SANTA CLARA — Alex Smith felt like talking on a Monday for a change of pace – I couldn’t guess why. Here’s everything he said to reporters at his locker.
Q: Do you feel like a different team today after what happened yesterday?
ALEX SMITH: You know, I don’t know if the feeling’s any different. It was definitely a step for us, though, for sure. I think actually doing it.
I think this team has had a great attitude and something about it. And then, to actually do it, though.
I’ve been part of games where you get down and then you get close but never actually finish it off like that.
Especially against a team of that caliber, a good football team that was at home, in a must-win situation, and to pull it out, was a big step.
Q: How different are you as a team from the one that boarded the plane for Cincinnati a week and a half ago—two wins on the road?
ALEX SMITH: I think that was one of the great things about it, just being around your teammates, that whole week, just getting to focus on football and each other. Those were two of the four games we played together as a team.
It’s been said before, but with the lockout and stuff, this is all still… we’re still going through the learning process in a lot of ways. These are first times for a lot of us.
This is the first time obviously we’ve been down like that at halftime, multiple scores, and how are we going to respond, so that was a first for us. And still probably some more firsts ahead of us. But I like where we’re headed.
Q: Did you feel that you were different in that second half?
ALEX SMITH: I don’t know. I really felt the whole team, top to bottom, just the attitude at halftime wasn’t anything of panic or letdown. Really just… let’s go play football, let’s play a little better. Let’s execute a little better.
And take it from there. We knew we were getting the football to come out in the second half and wanted to put something together. I guess I liked how short-sighted it was, if that makes sense.
It wasn’t an oh no or… like I said, it was really kind of just focusing on the next play. I know that’s cliché, but let’s just play a little better each play and really took us to a good place.
Q: If Babin hadn’t forced the fumble and they’d scored and you’d gone into halftime down only 10, you think the playcalling would’ve been different?
ALEX SMITH: I don’t think so. You’re still down 10. bottom line, as offensive players and coaches, you’re still trying to find out what’s going to work. And go execute that. Obviously there’s… from the coaches’ perspective, there’s the chessmatch going on, that whole cat-and-mouse of what they’re doing, what we’re going to do to counter-act that.
Then as players, our job is to go execute it. I think the adjustments at halftime wouldn’t have been any different.
Q: Is Harbaugh getting the best out of you?
ALEX SMITH: I guess, I don’t know. You know, I feel like… it’s early on. Like I said, I don’t feel like there was anything dramatic or anything crazy that went on at halftime. I just felt like we came out and played better, top to bottom, all of us. And then finally got to string some plays together and got in a rhythm, you know, on offense. I know that word gets thrown around a lot on offense, rhythm, but there is something to it.
When you get in that, and everyone, you just start playing, you don’t think as much.
Q: The theory is that Harbaugh has been careful and cautious with the offense with you and in the second half he couldn’t do that and unleashed you. Is that correct?
ALEX SMITH: I don’t know. Better question for him.
Q: He won’t answer it.
ALEX SMITH: Good point. I guess one thing, the first two games being up the way we were, as cautious as we may have been, we were winning by multiple scores in both those games in the second halves. So I think that kind of had something…
You know, the game-scenario dictates a lot of what you’re doing, so all of a sudden you’re up a couple scores, defense is playing great, lights out in those first two games. And OK, so maybe that is the correct thing, probably was.
Hey, let’s ball control, eat up some clock, defense is playing great. I think that’s probably more of let’s-close-this-out mentality.
Q: Does this feel different from when you guys were 3-1 in 2009?
ALEX SMITH: “It feels, yeah, very different, for me, just from the team perspective. But you’re absolutely right, it’s the first quarter of the season, if you look at it that way. The first quarter’s done, and there’s still three quarters left. If you start feeling really good about yourself, it would be crazy. It’s still very early. We have to get better, absolutely. It’s a great start. To get to 3-1 is a great feeling, but we got to get looking forward to Tampa Bay.”
Q: Does Harbaugh have an ability to relate to you guys as human beings?
ALEX SMITH: “Yeah, no question, there’s something to that. The thing that I really appreciate is, the demands or expectations, or whatever they may be, aren’t crazy, aren’t ridiculous. He’s played this game, he played it a long time, he’s coached this game now for a long time. So, when we came in at halftime, for your head coach to come in and … he was the same way. No signs of panic. There was nothing. It was, ‘Let’s get better, let’s play. These are the little things we need to do.’ It was really focusing on the details, I guess. It wasn’t anything else. So, as players, we appreciate that. All of a sudden, that’s what we need to do, focus on the details or little things. That was really the difference in the second half.”
Q: Does Harbaugh ever relate stories about his playing days?
ALEX SMITH: “In casual situations, for sure. That’s not going on during the halftime speech. But, yeah, definitely when we’re talking and joking around about things, absolutely.”
Q: You the new Captain Comeback?
ALEX SMITH: “Yeah, Capt. Comeback. No, no. We got a long season ahead of us. If we end up going deep in the playoffs and this and that, we can talk about it then. But four games into the season, offensively we really played a bad half of football and played a good half of football. We look forward to putting two good halves together at this point.”
Q: Why are you winning games now that you would have lost in recent seasons?
ALEX SMITH: “I don’t know. What do you guys think? Like I said, I just think top to bottom, collectively, it’s a different mind-set, a different attitude. When you come in at halftime, on the sideline, in the huddle, whatever it may be, the focus, the direction is completely different.”
Q: Do you and Harbaugh actually joke around?
ALEX SMITH: “Oh, for sure. Yeah. Definitely.”
Q: So, he actually has a personality?
ALEX SMITH: “Oh, yeah. Yeah.”
Q: What is that personality like?
ALEX SMITH: “I think he has a button, he has a mechanism. He just shuts it off with you guys.”
Q: So, again, he has a personality?
ALEX SMITH: “Yeah. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Yeah, no question.”
Q: Give us a few adjectives as proof?
ALEX SMITH: “You put me on the spot. No, the thing I appreciate about him and a lot of the teammates (do) is, he’s a real person. He doesn’t fake anything. He doesn’t try to be anything he’s not. He is himself all the time, 24/7. The thing I first notice, especially around us, he doesn’t care what people think. He’s going to be himself.”
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