Smith’s short week to prepare; Vernon’s bulletin-board words

Quarterback Alex Smith did not have much time to peruse the game film from the 49ers’ game Sunday against the Titans because there’s a game coming up three days earlier in the week than usual.

 

Smith joined me for a podcast today before the 49ers hit the practice field for one of their two practices to get ready for the Chicago Bears on Thursday.

 

 

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Earlier in his group meeting with reporters, I asked Smith about locking onto a receiver with his eyes, and whether that was an issue with the interceptions. He said on the first interception, the tipped pass to Michael Crabtree, he should’ve gotten rid of the ball sooner.

 

“The one on the boundary could have gone up,” Smith said. “That half-second maybe allowed that safety to come over and make a play that allowed that ball to stay in-bounds. The other two didn’t feel like I was late at all. But the first one I could say, critically looking at it, I could have gone up quicker.”

 

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While I was speaking with Alex Smith and punter Andy (for a podcast I’ll post tomorrow), tight end Vernon Davis had some not-so-complimentary things to say about the Bears’ defense to reporters in the locker room.

 

“I think we can destroy their front,” Davis said. “The guys up front, I think we can destroy them. I don’t see anything spectacular about their front line. Their linebackers, I think we can handle them pretty well.”

 

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Offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye said Jason Hill entered the game against the Titans after Isaac Bruce rolled his ankle. Hill caught two touchdown passes.

 

“He has been practicing well since his hamstring injury and making progress. That coupled with the fact that [WR] Isaac [Bruce] had a tender ankle and ran a seven route over on the left boundary and rolled his ankle, tweaked it a little bit. So, we were down in numbers in the three-wide package and Jason was the next guy up. We were fortunate that we had him up for the game because he was the guy who had gotten the work as all three backups going into the game. It turned out that he was able to play and he made some plays for us.”

 

Raye said he does not know how the 49ers will split playing time at the receiver spots going forward.

 

“We’ll see where he (Bruce) is, where his foot is or his injury is,” Raye said. “And then we’ll make a decision going forward.”

 

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