Talkin’ two-minute drill with Crabtree and Raye

The 49ers’ two-minute offense against the Houston Texans was a little rough. OK, it was more than just a little rough.

 

Backup quarterback Alex Smith had not run a two-minute drill in practice since as far back as the third exhibition game. Those reps go to the starting QB. And Michael Crabtree was learning on the fly when the 49ers were in a situation in which they had one last chance to send the game into overtime – or perhaps win it.

 

First, let’s go to the audio. Here’s Michael Crabtree’s session with reporters from today:

 

 

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During the Crabtree segment, he talks about . . .

 

–The comfort level still isn’t all there in his second week. This game plan for the 49ers’ game against the Colts is different than the game last week against the Texans. He is learning a lot of new stuff this week. But he believes once he gets through this second game, things will become a lot easier.

 

–During the two-minute drill, he said everybody was trying to help him. “Anything I ask, they’re going to give me answers.”

 

–He downplayed the whole “chemistry” with Alex Smith angle, but he said, “I’m not saying it’s different from Shaun (Hill), but I’ve worked more with Alex.”

 

–Can the 49ers become more of a passing team now? Crabtree said the 49ers’ offense can be anything it wants to be. “We got the full package,” he said. “We just got to put it all together.”

 

–From his first game, he said his performance was “all right.” He said e felt like he could’ve done better.”

 

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Offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye said the offense will not change any with Alex Smith replacing Shaun Hill in the starting lineup. But – you have to hang with me here – the play-calling might change to reflect more of what Smith does better.

 

Raye said Smith is more comfortable “throwing to all areas of the field – horizontal and vertical.” He cautioned that not too much should be read into Smith’s performance in the second half against the Texans, though, because of the score and the fact the Texans had prepared solely for Hill.

 

He said it is possible that the 49ers could use more multi-receiver sets with Smith, but he also pointed out that the team opened in that spread formation with Hill at QB against the Texans. He said a lot of that will depend on the opponent.

 

–It’s not enough for Raye that he does not have a situation with a lack of stability at QB. He wants to see the entire offense stick together for a period of time.

 

“Seems like to me it’s been a different back, a different wide receiver, a different quarterback, and different tackle,” Raye said. “There’s been a different something all the time. I think continuity is very important to playing offensive football. Familiarity and continuity is something we’re striving to get.”

 

–And that really showed during the two-minute drill with Smith and Crabtree not being as sharp as they needed to be.

 

“It was a problem on Sunday,” Raye said. He alluded to Smith not running a two-minute drill in a while, and Crabtree not know the alignments and calls. He said that will require a lot of work this week.

 

“It was a problem last week because people there had not physically, even though hadn’t heard the words, hadn’t been in that situation before,” Raye said.

 

–One of the issues was a delay penalty the 49ers took when they were faced with a fourth-and-5 from the SF 43. With the play clock running down, Smith noticed the 49ers’ sideline trying to get a timeout. He assumed a timeout had been called, so he started walking to the sideline. But Smith did not turn around and get the attention of referee Mike Carey.

 

Because of the penalty – the 49ers had one timeout remaining – the 49ers had a fourth-and-10, and Smith had to get the ball down the field. The final pass was intercepted.

 

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