Harbaugh: speaking of mental toughness… Miami is gearing up.!!!
I threw up when i saw Harbaugh slapping CK’s pads before the Ram game the way he use to do to Alex. Wheres the loyalty?
Alex is gone. You should learn to root for the Eagles, Cardinals, or wherever the Precious ends up next year.
49ers fans won’t miss you.
I’m a 49er fan and I will be sad to see Alex Smith go after something like this. You are someone I would probably disagree with on everything. I wanted Peyton Manning, so that must mean you wanted Alex Smith… weird.
Me <—- Hopes the reward isn't the Darwin Award for coaching.
Too late to change QB’s, the ego-mainiac has made his decision. Maybe Balke could step in and try to figure out from ego-Jim what his
rationale is? Alex was #1 QB in league, etc. Hope Harbaugh does not
have any more heart problems, maybe York/Balke will replace him with FANGIO???
Denver Bronco’s fans were relieved when Tebow fans left this year.
49ers fans will be equally relieved when Alex leaves.
So you’re saying we are getting Peyton Manning? …. dope.
Grant, i dont mean to either stir trouble or send you off on a mission to create trouble, but in reading this piece and some of the comments written here, is there any reason to believe/fear that by Harbaugh not playing James (or Jenkins, for that matter), that there’s somehow some friction between Baalke and Harbaugh? I would never have worried about this, except again for some of these comments, and the fact that with Hunter going down, not giving James meaningful time is starting to be conspicuous.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765617022/Jim-Harbaugh-created-a-mess-with-mishandling-of-49ers-QB-situation.html
I like CK’s potential but there’s a lot to agree with here. If the Miami game goes south there will be hell to pay.
Wow Adam. Great objective article. And from a big city paper too. What’s next an informative article from Las Cruzes New Mexico?
Did you expect an objective piece to come out of Salt Lake City? Now we need one from Reno.
Not a fan of Salt Lake, I take it?
Just an opinion piece. Opinions aren’t always objective. Or maybe never objective would be a more accurate statement.
Still, pretty difficult to argue against his case. Several commentators like Mooch, Rice and now Garcia are publicly questioning the QB switch. It’s a fair question to ask. Many fans are scratching their heads too.
It is a fair question Adam. Just wasn’t surprised by the reaction out there. Now compare it to the Reno paper where the poll on the front page shows a different story from their readers. As you would expect it is the opposite.
I was fine with the switch when it first went down and still am. I think things will work out just fine. One loss in 49 days has a way of getting people up in arms.
Let me ask a hypothetical question here. What happens if we don’t win the Miami game?
We can’t rely on the defense to score points every game like they did in the Saints game and we can’t expect them to hold teams down all the time like the in the Rams game.
So… purely a hypothetical: what happens Monday morning if this next one goes bad?
Oh I’m sure both college towns are supporting their guy. That doesn’t surprise me. This guy doesn’t seem to have a problem with CK. He’s just asking some of the same questions most others are asking, he’s just more eloquent and better at laying the case out on the table.
Harbaugh will feel pressure unlike any time in his coaching career. The outcome, good or bad ultimately lies at his feet.
If things hold true to form in the Harbaugh era, the offense will only have to score 6 points to win this week. They have been unbelievable the week after a loss under him.
I go in to every game believing we’ll win. It’s my fatal flaw (being a diehard fan) but I still have to wonder about this decision: unnecessary gamble?
Dunno. Seems like there was no real need to push this. Although I suppose there’s a lot going on behind the scenes we don’t see.
@ Adam, Jack, bay:
Fwiw, the Deseret News isn’t so much a Salt Lake news organization as it is a Mormon news organization. http://www.deseretnews.com/aboutus/
The organization’s interest in the 49ers dates back to Steve Young’s tenure with the team. If you think that column was slanted because Smith played for Utah, imagine if he had played for BYU or was LDS.
Or if he was like Tebow and praised Jebus every other sentence. Yikes!
This article explains ALL about what is happening http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/01/07/harbaugh-once-vowed-revenge-on-49ers/
LoL!!!
Faith71 says:
December 4, 2012 at 8:52 pm
Before the season started, I saw experts saying the Niners would have a worse record but be a better team. Eric Davis, who actually played and calls the Niner games said as much on KNBR by virtue of better weapons, including the current QB.
Kap’s position as starting QB is cemented, regardless of what JH says to try to pacify AS.
Faith71
Catching up on some of last nights blog entries. And I totally agree with E.Davis’ assessment on KNBR yesterday morning. As you alluded, he did say that the team was better than last years team because of the weapons.
And that statement alone IMO, could very well be the indicator as to why AS was benched. He was not utilizing the said weapons. Everyone knows that VD may be arguably the best TE in the league. R.Moss still has exceptional speed, and M.Manningham has speed and quickness. Their current stats vs their potential average is pedestrian at best.
E.Davis also brought up an excellent point that I have missed over the last two seasons with AS at the helm.
He said that having a healthy a fresh F.Gore at playoff time is essential. And that the constant checkdowns to him were causing him more exertion and hits that especially shows up at the end of the season.
Keen insight by E.Davis. The guy knows his football!
So much negativity on this blog. Snarkiness isn’t very becoming. I’d sit back and see what happens. And root for the team if you are a fan. I’m a Niner fan so I hope this all works out and I’m sure not going to second guess coach who ended the nightmare of the two Mikes…
Yes sir!