SANTA CLARA – Here’s the transcript of Jim Harbaugh’s Monday morning press conference, courtesy of the 49ers.

Did you get a chance to hear your brother’s national conference call?

“No.”

Didn’t know if you had any rebuttals to anything he said.

“I’ll get a chance to take a look at it at some point maybe if I have time.”

What are you going to say to him on the field before the game?

“I don’t know. Haven’t thought about it.”

Will you talk to him on the field before the game?

“Yeah. Sure.”

In the whole coaching hiring process, how soon did it come to your attention that the 49ers would be playing your brother’s division this season?

“Not during the hiring process.”

When did it first come to your attention that it would be on the schedule?

“Sometime after I was hired. Can’t remember exactly.”

He went over a list of the things that you’ve taken from him, blue collar shirts, some other things. Anything going back the other way that he’s borrowed from you?

“I don’t know. I’m not really into adding them up.”

What about the sign above…

“Blue collared shirts was definitely his idea. Thought it was very good.”

Didn’t he take a sign that you had over your door…

“Maybe. I don’t know specifically. We definitely share ideas and we have since we were kids.”

John said about your personality basically, you’re a real nice guy and you like to have fun, and you basically lead us on, which of course is true. In other words, you play with us. Sort of when we ask a question or people challenge you. That was his thought.

“Hmm. (laughs from the room). Everybody always laughs at me when I’m really not trying to be funny. I just try to answer the questions.”

What coaching traits or principles do you guys share in common?

“Core, fundamental, principle beliefs?”

Sure.

“Many. I think we’re cut from the same cloth.”

When did you start game planning for the Ravens?

“Did some in the offseason. We’ve done some during the bye week and in earnest last night and today.”

After dinner when you got back to the office, did you go over the Arizona game or did you go right into Ravens?

“Went over the Arizona game first.”

And then into Ravens?

“Correct.”

Did you end up sleeping in the office last night?

“No. Got home and slept at my house. It was good.”

Is this a big deal for you? This week?

“Yeah it’s a big deal. It’s a big game. Biggest game of the year in a lot of ways because it’s our next game. We’re going against a team that is, in our opinion, the best team we’ve played this season. May be the best team we play all season. The best defense without question that we’ve played. In so many ways it’s a big challenge. The shortness of the week is another big challenge there. A lot of things to overcome this week.”

That’s a very impersonal answer that you just gave. This is a big deal. You and your brother have two of 32 jobs on the planet. It’s got to be a big deal for your family, your parents. From that standpoint, is it a big deal to you?

“You probably want to peel back the onion some more and get into my soul, but this week my brother is just somebody we’re trying to beat. Doing my job as it relates to our team preparing for the game is first and foremost. I think it’ll probably be a big deal for my parents. If it is or isn’t, that’s not relevant to what we’re trying to accomplish this week either.”

You won’t allow yourself to step away and sort of note how unique this is?

“It’s unique. It’s the first time in history that two brothers have coached against each other. This will be the first time since they went to a 16-game schedule that a team has traveled three time zones to play a Thursday game. Those are first. We definitely want to win. There will be a lot of things to focus on other than getting real nostalgic.”

Do you think the NFL has put you at a disadvantage because of the whole Harbaugh versus Harbaugh thing on Thanksgiving?

“I definitely think it was very considerate of the NFL to reunite the brother’s on Thanksgiving. I think that’s going to be very difficult for our team. There’s no question that we drew the short end of the straw on this one.”

Have you and your brother ever competed against each other before in certain situations?

“Yes.”

Any ones stick out in your mind?

“There’s just so many. So many times. There was one time when we were on two different baseball teams. I think they beat us 1-0. We were the Sherriff’s All Stars and they were the Baskin Robbins. They had the nice uniforms, the recruited players. We were kind of a band of misfits that didn’t make the Baskin Robbins teams. We were kind of the younger ones. We had a heck of a pitcher named Jim Phelps. Phelps kept us in that ball game.”

Who was faster, by your recollection, of when your dad would time you guys going up the stairs to bring him a refreshment during a timeout in a game you’re watching or something?

“It depended what age we were. There’s just different times when we were growing up that I was bigger, stronger and faster. Then he’d get a growth spurt and he’d be bigger, stronger, and faster. It just kind of went that way. He started out bigger, stronger, faster and then I got bigger and stronger and faster, then he took back over.”

It seemed like John was always so supportive of you. You were the superior athlete…

“See if you can spread the word on that a little bit. Don’t keep that to yourself.”

Was there ever a time where he was jealous of that or he always seemed to be pretty supportive of your athletic career?

“No question. There were so many times when he knocked down hurdles for me. I’d get to hang out with him and his friends or he’d put in a word to the Baskin Robbins baseball coach, ‘wait ‘til you get a look at my younger brother, he’s really good’. Didn’t make the team that year. Then when he went to Miami of Ohio, did the same thing. Coaches there, talking about the quarterback on the team and ‘well, if you like him, wait ‘til you see my younger brother, wait ‘til you get a load of him’. Then I got recruited by Miami of Ohio. He’s knocked down hurdles for me my whole life. Still doing it today, the way I look at it.”

Did you ever get on that Baskin Robbins team when you got older?

“I think the following year, maybe. Then John and I played a year of high school football together when he was a senior and I was a sophomore. We’ve always been in each other’s corners. That’s my brother. Next to my wife, my dad and my brother are my best friends. There’s that, there’s all those things. I’m proud of him, I love him. I’m his biggest supporter, right next to his wife. This week he’s just somebody we’re trying to beat.”

What kind of impressions did you get from watching him coach? You’ve been to a couple Ravens games the last couple years and been on the sideline. What did you take from those games?

“Just how good he was. How good their organization was. How good their players were. What a strong, mighty team they had. Always impressed.”

Do you feel like you probably have a better understanding of them than any other team in the NFL just by having been around watching them a little bit the last couple of years?

“No, I wouldn’t think so. I wouldn’t know that for sure, but I wouldn’t think so. I think the teams that play them in their division probably have a much better…”

No, but do you personally in terms of all the other teams?

“In terms of what?”

Just knowing their personnel and their strategies.

“No, I think the team’s that play them. Steelers would come to mind. Those teams know each other really well. History with their head coach, yes I’ve got a lot of that. Probably more than anybody else.”

Have you watched the Ravens this year as anything other than a coach? Have you watched them as a fan at all and rooted for them?

“Yes, I’ve rooted for them. Every time they play one of our division teams, even more than normal.”

Has there been a time where they’ve been playing at a time slot when you can actually watch them on live TV?

“Yes. I’ve caught series and things like that on television, sure.”

You guys have obviously been very good against the run this year. What special challenges do Ravens RB Ray Rice and the Ravens present in that regard?

“They present a lot of challenges. Very good, multidimensional running back in Ray. They do a nice job with the play action. [Ravens QB] Joe Flacco’s a tremendous pocket passer. They have a lot of weapons and they’ve done a really good job with their receiving corps, bolstering that. There’s speed that they can threaten you with down the field. Very good offensive line, [Ravens T Marshal] Yanda has helped them getting back in the lineup. It’s an outstanding offense as well.”

What makes Ray so effective do you think?

“I think that he’s able to do anything that you would want a running back to do. He can run the assortment of all runs. Extremely good out of the backfield catching the ball. He’s a very good blocker.”

This is a little sentimental, too, but your parents are going to reach their 50^th anniversary. That’s a number that a lot of couples strive for, it’s hard to do in this day and age. That’s falling on Friday. Is that pretty special to you this week, too, or can you think about that after Thursday?

“Really proud of that. Really proud that my parents will be having their 50^th year, celebrating their 50^th year of marriage. What kid could possibly have it better than having two parents that love each other and provided the kind of example that they have. It’ll be a great celebration for them.”

Will you be able to stay in Baltimore and celebrate with the family?

“I’m planning on flying back with the team.”

Do you have any status update on FB Bruce Miller? Did he come back out in the second half?

“No, he didn’t.”

So he stayed in the locker room for observation?

“Did he come back and play or did he step foot back onto the field?”

Onto the field.

“I’m not sure if he stepped back out of the locker room onto the field. I did not see him come onto the field in the second half. He didn’t play in the second half.”

How’s he doing?

“He’s doing alright. He’s doing good. I thought he was doing pretty darn good at halftime, too, when I checked on him. It’s getting better. So, he’s clearing up and I think he’ll be fine.”

You have a longstanding relationship with Ravens Offensive Coordinator Cam Cameron. Is that somebody you’ve kept in touch with since college through the years and had an influence on you?

“Yes, very much so. Cam was my college coach at Michigan. Always have kept in touch with Cam. Did a quarterbacking video with Cam right after I graduated, when I was playing in Chicago. John coached for Cam at Indiana. Know his family, his kids, his wife. Been really good friends with Cam. When Cam came to San Diego, I remember, he came for an interview. I picked him up at the airport and he interviewed with Marty Schottenheimer. Got the job. Then a week later, he was back in town looking for a house and he drove out to where my kids had a little soccer game or something going on. He said ‘hey, I’m going to be living right next door to you’ so he rented a house right next to the one I was living at in San Diego. Those were good times, too. I don’t remember how many years it was, three or four years, where he was a next door neighbor.”

Vic Fangio came from your brother’s staff to join you at Stanford. How did that whole process come about and was your brother supportive of Vic leaving Baltimore?

“It came about because Vic was coaching in Baltimore and I got to know quite a few of the coaches. Vic was somebody I was really dazzled by from the first time I met him and talked to him. Talking football, his knowledge, his experience. The reports he did, the game plans, hours and hours of football talk. That was – trying to get him, trying to get him, trying to get him. Tried to get him the year before, tried to get him that year or tried to get him the year after. It fell into place a year ago.”

Was your brother supportive of that?

“He approved. I wouldn’t have done it without asking.”

You said John has kept knocking down doors for you or something…

“Hurdles is what I said.”

How would you say he’s doing that now?

“I think in a lot of ways, his success in the NFL. I felt that. Taking his team to the playoffs three straight years in a row. I think in a lot of ways I was looked at as a better coach. Look what John has done, here’s his younger brother, etc. Not too different than when we were in high school and every teacher ‘oh, you’re John’s brother, John’s such a great youngster, we all love John’. Who wouldn’t love John in that way? There’s many hurdles he’s knocked down for me.”

What did they say after you left?

“I was always glad when my dad would take a job and move somewhere else, because by the time I went through there I’d pretty much worn out my welcome.”

Have you heard from the league on S Dashon Goldson and whether he’s getting any disciplinary action?

“Not yet, not yet. Haven’t heard yet.”

You’ve been a player in this league, can you talk about how you think fatigue will impact this game given that it’s three days of rest versus six?

“Right. I played in some Thanksgiving games. I don’t know how many, one or two. And they’re fast, they go fast. Before you know it you’re getting on a plane and we’ll be going to make that six hour flight. And it happens fast. The recovery time is so important to football players especially when they’ve come off a physical game as we did, as Baltimore did, to let your body recover. So, they’re going to have to use their super-human powers of recovery this week, and do the best they can. But, it’s a big challenge there’s no question about it.”

With the way T Alex Boone played do you feel like if he needs to step in and start at right tackle he’ll be able to handle that chore?

“Yes, oh yes. We have tons of confidence in Alex Boone. Get his hands lower. We got to get his punch and his hands lower. And there will be a lot of good coaching. In teaching today there will be a lot in bullet points because you want to get on to the Baltimore game plan and getting that taught and learned in a short period of time. But, there’s quite a few things that we can get better from coming off the ball game we just had. And to be able to do that after a win, I always like that better. I’d prefer that. I think the fellows do as well. But, we shouldn’t be kicking six field goals in a football game. We should be finding ways to get those balls in the end zone, and we had good chances too. Where the throw we missed that was one that probably would have been points. And thought Alex had a really good game, missed on a couple. Thought we did a good job with the receiving corps. Great job with [WR Michael] Crabtree, [WR] Kyle Williams as we talked about yesterday, [TE] Vernon [Davis]. But we also dropped a couple. Offensive line though did play extremely well. And just an overall team statistic, if you can have the ball for 44 minutes in a game that is a team statistic. Really offense and defense predominately, defense getting off on third down. The three and outs, the turnovers, five turnovers, and the amount of plays that they limited Arizona too. And then the offense, controlling the ball, knocking off I think it was 24-25 first downs in the ball game. So guys, that’s a great accomplishment, but there was more out there, more points out there. There should have been somewhere in the 40’s that our team scored. And some things, some penalties that we had in the special teams that we want to get corrected. And we’ve got to do it fast. So, hopefully that gives you a little insight on all the things that we have to do as a team this week in a very short period of time. So, there’s just not a lot of time to really even think about the warm and fuzzy reunions, or the nostalgia of it all. There’s just work to be done. And the other thing too is just on as it relates to Dashon. Dashon was punched in the back of the head and then retaliated. What I think needs to be addressed is this mindset that you can’t retaliate. You can’t—obviously they’re not going to see the first one. It’s always the second guy that gets caught. And that’s the one who’s going to get flagged. Had Dashon not thrown the punch, then what we’re going to be saying was there would have been no flag, there had been no fine, we would have moved on to the next play. But, the first one needs to get addressed. It needs to be officiated and that needs to be a foul. Otherwise, and you wonder if people do it, as soon as the whistle’s blown, hey get the first shot in. The mindset is, ‘it doesn’t matter the first one, it’s the second one. So, turn your back, get the first shove in, or the first punch in, and then turn your back and see if you can’t get a 15-yard penalty.’ I’m sure that’s not what anybody wants who watches football, who is even associated with the game of football. But, you do see it. Not just at the pro level but at the college level, and down to the high school level. How many people in this room got a cheap shot or got hit in the back of the head, or forearmed in the back of the head and nothing happened. It’s just the mindset to me is so, ‘you can’t retaliate, you’ve got to walk away,’ but let’s get the first one. Let’s see if we can’t watch out for those.”

Can you challenge that? Can you ask the officials to go back and review?

“No not challengeable to my knowledge. But, anyhow that’s a little editorializing there on my part.”

You mentioned the six-hour plane can you do any coaching on the plane? Will you take that as an opportunity to?

“I thought of that, I really did. Can we wire up the monitors for some video and maybe section off parts of the plane to get up and hold a meeting, etc. And we’ll do that individually with players looking through their notes, reviewing their playbooks. And the coaches do that. They circulate throughout the plane and coach their guys and talk to them. So, we’re going to have to definitely use every minute this week.”

Here’s the transcript of Wednesday afternoon’s Steve Young show with the Razor and Mr. T on KNBR.

Enjoy.

Q: Here’s Steve Young, who’s convinced us over the years that playing quarterback is an art.

YOUNG: Did you see Tom Brady in the third quarter? I want to say at the end of the third quarter they were up sixteen to nine I want to say, and he drove 82 yards on one of the better defenses in the league. That is what I’m talking about – artistry. When you’re picking and choosing and really king of embarrassing a really qualified, top-ranked defense by doing the simplest little things and doing them do so well. He was pinpoint accurate – little Danny Woodhead here, a little square out here right on the numbers, a little double move then boom. He just sat there. It was surgical. It was beautiful. It was musical to me to watch that.

Q: You convinced me that Alex wasn’t going to be good because you said Alex Smith couldn’t make plays.

YOUNG: You’re taking it out of context. I cited the Browns game on Monday night a few years ago when Brady Quinn was the quarterback. Everything was going bad with the Browns. Everything was wrong with the Browns and it was very tough to have any positives. My point being that somewhere there’s a spark in a guy’s play that tells me that with the proper help and the proper focus – I’m still alive here, I have a heartbeat, I can do something that will remind you that he can do it. It’s not just making plays, and that’s what I was concerned about Alex. The light dimmed with Alex. It dimmed for him too. I think that he started to say: “I don’t know. I’m not sure.” That’s when he started talking about going somewhere else, and I’m just telling you the effect of having a coach that calls plays for the quarterback, that focuses on his strengths and weaknesses.

Now look, there’s still problems. Their third down conversion is brutal – 3 of 11 last week. Red zone is still iffy, but they’re not making mistakes. Alex expanded on his game this week in a big moment. That’s stuff that doesn’t just go away over night. You didn’t abandon Alex. I think everybody lost the sense that he had glow left, like any ember of something to do. I think Jim came in, worked with him in the offseason and saw: “You know what? The raw ability this kid has, the aptitude he has, the things he’s gone through, the fight that he still has in him – I see it. The problem was everyone else abused him to a point where, like anything, the light went out. I think that Jim coming back started that ember going and got some flame and now how good can Alex be? I don’t think Alex knows, I don’t think we know.

Q: Jim must be the best coach of all time.

YOUNG: Let it play out. Jim would say let it play out.

Q: But this is a miracle.

YOUNG: It’s remarkable.

Q: And Green Bay’s defense isn’t that good.

YOUNG: No, no, no, don’t be fooled. Right now, no one’s going to beat the Packers. Nobody. Let me just tell you, the feel of them coming out of the locker room, the way they act, the way they play, nobody’s beating this team right now.

Q: Not just at Lambeau?

YOUNG: No one’s beating them anywhere right now. That’s just how I feel. The way that I saw them do the things they did, they toyed with Minnesota. They toyed with them in all aspects. This is a young – there’s no better locker room in the league. But let’s go back to the 49ers for a second. What was in the cookie batter during the offseason? Who was in there who you know were good players? Justin Smith all of a sudden is a great player. There’s guys all over that, and we said this last year – they have guys! That’s what was so frustrating, it wasn’t like they had no talent. So Jim inherited, and I think that’s why he was so excited: “Look, there’s some guys here. If I can strip away some of this negativity, get in this locker room and break down the stuff that keeps people apart, put some chemistry in here, get some cultural integration…we have some talent.” Jim unlocked it, and good for him.

Q: You said the Niners should put the game on Alex’s shoulders and they did exactly that last week.

YOUNG: I think he expanded on what happened last week. I think he did more. I think they pressed it a little bit and he responded. I think he made some throws that really mattered. I think that they’re building on it. Did they throw 40? No, but they threw 30. And I thought he made some big plays, and I think that Alex is slowly becoming part of the reason why they’re winning. And people always say he’s a manager – that’s 70 percent of the job! That’s what Michael Vick’s suffering from right now, is that he’s not doing the little things that are managing the football game. That’s a big piece of the puzzle and Alex is doing that in spades. If you build on that, by the end of the year what I’d love to see is Alex Smith is the reason why you’re winning. You want to talk about the Super Bowl? That’s when you can really talk about the Super Bowl is when this great defense and this offense now is not 3 for 11 on third down and 1 for 3 in the red zone, but 3 for 3 and 7 of 11. That’s the difference.

Q: What I’ve noticed, when the pass rushers get to Alex he doesn’t drop his head. That tells me he feels more confident.

YOUNG: Again, I use the abused-child metaphor. He was a broken guy. When I talked to him in the offseason he was trying to decide what to do. He wasn’t sure, but he also knew that what Jim was saying really made sense to him and I couldn’t agree more. You get a guy who has come from the Bill Walsh tree or the Bill Walsh philosophy, who understands quarterback-centric game-playing organizations – that feels good. When I went from Tampa Bay, which was as dysfunctional as anything I’ve ever seen, and I showed up in San Francisco, two things – one, Joe wasn’t hurt, that was the first realization I had, and the second was this is really cool for quarterbacks. And it still is. And that’s why my heart is so warm – it’s finally a place for quarterbacks again. And that’s not because we’re special, it’s because I believe you build off of that, and now the defense rises up, receivers are looking for the ball, the holes are bigger for Frank, people just respond. Everybody gets better. Everybody plays better when the quarterback’s making it happen.

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

Week 10 with your second division opponent, how familiar are you with the Cardinals?

“Getting more familiar with them every day.”

How much time in the offseason during the lockout did you really study what they do?

“Quite a bit, defensively, because we were familiarizing ourselves with our defense which is similar to Pittsburgh’s, Green Bay’s, many of the 3-4 concepts.”

Your team is leading the league in turnover differential. Can you explain some of the ways you emphasize that to the team, both offensively and defensively?

“Ball security, playing good situational football. There’s several ways.”

QB Alex Smith has mentioned that the big thing in his mind is he knows he can take the ball down and run if there’s nothing there. That that’s one of the ways he is avoiding turnovers in his mind. Is that something you specifically saw on tape or you specifically thought was an important thing to tell him, ‘go ahead and take off if there is nothing there’?

“Yes, because he’s athletic enough to do that and he’s got good instincts to do it.”

Do you want there to be a clock in his head or generally what is the emphasis to him when he can go ahead and do that?

“There’s some drill work that can be done. There’s definitely coaching points with it. Probably the greater percentage is instincts and thinking about doing it, having that be an option that’s on the tip of his tongue so to speak.”

You had said earlier this week that LB Patrick Willis is the greatest player right now that no one is talking about. What is he doing this year that might be different or improved than his first four seasons in the league?

“What I said was he’s the least talked about great player in the National Football League, in my opinion. He doesn’t get talked about near enough for just how good he is. What he’s doing is … we talked about it about a month ago. It’s really the same thing. He’s the five-tool linebacker. Plays downhill, I think, better than any linebacker in football, but he can also cover in pass protection. We’ve seen evidence of that over and over. Saw it in this past game, the final play of the game. [DT] Justin [Smith] bats that ball down but Patrick has it covered so well that I don’t think that ball gets complete even if it doesn’t get batted down. Then, the third-and-two, Justin makes the tackle; Justin does a great job beating his block. Patrick is selling out in the A-gap and if Justin doesn’t make it, I think Patrick does. He can run sideline to sideline. He can run plays down for the backside. He’s got the speed to shoot a gap and make a play from behind and you see that many times. You see that many times when he’s fully laid out making the late tackle on a quarterback or from behind on a back. Excellent blitzer … saw him get another sack in the past game.”

But that’s relatively new this season, the blitz and pass rush for him?

“No, he’s done that in the past. That’s not new to him. He’s blitzed before in his career. He does it all at the highest level. Sometimes you see a linebacker that’s a good downhill linebacker, but not as effective in pass coverage.”

That last Giants play was controversial in New York, especially what Willis did. Giants Head Coach Tom Coughlin criticized him for tackling TE Jake Ballard on the line of scrimmage there. What did you see from Willis on that play?

“His arms never got involved. He was playing Ballard off the line, saw his head dip down and I thought it was an outstanding play. There’s allowed to be contact within the first five yards. I have to disagree with coach on that, that he was tackled. I didn’t see Ballard be tackled by Patrick Willis.”

Some quotes yesterday out of New York…

“Didn’t see it that way.”

What do you mean by downhill?

“Downhill between the tackles, take on a lineman thick. Be able to even burp a lineman with contact. That physical downhill linebacker.”

On sort of a lighthearted note, you guys share the league lead in won coin flips. The Saints are 0-11 we figured out.

“Interesting.”

What goes into that? People wonder how much really goes into the coin flip. Do you tell them what to call, is there an audible?

“What goes into it is you pick heads or tails, and then they flip it, and it comes up heads or tails. But I don’t tell them what to call or even who to call it.”

But then what goes into taking the ball?

“There’s some factors, there’s different factors week to week.”

So do you consider that luck of the draw then, that you guys have such a good record?

“Yeah, that’s a good thing. I’d rather have a little more luck at roulette or something like that.”

Every game you guys have started on defense, the other team’s had the ball first. So obviously you like to have the defense on the field first or is it more of a strategy for the second half?

“It’s week to week.”

Everything that people have said Alex Smith can’t do, he’s proven that he can so far this year. The one thing people still question is, can he throw long? Can he throw long?

“Yes.”

Is he elite at throwing long?

“He is very good at throwing long.”

Is that an important part of your offense, being able to throw long?

“It’s part of it. It’s part of the scheme. We want to be good at throwing long. We want to be good at throwing short. We want to be good at running the ball.”

Is it a drastic different type of throw throwing long, technique-wise, than throwing short or intermediate?

“No.”

You mentioned a couple times now that this team will praise others and say that they didn’t do it, they’re very self-sacrificing. When did you notice that and is that a surprise to you that any football team could be like this after having lost so many games as they have in the past?

“No. I don’t think that lost games in the past somehow affects who they are, and their character, their humility.”

When did you first start to detect that? Was it in training camp. When did you first realize that there was some character in this locker room?

“In a lot of cases, right when I first met them. A few of the guys that I met in January when we first got hired here. Before the lockout, met some more fellas. Then didn’t meet anybody until training camp. Some then, some during training camp. In talking to some of the other coaches, [Defensive Line Coach] Jim Tomsula, [Offensive Line Coach] Mike Solari quite a bit to try to get to know our team without them being here. That was a big factor. Jim was right. He said, ‘You’re going to love our guys, you’re going to love being around these guys.’ Then he would break out in his Jim Tomsula laugh and just wait and sure enough that’s been the case. Ever since we got together in training camp, it’s obvious. They’re the kind of guys that just shower you with virtues: humility, character, hard-working, disciplined, mighty guys.”

As you were watching them a little bit from Stanford, could you pick up some of that from afar?

“Not so much. You don’t know until your knee to knee and eyeball to eyeball and around people. Sometimes some things you pick up quickly in a half hour conversation. Other things, you go through training camp or some adversity to really know fully.”

From the outside, it looks like this team also is having a lot of fun. Sometimes when you watch an NFL team from the outside it seems like they’re going through nuclear science. You guys also seem to be having fun. Is that the case from the inside, too, and what’s your line of debarkation where you can have too much fun? Is it the same issue as Freddy P. Soft or is it something different?

“First of all, it’s guys that enjoy each other’s company. That’s where it starts. Second thing is we’re going to treat each other with respect, that’s how you earn respect. The last thing is we are allowed to make fun of each other, joke around.”

Do you ever worry that you think you can have too much fun? Can you have too much fun playing football?

“I mean you have fun. You have fun winning games. It’s great to be outside, have a job where you get to get out and see the horizon. To us, that’s where the medicine is. It’s not in the din of the inside or an office. You get to go outside and do something that we love to do. We’re all very blessed and thankful to be able to do that.”

Can you explain where your philosophy of having the practice squad guys travel comes from? Why you do that, what you think it came from?

“No real explanation. It doesn’t come from anywhere. We just noticed that the (practice squad) guys were asking ‘are we going on the road trips’ and we said ‘yeah, heck yeah, why wouldn’t we take you guys on road trips?’ ‘Well we didn’t go on road trips last year.’ ‘We’re going on the road trips now.’ So that’s where it came from.”

In the offensive linemen meeting room, does one of your coaches have a lead role and the other coach have a supporting role. How do you divide that up, the responsibilities?

“We do it and we work together. They work in tandem. Not going to get into the percentages. We feel like it’s just better to be working in a group and have two guys coaching the offensive line, to be able to see everything. Probably the greater share is Mike Solari, but both Tim Drevno and Mike Solari do a great job working together and coaching up our offensive line.”

Was there any kind of risk to put two offensive line coaches together, not knowing how they would mesh?

“Taken that risk before and it worked out better that way and we felt like that’s just our way of doing it.”

Is RB Frank Gore a go at practice today?

“I believe so.”

So everything seems fine with his knee?

“Again, I’m not in Frank’s body. I know you guys ask me to speculate each week on exactly where everybody is or ballpark where they are. I’ll have more information than that during the week.”

People want to know how your guys are.

“I know they do. I’m only in my skin.”

Did it require any testing or MRIs?

“Like we said, we’re going to do everything medically, Frank’s going to get the gold standard of medical care, just like all our fellas. But, Frank just a little bit more, a little extra for Frank.”

So some may not get an MRI?

“I said everybody gets it.”

You’ve got two games in five days. How does that influence your game planning? How do you divvy up responsibility among the coaching staff as far as preparing for both games in such a short time period?

“We can talk more about that next week or after the game against Baltimore. We’re really focused on this one right here.”

Does it change how you approach this game as far as the players? Do some of your reserves get more playing time than they ordinarily would just to save some of the front line guys to be able to play both games?

“No, we’re not going to save anything for the swim back if that’s what you’re asking. This is a division game, these games are worth two games. It’s all important. This is the most important game of the year, because it’s the next game.”

How quickly is RB Kendall Hunter adjusting?

“He’s adjusting very quickly. He’s done a magnificent job just right from the beginning. Really pleased with how Kendall is progressing and contributing. Not just progressing, but contributing in a big way on our football team. [Running Backs Coach] Tom Rathman has done a really good job with all the backs and Kendall. It’s been good for our football team.”

LB Blake Costanzo seems like the classic special teams psycho. What was your impression of him?

“He’s a ball player. He loves the game of football. We go on road trips and he packs a great attitude and a toothbrush and that’s it. He’s there to play ball.”

Did you ever play special teams?

“Yes I did.”

Were you good?

“You can research that, it’s well documented.”

SANTA CLARA – Here’s a serious question: What can’t Alex Smith do?

People used to say he couldn’t do a lot of things, like throw accurately or read defenses or win games.

Now, all of a sudden, he’s better at those things than Andrew Luck is.

So what can’t Alex Smith do?

How about this: Can he throw deep?

If there’s a knock on the guy, that’s it. He can’t throw deep. His arm isn’t strong enough, he underthrows his receivers, and he’d prefer to check down to shorter routes anyway. You’ve heard all that.

He threw deep twice on Sunday and both plays were unsuccessful. On one play he threw long to Michael Crabtree on the right sideline and the pass got picked off. Luckily for the Niners the Giants were offside on the play and the interception didn’t count.

The other time he threw deep he tried to hit an open Vernon Davis down the middle of the field but he underthrew him. He hung the ball up in the air long enough for the Giants closest defensive back to punch the ball out of Davis’ hands.

An elite quarterback makes these throws. Joe Montana, who barely had “B” arm strength, could throw deep passes. He had touch, timing, vision, everything you’d need.

Jim Harbaugh calls Alex Smith elite. So I asked Harbaugh this afternoon if Smith is an elite deep passer as well.

“He’s very good,” he said.

Very good is very different than the word I used – “elite.” If elite is an “A+,” then very good is a “B+.”

I asked Braylon Edwards the same question.

“We haven’t really had to make the throws for him to prove that,” he replied. “I think he can get the ball down the field deep. We have the receivers. Ted Ginn is blazing fast. You have guys that can make plays, and Alex is throwing the ball a little bit down the field. The ones that he has thrown down the field have been successful for the most part. The more we call them and the more he throws them, he’ll show you guys, but in my opinion I believe he can get the ball down the field.

Like Harbaugh, Edwards tempered his praise of Smith’s arm strength. First, Edwards qualified his answer by reminding us Alex Smith hasn’t thrown many deep passes. We’re aware of that.

Then he used the phrases “I think,” “In my opinion,” and “I believe.” As we learned in English class, saying you “think” someone is good is much weaker than just saying he is good.

But Edwards has a point – Smith hasn’t thrown deep very much this season. How can you say for sure how good he is at something he’s rarely done?

So, I asked the question to Smith himself.

Q: Alex, are you a good deep passer?

SMITH: “I think so. I think if you look at years in the past that’s all we did. We were a down-the-field-throwing team. All of a sudden I think it’s just a different situation. I think we have much more balance in the passing game this year with underneath, intermediate routes and the deep ball whereas in the past we were very heavy with just throwing it downfield and trying to push the ball vertically.”

Smith has gotten over every hurdle critics have thrown at him this season. There’s no reason to think he won’t get over this hurdle as well.

SANTA CLARA – Here’s what Parys Haralson said today at his locker.

Q: Was that the most complete win this season by the defense?

HARALSON: When you’re playing a guy like Eli Manning, that’s a smart quarterback and I think he is one of these elite quarterbacks in this league with quite a few other guys. It was taking care of what we had to do, everybody being on the same page, understanding the defense, guys making plays, Carlos coming up with the two picks, trying to keep pressure on him, not showing your hand too soon. Because he’s one of those quarterbacks who can read defenses and understand what you’re trying to do.

Q: How does that fit in to the road wins at Detroit, Philly?

HARALSON: It’s one of those things where we understand what we have to do. I think as far as the defense and the team, it’s a team with a lot of fight. We don’t give up, man. We know that it’s a 60-minute football game. It was like 30 some seconds and fourth down and they were going for it. A guy like Justin understands that he was going to have to get the ball out fast and just being able to get his hands up and bat it down, it’s just things like that. Sometimes like to grade our performance on how many sacks or tackles you get but it’s basically but when you look at it and watch the film it’s guys playing in the defense, they’re doing their responsibility and allowing us to get those things done.

Q: Did you make a statement?

HARALSON: It depends on who you ask. Do I think we made a statement? I think we went out and we won a game that shows we’re a football team to be reckoned with but we’re looking forward to the next game now.

Q: You’ve worked out with Justin and Ray. Is that conditioning what pays dividends in the fourth quarter like we saw?

HARALSON: It is. I think a lot of it starts with offseason training. There’s a bunch of guys, guys like Justin, Ray, Aldon, Ahmad, every guy on our team, everybody wants to win so there’s a bunch of guys who are willing to give it their all and lay it out there. Conditioning does come into play. It’s about being able to play while you’re tired and being able to focus when you’re tired.

Q: Do you change your mindset facing the Cardinals?

HARALSON: Change it as far as how? We’ve still just got to stop the offense, that’s all we plan on doing. Whoever it is, we’ve got to adjust to what they’re trying to do or make them adjust to what we’re doing and be ready to stop whatever’s handed to us.

Q: Does it seem like so long ago since the last division game in the opener?

HARALSON: It seems like a long time ago, but that’s the way the schedule worked out. It’s the next team up and we’ve just got to be ready for it.

Q: One more win and you have first winning season since 2002?

HARALSON: I never even thought about it like that. We take it one game at a time. Everybody’s excited to be 8-1 but we know that we’ve got Arizona coming in and we’ve got to be ready to take care of that.

Q: How about how you guys have dominated the field-position battle?

HARALSON: That shows you we’re playing as a team, special teams doing what they have to do, offense and defense doing what they have to do. Everybody taking care of their business. I give a lot of credit to those guys out there on special teams. Whenever there’s a punt or a kickoff or something, they run down and make the tackle inside the 20-yard line, the 18, whatever it might be, it gives us more space to work with as far as the defense. Even with kickoff returns, getting good field position with Ted returning. Everybody’s playing as a team, it’s a complete unit.

Q: Does it also give the offense more opportunities to make a mistake? If they have to go down the field 12 plays there’s a greater chance of an INT?

HARALSON: You could say that. One thing we always say, ‘Whatever we’ve started, we’ve got to stop.’ Whenever the defense takes the field, we have to be prepared to stop the offense no matter where it is. It’s one of things we go out there and we know we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do. It does give them a chance to make a mistake but still we’ve got to be powers of that mistake.

Q: What’s the difference with this defense this year?

HARALSON: To tell you the truth I really can’t answer that question. I think sometimes it just falls that way. We’re causing a lot of turnovers, the DBs have been getting a lot of interceptions. Turnovers are huge. You get a lot of turnovers you give the offense more times to score. I think that’s basically what we’ve been doing – causing turnovers, creating turnovers, getting pressure on the quarterback. All that works together.

Q: And you offense not having turnovers helps?

HARALSON: It helps a lot. They’ve been taking care of the ball and the offense has been doing good. With Frank, they’ve been able to run the ball so well and Alex throwing the ball around and the receivers catching it, all that plays in. It’s a team game.

Q: Your coach takes no credit – how much credit do you give him?

HARALSON: I give him a lot of credit, man. Everybody plays a role. Coaches, players, everybody plays a role.

Q: How much did Alex show what he’s about?

HARALSON: I’ve been here with Alex for six years. Alex has been my quarterback for six years. I’m going to ride with Alex whichever way it goes.

Q: What’s the biggest thing Alex has done in his resurgence?

HARALSON: As far as everything goes, I think the offense is playing great. The offensive line is blocking, they’re running the ball, Alex is getting the ball around, throwing the ball around, receivers are catching it. I just think they’re playing great as an offense all around.

Q: How would you assess his performance yesterday?

HARALSON: It ain’t for me to rate it. We won so obviously it went good.