Harbaugh: “We’ve just been using Colin as an added weapon. We feel like we’re getting plenty of everything from Alex Smith.”

SANTA CLARA – Jim Harbaugh spoke in the defensive meeting room Monday afternoon. Here’s what he said about the 49ers 26-3 loss to the Giants.

Q: How do you think Alex Boone did at left tackle after Joe Staley got hurt?

HARBAUGH: Did fine. I don’t think any of us had our best day. It certainly wouldn’t be very human if it didn’t hurt today. But there’s no time. You’ve got to dust yourself off and ride. That’s our frame of mind.

ME: Why are you playing Colin Kaepernick so much? What are you hoping to get from him that you’re not getting from Alex Smith?

HARBAUGH: We’ve just been using Colin as an added weapon. We feel like we’re getting plenty of everything from Alex Smith.

Q: Frank Gore didn’t have any carries in the second half. Do you feel you should have gotten the ball to him more often in the running game?

HARBAUGH: Without going through each thing that you go back and look at – could’ve done that or would’ve done a different thing – certainly as coaches we go through a lot of those things, but I wish we would have had something better for the guys in certain situations. Offensively, pretty much every one of our opportunities on drives to put points on the board didn’t end the way we wanted them to. Whether it was just getting three points, or not making the field goal, or turning the ball over, or having a penalty or not having the right play call. Those things you look at, you scrutinize you go on and see if you can’t do a little better the next time.

Q: When you fell behind by two touchdowns at the beginning of the third quarter, do you guys scrap the plan and go into catch-up mode, or do you still stick with what you guys had envisioned for the game plan?

HARBAUGH: No, not until we’re down by three (touchdowns) late in the third quarter did we feel we needed to get into the no-huddle tempo to try to maximize your possessions and give yourself enough possessions to get the game won.

Q: The first two drives were good but they stalled near the red zone. Why did they stall?

HARBAUGH: Again, different things on each drive. We won’t go back and say, “Here’s where it was,” break it down play-by-play. We had two good drives to start the game – two 12-play drives – and we didn’t finish them like we would have wanted to. Offensively, every time we were seizing momentum it didn’t seem like we were able to keep hold of it.

Q: You guys gave up six sacks. Did you feel like the quarterbacks were under heavy pressure?

HARBAUGH: It was what it was.

Q: David Akers has missed 5 of his last 10 field goals. Are you not concerned by that? Do you have to sit down and talk to him and Brad Seely and see what’s going on?

HARBAUGH: Do I have to sit down and talk to David and Brad and see what’s going on? No, I have total confidence in David and I’m sure that we’ll make field goals.

ME: 15 of the first 21 offensive plays came from shotgun formations. Why did you decide to come out and play that way against the Giants?

HARBAUGH: That was part of the plan. It was what we felt would work. We felt there were some new wrinkles that we could apply and have them work. You take some risk. It didn’t work as well as the way we had foreseen.

Q: Your defense didn’t get much pressure on Eli Manning. Does that concern you?

HARBAUGH: Yeah, you’d like to get more obviously. Eli did a nice job; he really did. He got the ball out quick and he threw some very accurate passes. Statistically, yardage was fairly even. They did a better job capitalizing on their opportunities than we did.

Q: Will the team even watch the film of the Giants this week?

Harbaugh: We will go over it more and more on tape than watching the game because we’re going to have to move on right away to Seattle.

Q: Should have Tarell Brown gone for the ball against Victor Cruz on a key third-and-6 late in the first quarter?

Harbaugh: Cruz did a good job, ran a good route. And that happens, not just that time, but other times too.

Q: What has been the problem with your kickoff coverage team?

Harbaugh: I’m not going to really go through line by line. That’s our job to cover those kicks and get them contained in coverage.

Q: How do you put the Giants game behind yourself personally?

Harbaugh: Like I said, just dust off and let’s ride. We’ve got a ball game, we’ve got a football fight coming. And we’ve got to get ready for it.

Q: Were your guys fatigued at the end of that game? For three quarters the run defense was good, and then the Giants really seemed to gash you guys in the fourth quarter.

HARBAUGH: I didn’t sense that they were fatigued.

Q: Do you know why your run defense got gashed in the fourth quarter?

HARBAUGH: Mmm-uh (shaking head).

Comments are closed.