Alex Smith on the offensive line’s performance: “They just dominated.”

SAN FRANCISCO – Alex Smith spoke at his locker after the 49ers 17-6 preseason victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Friday night. Smith gave big praise to Brandon Jacobs, Brett Swain and the offensive line. Here’s the transcript of the interview, courtesy of the 49ers.

 

What were your thoughts on the performance of the offense?

“We ran the ball really well on the opening drive and all game. I think the offensive line did really well. The one offensive line was in there for the two series, I think, they just dominated. I don’t know what the yards per rush was but it had to be pretty high. Anytime you can do that it makes all of our jobs a lot easier. You’re in second, third and short. Even there where we didn’t convert on the third down, you’re in fourth and one and then you’re across the 50 and it’s a great chance to potentially go for it there. Then all of a sudden we really dominated on fourth and one and we moved the chains there. Then all of a sudden we are down in the red zone and we got a touchdown, so it made life easy.”

 

Did we see the affect RB Brandon Jacobs is going to have, especially on that first drive in that short yardage situation?

“Yeah perhaps. I think all of our backs ran great tonight, Brandon included. I think they all looked great. You know, I think that’s a good problem to have. Especially when you are able to give Frank [Gore], it’s the first preseason game, guys played a lot of football, and you’re able to give him time off and let those younger guys get their reps. Not younger guys, but Brandon included, but see them all come in and run well, it was a good thing.”

 

You got in the red zone and threw a touchdown pass.

“Yeah, it’s great, love it. I love touchdown passes. I didn’t throw that great of ball. [WR] Brett [Swain] did a great job outside. One, with his release and it was good enough.”

 

That first drive being a long, sustained drive gave you a lot of different things to work on and execute, right?

“Yeah, I got some short yardage in, got some red zone in. Not quite goal line but close, got a lot of situations in there. I mean that’s what you want out of the preseason. You’re trying to get the reps. Trying to be competitive, get some stuff out of it. I thought it was a good start.”

 

Talk about the importance of the first drive in the game:

“You want to get off to a good start. We didn’t know how many plays we were going to play. You just want to put something good together. We read the ball great, made the big fourth down conversion. [WR Brett] Swain made a great play down there at the goal line.”

 

How about the offensive line?

“I mean one offensive line, in two series, had 130 yards rushing so the stats speak for themselves. We just dominated tonight. Anytime you can play like that, it just makes all of our jobs easy.”

 

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