After his strong showing in only a quarter of work Thursday night, San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh stated after the game that quarterback Alex Smith will be the starter week one of the regular season. Smith led two impressive touchdown drives during the first quarter of their preseason match with the San Diego Chargers, looking ready for the grind of the regular season.
Smith critiqued his own performance, talking about his two TD drives, and the effect of the Niners defense:
Evaluate the performance overall while you were out there.
"Just part of the two series, to get the opening series and take it all the way down, I think it was a 14-play drive, and put it in, that's the way you want to start games. Knowing that you're getting limited plays, it's definitely the way you want your potential only drive to go. And then the defense got us a turnover and let us go back out there and we were able to stick that next one in. So, it was good. We were able to get some red zone, got some short yardage, got some third down, some situational football that we need more practice at and got some of that tonight."
The fourth preseason game can sometimes be little more than a televised practice, Smith looked sharp and rust free, maybe actually ready to lead this team to some W's. He also talked about the offensive line, which did a much better job keeping him upright:
Were you proud of the way the offensive line performed?
"Oh yeah, the O-line played great and the guys on the outside made some great catches tonight. The guys up front, I think they got challenged this week a little bit, and they stepped up to it."
Now with attentions focused on the Seattle Seahawks in week one of the regular season, Alex feels ready to get in on in games that matter once again:
Do you feel comfortable going into the regular season after having those two solid series tonight?
"I do. We had a great camp, got a lot done. It was a great way to end the preseason, at least for the first group. Hopefully these young guys are going to finish it off and I look forward to the regular season starting."
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