SAN FRANCISCO — Here are my Week 10 grades for the 8-1 Niners. Alex Smith: B+. The best game of his season, maybe his life – he proved he’s more than a mere game manager. So, I’ll grade him accordingly. Here are his stats: 19 for 30 passing for 242 yards, one TD, one INT, and a rating of 85.7. The interception wasn’t his fault – it went through Ted…
Here is what New York Giants’ defensive end Justin Tuck said about Alex Smith Thursday to the New York media. TUCK: “He (Smith) is a guy who they are trying to keep out of position to win the football game. Obviously, with a back like Frank Gore and an O-line keeping them in third-and-short situations, and even if it is third and six or seven, they still feel that they…
Steve Young spoke about Jim Harbaugh’s 49ers yesterday afternoon on the Razor and Mr. T show on KNBR. Here’s what Young said. Q: Talk about the 49ers. YOUNG: Well this is a phenomenal story. I actually don’t care what happens from here. What we wanted to do – and I do care, I’m over stating it – but what I’m saying is, what we wanted to do – we, now…
Murph and Mac interviewed NFL Films analyst Greg Cosell this morning on KNBR. They talked about Tim Tebow, Carson Palmer and Philip Rivers first, and then they talked Niners matchup with the Giants after. I’m giving you the Niners stuff first, but I’m including the rest of the interview below. Enjoy. Q: The 6-2 New York Giants against the 7-1 San Francisco 49ers. Eli Manning and Alex Smith are ranked…
SANTA CLARA – Here’s the transcript of Alex Smith’s Wednesday press conference from the 49ers media tent, courtesy of the 49ers. What does the Giants secondary try to do and what’s their philosophy? “That’s a great question. I think it’s still early in the week and still kind of getting a feel for it as we move along. But, they’re a tough group across the board. You look at all…
SANTA CLARA — Here is the transcript of Eli Manning’s Wednesday afternoon conference call with Bay Area reporters. Q: When you come to the line of scrimmage how long is it going to take you to try to find No. 52? E. MANNING: (Laughs). Not very long. You usually have a pretty good idea of where he’s lined up. Me and Patrick, we go back a long way, back to…
SANTA CLARA – Here’s the transcript of Jim Harbaugh’s Wednesday press conference. Q: Do you place any added significance on this game because there could be playoff implications? HARBAUGH: There’s great significance to this game. The biggest thing is it’s the next game. That always makes it the most important game. Q: What’s impressive to you about their win on Sunday? HARBAUGH: So many things: What a good football team…
Here’s the transcript of New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin’s Wednesday morning conference call with Bay Area reporters. Q: What kind of challenges do the 49ers offer for your team? COUGHLIN: (Laughs) They offer a lot of challenges. You’re talking about a team that’s 7-1, that has outstanding special teams play, defensively they’re ranked in every category you can think of that’s important – points allowed, red zone, they…
ESPN.com’s Mike Sando has unearthed two very interesting takes on Alex Smith – one is a stat and one is a scout’s opinion. First, the stat. According to an ESPN stats and information analyst, John McTigue, Alex Smith has thrown the lowest percentage of passes in 2011 which have been intercepted or defensed – 5.8%. Aaron Rodgers has the next lowest percentage. What does this mean to you? To me…
Here’s the transcript of Jim Harbaugh’s Monday press conference, courtesy of the 49ers. What has been the key to getting these guys to play so well going back East? It’s not often that you see a team that can go from West to East or East to West and win more than one or two games a year and you guys have won all of your games so far? “I…
Here is the complete transcript of Greg Cosell’s interview from this morning’s Murph and Mac Show. Enjoy. Q: What does a Redskins team that was shut out Sunday in Toronto bring to the table? COSELL: Offensively? I would again answer not too much. And it starts with a revamped o-line that is struggling. And I know I tell you this every week, and every week I just validate it on film…
SANTA CLARA – Here is the complete transcript of Alex Smith’s Wednesday press conference, courtesy of the 49ers. Moving WR Michael Crabtree from X to Z, define that and what’s—I mean is Z still kind of a featured spot? “Well, especially I mean, didn’t [Former 49ers WR] Jerry Rice play Z? Greatest receiver of all time, yeah exactly, so. I’ve got nothing else sorry.” Alex, what makes it so tough…
Here’s is the transcript of Washington Redskins head coach and former 49er offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan’s Wednesday morning conference call. Q: If you had to put your finger on what’s been going on in Washington during this losing streak, how would you do so? SHANAHAN: You just can’t talk about one thing. There’s a combination of a number of things which you try to correct and try to do it…
Here is the transcript of this morning’s conference call with Washington Redskins cornerback DeAngelo Hall. Q: Did you and Carlos Rogers get to be pretty close when you played together for the Redskins the last few years? HALL: We hated each other, actually. But, no. I got a chance to definitely hang out with him, know him, learn to like him. Really didn’t know a lot about him before I…
SAN FRANCISCO – Here is the complete transcript of Alex Smith’s postgame press conference, courtesy of the 49ers. Alex, in the traditional West Coast Offense that they used to run when I was young, it was pass that set up the run. The way I look at your equation it’s the opposite. It’s run to set up the pass. So, I have two questions, am I in general correct about…
SAN FRANCISCO – Here are my Week 8 grades for the 6-1 49ers. Alex Smith: B. He finished the game with no turnovers and 98.8 QB rating, which is good. He also finished the game with 177 passing yards and one touchdown, which is ordinary. When he’s off he seems to overthrow Michael Crabtree and underthrow everyone else. I don’t understand this pattern. I counted three times today that Alex…
CBBSports.com’s 49ers beat writer, Michael Erler, disagrees with Greg Cosell’s claim that the 49ers are “hiding” Alex Smith. In Erler’s blog he points out that Alex Smith is averaging 26.3 passes per game this season. That number happens to be about two pass attempts fewer than Andrew Luck’s average last season under Jim Harbaugh — 28.8 passes per game. Was Harbaugh hiding Andrew Luck, the best quarterback in college football,…
Here’s the transcript of today’s Murph and Mac Q&A with NFL Films analyst Greg Cosell. Q: What do you think of long snapper Brian Jennings? COSELL: I don’t want anybody to think, “Oh my God,” but I don’t watch special teams at all. I just don’t have time. I don’t watch them at all, so don’t ask me any special teams questions. Q: What does the Cleveland Browns offense bring…
SANTA CLARA – Here’s the transcript of Alex Smith’s Wednesday press conference, courtesy of the 49ers. Alex, getting [WR] Braylon [Edwards] back at practice, do you think you guys can pretty much pick up where you left off with him in week 2? “You hope to. It’ll be a little adjustment. He’s out for a few weeks coming back. So, getting back into the mix, who knows though, we’ll see.”…
Here’s the transcript of Murph and Mac’s Q&A with NFL Film’s analyst Greg Cosell from this morning on KNBR. Murph and Mac asked Cosell about Carson Palmer first and then the 49ers second. I’m giving you the whole interview, but I’m putting the Niners stuff at the top. Q: Jim Harbaugh and Vic Fangio called the 49ers defensive performance in Detroit last week the best one they’ve ever coached. Did…
