SANTA CLARA – Here’s the transcript of Alex Smith’s Wednesday press conference, courtesy of the 49ers.

It’s become one of the better rivalries in the history of football. Are you looking for the same kind of game coming up?

“Big game, no question. The history last year, we played them twice, the NFC Championship Game, all that. New year though, I think both teams realize that. Obviously it’s going to get turned into more than that, but both of us, I think, just continuing to get better and obviously try to get a W. Whatever it takes. As far as redemption or anything like that, for me they’re the Giants, they’re a really good team. They’re the defending Super Bowl Champions. That more than anything is out there and a chance for us to get a big win.”

Like after last week too, all of the sudden they were looking at film and saying, wow, we’ve got a lot more to defend than we had earlier in the season with you guys.

“Yeah, I mean both teams are different. Even looking at last year’s tape of us, a lot of faces have changed here and there and that’s the nature of this game. Can’t get caught up too much in last year and what was going on. I think both of us are different.”

But head coach Jim Harbaugh had said that even last week offensively exceeded his expectations, does that come at a really good time, coming into to this week against the Giants, to see what that passing game was able to do?

“Yeah, it was great to have out there, see us execute like that. It wasn’t perfect, but it was definitely a good day. But that week’s over, this is a new week. It’s a new team, new opponent, new matchups, different defense. So, a new challenge for us.”

Because you guys have changed so much offensively, personnel wise and some of the additions of other aspects, that maybe the game film of what the Giants tried defensively is kind of irrelevant at this point?

“You use it. Who knows, we’ll see Sunday, how much, if they play us like last year or not. Like I said, a lot of those matchups and things like that all of the sudden change because their personnel changed some, our personnel changed some. Taking a look at both, obviously the film from all this year and then when they played us last year as well.”

Today is the two year anniversary of the Eagles game where everyone was chanting for QB David Carr, does that seem like longer?

“Seems like a long time ago, longer than two years ago for sure. Yeah, a long time ago it seems like.”

And here you stand, the top-rated passer in the league.

“I guess so. Fifth game of the season, I said this earlier, it’s great for now but I want to keep it going. It’s really about how you finish in this game. Still early on and just looking to get better and better and continue to play our best ball as the season goes on.”

For those of us that don’t see you week-to-week though, going back two years, what the big difference with you from two years ago? How do you explain the difference?

“There’s a lot of changes, from the coaches to a lot of the players around here, to myself. This is a team game. This isn’t just all of a sudden something changed in me. A lot things going into being successful on the field, a lot of things It’d be tough to even try to touch them all.”

What do you think’s different for you? How have you changed?

“Played a lot of football in between here and then, and you grow from all of it and you learn. Credit to a lot of the teammates around me right now, making me look good.”

One of the personnel changes from last year is WR Mario Manningham and it seems like your chemistry with him is getting better game-by-game. Is that true and what is it about him that makes him a good target on game days?

“I think he’s getting better with everybody. That’s the nature of passing game, just the more reps you have, I think the more comfortable you’re going to get. Especially Mario, just getting a better feel of seeing things together, when you’re a quarterback and a receiver of seeing the same things and reacting the same way to them. For me, it’s being able to anticipate when he gets different looks, what he’s going to be able to do. And then I can play faster and I can throw a better ball and get it to him quicker. So, a lot of things like that kind of play into it that we’re seeing the same things and reacting to it the same way.”

Carlos Rogers and some of the other cornerbacks were talking how they would pick Mario’s brain on how to attack the Giants. Can you do the same thing with him?

“As far as the defense?”

Yeah.

“I mean, definitely personnel-wise, him and [RB] Brandon [Jacobs] obviously know these guys well, the guys that were there with him. So, no question in that sense that really talked to them as far as the guys they had, things they’re good at, things they’re not, things like that.”

It’s obviously early, but in some of the darker times, could you have envisioned that there would be a day like this where things would be clicking like this?

“I mean, I’m certainly playing for it. I wasn’t playing to continue to lose. You continue to put the work in and to fight and play because you’re trying to win games. No question, thought it could get better, didn’t know when or how.”

You said Sunday you didn’t know how many yards you guys had piled up, but did you know, could you sense it was one of the best games by this offense in a long time?

“No, definitely not in the first half. I felt like, a lot of us were pretty frustrated just by the self-inflicted mistakes. The penalties and the yards we lost in the first half. Obviously, there after the 3^rd quarter, I mean, a pretty successful third quarter, second half. Then when someone told me early in the 4^th quarter, I guess it made sense, thinking back, yeah, we had been pretty productive and had done some good things. But no idea it was record setting.”

Did you meet President Barack Obama?

“I did. Yeah. Very cool. Huge honor, I mean the President of the United States. It’s one of those things when you’re a kid, yeah, maybe meet the president, and very cool.”

What was he like?

“Talked ball the whole time. Yeah, talked ball most of the time. It was cool, seemed very down to earth, knew what was going on with us, talked a lot about us, the game on Sunday, our schedule, knew we were playing the [Chicago] Bears. So, it was cool.”

SAN FRANCISCO — Greg Roman’s post game press conference, courtesy of the 49ers.

Feeling pretty good after that performance?

“It was a good performance. I think we left some out there. We had some frustrating penalties in the first half. But, we came in at halftime, regrouped. Just decided we were going to start over. That turnover before the half I think was big, to get it in there. And just came in and said, ‘Hey we’re going to start over.’ We left some food on the table in the first half. But really, guys had a great attitude all week and we didn’t want it to be one of those situations like the Bills had last week when they were able to shut a team down for quite a while. So, all the credit really goes to the players. Thought [QB] Alex Smith played tremendously. Thought [QB Colin Kaepernick] Kap was a nice change of pace. [RB] Frank [Gore] ran hard. The O-line blocked good. Receivers did a great job of winning when they were isolated, whether it be [TE] Vernon [Davis], [WR] Mario [Manningham], [WR Michael Crabtree] Crab, [WR] Randy [Moss], [WR Kyle Williams] K.Dub. All those guys did a good job. So, it’s a great team win.”

You’ve seen the instillation films. You know the history of this organization offensively. To set the team record for most yards in the game, what does that mean to you?

“I think it’s just a credit to the players and I think it’s a credit to what we can accomplish as we move along. Yards, not a big statistical guy. Don’t get caught up in it. But at the same time, just in the normal course of events being able to put up that kind of production, obviously we’re doing something right. And really think our organization has done a really good job bringing in the right kind of guys in here. And we’re going to continue to try to keep our offense diverse, hard to prepare for. And just have always felt that if a team doesn’t quite know what you’re doing, it puts your players at an advantage. And we’ll see if we can keep doing that.”

Head Coach Jim Harbaugh said QB Alex Smith played a near perfect game.

“He did.”

What do you have to do to have a perfect game?

“That’s a good question. When we figure that one out, we’ll get back to you.”

How much more can he do?

“He was just on fire and on the money. It’s interesting because his week of practice was very similar to what it’s been every week. So, really didn’t see it coming, but boy he was hot today. And you could see that Crabtree was hot. And you could see Frank was running. He was hot. And everybody brought their ‘A’ game to the stadium today. So, it’s pretty fun when that happens.”

When everything was executed, I know there were those plays with Kaepernick, and just really mixed plays as you defined earlier. How pleasing was it that everything went well?

“It’s always a good feeling. It was frustrating early on, though. We had a third and two. We hit Vernon on the deep cross, that got called back. There were some frustrating things early and we just decided it was time to go beat the Bills and not beat ourselves. But it was good, really good job by our players again. We’ve got a great group. They’ve got the right stuff. And we’ve just got to keep trying to get better every week.”

Given how hot Alex Smith was in the game, why did you choose to call mostly running plays down by the goal line?

“They gave us an un-scouted look. I’ve got to tip our hat to the Bills. They out-charged their d-line. They had never shown that before. And it was a great job by them. They got us there. They caught us there. That’s a tough one when you don’t know it’s coming, just speaking from experience. And they got us twice. So, obviously probably could have called some different plays there. But, I’ve got to tip my hat to their coaching staff on that one. They got us. They got us there.”

How did you guys decide when to take Alex out of the game?

“It just was getting to the point where it looked like we were going to get the win. And wanted to get [QB Colin Kaepernick] Kap some experience in his understudy role, continue his development. And also, didn’t want Alex to take any unnecessary hits from that point.”

Did you see Alex throw deep early?

“We did, we did. And we really wanted to. We wanted to get a lead and play with a lead this game. That was the emphasis all week was to get a lead and try to make these guys one dimensional on offense. And maybe let them be a little bit more willing to take some risks on defense, which would open up some opportunity. We’ve been seeing so many different defenses from teams that we don’t see, which is a credit to our players. Un-scouted looks, they come in with a totally different plan. So, there was a little feeling out process there at the beginning. Just kind of scratching around to see what their plan was. But, we really wanted to take some shots. We hit Vernon there early. We would have hit him in the first drive, but we got that third down called back I believe. We hit him on the third and two. But, really felt good about that play when we hit him on the sideline. It was a great throw by Alex. But yeah, there were some opportunities for sure. And our guys won the one-one-one matchups. When we had isolations, one-on-one our guys won. And the quarterbacks made great throws.”

Did you poke yourself in the eye?

“No. It’s a mystery on what happened there. I think it’s just lack of sleep and thinking too hard. But, just woke up one day and it was there. But, they told me I’m going to live so I’ll be all right.”

Did you happen to see Alex’s first pitch at the San Francisco Giants game last night?

“No, but I heard about it though. We talked about it last night at the meeting. He said he was working, like any smart pitcher or quarterback, he was just throwing some junk in there, keeping it low. Looking for a grounder, and just using the pitch count to his advantage.”

It was low and outside.

“It was? He didn’t tell me about the outside part. He just told me about the low. Yeah, sinker ball.”

How much sleep do you think you got in this week?

“That’s a good question. I think our whole staff coming back from New York, we didn’t sleep much in New York. And guys, our staff, they’re just studs. They just do such a good job at every position. Really love working with these guys. But, sleep is something we’re going to try to focus on in the offseason.”

SANTA CLARA — Vic Fangio’s Thursday press conference transcript, courtesy of the 49ers.

You played a couple teams earlier in the year that liked to spread you out, a lot of multiple receivers. Are the Bills the same way?

“They play a lot of three wide receiver formations, yes. They do.”

Is that similar to what the Packers and Lions did?

“In some degrees, the formations are similar. These guys run maybe more of a complete offense out of it. They’re running it a good bit, and throwing it a good bit. So, it’s more of a balanced run/pass ratio with these guys.”

Is that the challenge this week, that when having the nickel and dime out there and they have to be able to stop the run?

“That’s part of it. And we may be able to stay in some of our base defense, too, some.”

What about DT Ray McDonald? He doesn’t get a lot of tackles, but how can you just measure his impact on the game outside of the box score?

“Well, he has a tremendous impact on our game, any game, and on our defense. When teams have a hard time running against us, he’s right in the middle of all that. Whether he’s getting credited with a tackle or not is irrelevant. He’s the one holding the point up front there, and allowing our linebackers and other people to make that play. He gives us great pass rush in our nickel stuff. And he’s a very, very, very important part of our defense.”

A couple games ago, LB Aldon Smith shed the block, he played up, and shed the blocker and ran down and he did it again against Jets QB Tim Tebow. Being able to stand up and get free, is that something you saw him capable of doing at Missouri and that he did a lot of at Missouri? Or was it something he had to work on once he got here?

“He didn’t do any of that at Missouri. He was never standing up at Missouri. And as a matter of fact, he played about half the time, or I would say at least 40 percent of the time, somewhere between 40 and 60 percent of the time, he was a defensive tackle for Missouri. So, he always had his hand down. So, you never were able to see that on film. You had to just project that.”

In terms of being able to coach that though, what are some of the things that, in terms of getting the kid to be comfortable in that standing up and moving laterally back and forth, what are some of the tips you give someone like that?

“Well, number one he has to have the raw ability to do it and he does. He’s athletic enough and he’s smart enough to learn the position and understand the position. That’s a good starting point. And then two, you just give him enough repetitions at it, both on the practice field and in the film room, to where he learns it and understands it. And then if he’s good enough talent-wise to do it, he can do it. In this case he is. So, he’s learned well both on the field and in the classroom, and he’s talented enough to transfer it into a good result.”

It would seem that, as a down lineman, he’d go straight ahead and keep his eyes one place. Outside space, you’d have to get him to look around a little bit more. Is that true?

“Yeah, that’s the hardest thing for a guy that’s transitioning from a defensive lineman to a linebacker position, outside backer in this case, is figuring out if it’s a run or pass number one. And number two, they’re not always coming forward. If it’s a pass they’ve got to go backwards. So, that’s always new and uncomfortable for those guys. And that’s really the biggest sticking point for those guys is figuring out if it’s a run or pass and going backwards when they have pass responsibility.”

When you talk about the balance in the Bills offense between run and passing game there, is RB C.J. Spiller’s more of an outside tackle guy and how do they mix that in with the three wide receiver sets? How do they use that?

“Well, he’ll be in there some as the running back and you have to be really aware when he’s in there because he is extremely fast. He’s got four-three speed. He’s lightning quick. We’ve got to have good edges. We’ve got to keep him hemmed in. He is really, really fast. The guy’s averaging close to nine yards per carry and that’s a reflection of him breaking some big ones. And he’s a big play threat every time he touches the ball. He’s like a punt returner. They use him well and [RB Fred] Jackson is a different back, but in his own right is just as good, but just a little different style.”

What’s Jackson’s style? Is he between the tackles more?

“A little bit. He’s more shiftier, more of a standard back where he’s got good cutting ability. More of a little bit of a downhill runner, but both of those backs are really, really good. These guys are averaging 29 points a game. And the most they’ve scored, I think, was 35. So, every game they’ve been 24, 28, 35, 28. They’re average, it’s right there. It’s not like they had one big game that inflated their stats. They’re averaging 29 a game and there’s no accident why they’re getting it. They’ve got good skill players, including the quarterback.”

Speaking of the quarterback, what are some things you’ve seen in QB Ryan Fitzpatrick? People say he’s underrated. Some will say he’s not underrated. What have you seen?

“I think he’s a good player. I think he’s a competent NFL quarterback. He makes good decisions. He gets a quick read on the defense. He gets the ball out pretty quick. He’s only been sacked four times in four games. He’s a good scrambler. He’s carried the ball 15 times in these first four games and none of them are called quarterback runs. It’s him scrambling. He’ll buy time in the pocket. He’ll create some of the same problems that [QB Christian] Ponder created in Minnesota with the scrambling ability. So, we’ll have our work cut out with him. I think he’s a good quarterback.”

It seemed like Fitzpatrick took chances down the field?

“Not really, no. He’s thrown seven interceptions, but two of them were when they were trailing late in the fourth quarter. He just took a chance trying to make a play. One was a tipped ball that got tipped up in the air, no fault of his. He did have a ball that he under-threw once that got picked. I don’t see a guy that’s gambling with the ball at all. I think his seven interceptions in four games is a very misleading stat, unless you look at them and totally see the circumstances.”

How is his ability to throw and what is his accuracy on the run?

“Good. Good. They’ll boot them a fair amount of the time. And he’ll get out outside the pocket in his scrambling. And he’s a threat to run and throw then.”

How often do they go to four wide receivers?

“Very little, at this point in time. They always could.”

Is the crowd very much a factor for your pass rushers when you’re at home? How compared to when you play at a dome like in Detroit or what New Orleans must be like?

“You mean does it help them, the noise?”

Yes.

“I think it helps a little bit, but I do think that’s a little overrated. When I could remember when I was coaching with the Saints and everybody talked about our huge advantage to pass rush there because of the crowd noise and the turf, and I looked at it one year at the end of the year and we had as many sacks on the road as we did at home. So, it is an advantage. It makes the offensive linemen uncomfortable. I don’t think our stadium gets as loud as a dome stadium does, just because of the obvious reasons. And our stadium is a little more spread out. It’s not right on top of you. So, the crowd noise is there. It’s prevalent. It helps. But, I don’t think it’s like it is some of the other dome stadiums.”