In case you missed it, NFL Network’s Kurt Warner ranked Alex Smith as the fourth-best quarterback in the NFL behind Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, and Drew Brees, and one spot in front of Matthew Stafford. Matt Hasselbeck was in Warner’s top 5 last week, but according to Warner, Smith has surpassed him.

Here’s what Warner said about Smith: “My big surprise: Alex Smith comes in at No. 4. A guy I probably didn’t expect to make this list all year long, but he’s got his team at 4-1 right now, he’s playing as consistent as anybody, and what I’ve seen the last couple weeks is him making the big play. Something that he hadn’t done up to that point of the season.

“You’ve got to play this position, not just week to week but you’ve got to show some consistency at this position. This (list) is about the quarterback playing the best football at this particular time – not just the best game, but the best football. Alex Smith has been doing it all year long.”

Torry Holt added: “It was the first time last week that I saw him actually deliver the football without second guessing anything

SANTA CLARA — Here’s what center Jonathan Goodwin said in the locker room today.

Q: Do you appreciate that your coach gives you the opportunity to really go for the jugular there in the fourth quarter?
JG: Yeah, I mean, coach Harbaugh, obviously he’s aggressive and that’s all you can ask for in a coach. For your coach to be on you and things like that, but to see he’s aggressive gives you confidence.

Q: When the Cowboys came in you said Jay Ratliff was probably the best nose tackle you’ve faced, but the Lions have Ndamukong Suh …
JG: This will be my first time playing against him, but from what I’ve seen he’s definitely up-and-coming. He’s definitely a great talent. He probably even has a chance to be one the best to ever play the game.

Q: Did you circle that game when you saw the Lions were the schedule.
JG: No I’m a one-at-a-time guy. This league has a lot of great players and when you get to a week when you’re going to face a great player, you tackle it that week. You can’t look ahead. So we’ll get to look at him a little bit this week, but it’s definitely going to be a challenge for us as a line.

Q: Scout him tonight?
JG: I’ll definitely be watching tonight. It’s helpful. Even though there’s only so much you can get from a TV copy of the game, but it’s still a little advance film watching for me.

Q: You said he could be one of the best ever to play the game. What makes him so special?
JG: He’s really explosive. Strong. That’s a deadly combination when a guy is explosive and strong. He has a lot of quickness. It’s definitely going to be a challenge for us, but hopefully one we can get done.

Q: Anyone come to mind as far as his style and ability?
JG: Off the top of my head, no.

Q: He’s one-of-a-kind?
JG: Yeah, he might be one-of-a-kind.

Q: For a young guy, being that strong, is that unique?
JG: Some guys are naturally strong. Some guys can be weak in the weight room, but for whatever reason play strong on the field.

Q: Which one are you?
JG: Probably weak in the weight room (laughter). But some guys are just gifted like that. I’ve always heard good things about him. Like I said, whatever our game plan is, hopefully we can find a way to execute it.

Q: Staley said he had a premonition a game like Sunday’s was coming for the offensive line. Did you have a similar feeling?
JG: We’ve been pretty confident throughout the last couple weeks. To actually in the second half have some success in Philly, it made us even more confident. Now it’s great to put together a whole game. The next thing is to try and put together two games. It’s definitely a confidence booster and hopefully we can keep improving this offense.

Q: You’ve talked about the changing culture here. How have you been able to translate that to performance on the field?
JG: Working hard. Like I said, I wasn’t here in the past. I didn’t know how things were. From my experience here, since I got here, guys are working hard and are upbeat. And, so far, it’s paying off or us.

Q: Did you get a sense that some of the guys who have been around here for a while, guys like Frank and Vernon, were pretty happy in the locker room after that win?
JG: Guys were pretty excited. Sunday, after the game, you can take in the win. Now, we’ve got to move on to Detroit. Hopefully it’s the first of many and we can continue to keep changing the culture around.

Q: Joe Staley had said earlier that the offensive line didn’t suck. In retrospect, he said he was pretty angry. Were all of you guys feeling pretty ticked off?
JG: As a lineman, you can always improve and you want to play better. You want to have the offense light up the scoreboard and put up plenty of rushing yards and things like that. We could have done some things better, but we were still a confident group and we felt like, just some things here and there, if we could get them fixed, we’d improve. Fortunately for the past two weeks we have been able to that. Now, the key is to keep continuing to do that. I’m confident in this group and I think that’s something we can do throughout the rest of the year.

Q: What have those little things been? Technique?
JG: Technique and I just think understanding the offense better. Just knowing what other guys are doing and just getting used to playing with other guys. As a lineman, the more experience you get playing with other guys, it really helps.

SAN FRANCISCO – Here’s the transcript of Jim Harbaugh’s postgame press conference.

Q: Was that about as well as you guys can execute?

HARBAUGH: It was definitely very good. Felt like everyone contributed – offense, defense, special teams. Had a lot of good play by a lot of folks. Secondary stood out the most, shined the brightest. They were getting their hands on balls all over the field. Getting takeaways. Making huge plays. Patrick Willis and Bowman were all over the field again. The next thing to highlight – the play of our receivers and the way they blocked and the way the tight ends blocked. There was second-level blocking. There was hustle. Just outstanding. And then yards after contact by our skill players I thought was really good. I thought Alex did a terrific job. The offensive line I thought was at their best today. All the yards, no sacks, and they’re coming off the ball. Really felt they played well. Stopped the run. Our guys were set up to do that. They wanted to do that. That was a point of emphasis and we got that done. Across the board I thought it was an outstanding day for our team.

Q: Why are the Niners’ receivers getting to run so much after the catch?

HARBAUGH: I thought Alex was really on point today. Right from the opening snap of the game. Came out. Read the play properly. Got it to Frank because it was covered downfield. And then just made really cool-headed decisions all day long. His location though, his accuracy was the best of the season. One high ball to Michael Crabtree on third down, and Crab again goes up and makes the high catch. He makes it look so easy. I’ve never seen a guy with that strong of hands. Just pluck the ball from the outer catch range. Really outstanding.

Q: What’s different with Alex Smith?

HARBAUGH: I think it’s all the guys. It’s always the unit. It’s always how they play together, how they function together. I think he had time to see things a bit because the offensive line did a great job protecting. All together. The receivers make great plays for you. The running game gets cranked up. It all feeds on each of those phases.

Q: How big of a play was Carlos Rogers’ interception and return for the touchdown?

HARBAUGH: That was huge. We had just turned the ball over on the fumble when we had knocked it down in there on the long drive. Came away with no points. Carlos gets that interception. That puts us right back in business. He’s had three games in a row with an interception. Just outstanding.

Q: Freeman didn’t get into a rhythm at all. He had problems with your coverages. Did you do anything different?

HARBAUGH: We were doing some things. We were changing some things up. We don’t really talk about the scheme. I thought that our players, and especially in the secondary, were just breaking on balls fast, as fast as I’ve ever seen our guys break and cover and read. I thought they were getting the jump. And that’s good. Good plays. Good coaching. Good scheme. It was tied in very well together.

Q: Can you talk about the play of Ricky Jean-Francois?

HARBAUGH: Ricky JEEN, it’s Ricky JEEN. Get the pronunciation right, that’s all I ask (the questioner actually did have the pronunciation right. It was Harbaugh who was wrong. He’s not familiar with French, apparently.) Ricky Jean was outstanding. And there was never any doubt that he wouldn’t be. Ricky Jean prepares very hard, he’s a heck of a football player and we have confidence in him.

Q: What’s the injury status of Joshua Morgan?

HARBAUGH: We’ll see, we’ll see. When we were out there on the field Josh said it was starting to cool down. We’ll get an evaluation.

Q: It’s easy to second-guess that 4^th and three pass call late in the game because Morgan got hurt. Why did you call that pass there?

HARBAUGH: You’ve got to play. You can’t take a knee with four minutes left in the game. It could have been a run. Josh was competing. I think he’s going to be OK. Kaep’s competing. He’s got to get to work. We’re not taking a knee with four minutes left in the game.

Q: Could you talk about Frank Gore?

HARBAUGH: Yeah. A really strong game by Frank. I thought he was seeing thing really well today. I thought he was seeing holes. Thought he was planting very well. He was making the shallow cuts today. He had his burst back. He looked like Frank.

Q: At the end of the game, why did you take out your starting quarterback but not your starting wide receiver?

HARBAUGH: We went to a three wide receiver set and we only dressed four wide receivers.

SANTA CLARA – Here’s the complete transcript of Greg Roman’s Thursday press conference, courtesy of the 49ers.

Opening Statement:

“First time I was impressed with the Tampa defense is when I got here and we started watching last year’s film. I’d say that they had a pretty dominant performance out here at The Stick last year. Really opened my eyes to what they’re doing there. They’ve got a lot of talented players, there’s nothing not to be impressed with. They’ve got a young, very talented front four. I actually coached against two of these guys when I was at Stanford, [Buccaneers DT Gerald] McCoy and [Buccaneers DT Brian] Price. They were a handful then, they’re a handful now. Extremely active up front, got great experience at the corners. It’s hard to believe that [Buccaneers CB] Ronde Barber is still playing, at a high level no less. He’s seen it all, very savvy player. So, they’ve got good players, good scheme and we’re knee deep in it right now in our preparation. I’ll throw it out to you.”

Did you see an improvement from FB Bruce Miller from week three to week four in his blocking?

“I’ve seen an improvement in Bruce every day, really. He’s gotten better since he’s gotten here. He’s one of those guys that when you correct something, it gets corrected and you really don’t have to revisit it. He puts things behind him and moves on and that’s the key. Very encouraging with him, great attitude, just a sponge, and a pretty physical guy.”

He had that catch that he turned into a nice gain along the sideline and he sort of flipped the ball to the defender and it showed a little bit of fire and passion with him?

“A little swagger perhaps?”

Yeah, a little swagger. From a rookie, that’s sometimes rare.

“Well, he did a great job. First of all, it was a pinpoint throw, about eight inches in front of his front number which allowed him to continue in stride. Then we call it violence on the boundary, he dropped his shoulder and nailed the defender to the ground. So, really perfectly executed play.”

You mentioned the pinpoint throw; QB Alex Smith also hit WR Joshua Morgan in stride. First half, it seemed like things were just a little bit off. What happened in that second half to make things click?

“I’d say early in the last game, I’d say we drove the ball down the field, we just didn’t finish. Drove the ball down the field, didn’t finish. So we really just needed to finish better and just execute and finish our drives. I think you hit it on the head really, just a little thing here, a thing there. Those got cleaned up and we were able to finish drives.”

Nothing changed, right? You guys were sticking with the same stuff you always do?

“Nope, same stuff, same plays. I think we threw it 2:1 ration on the first half, about what we did in the second half. It was just better execution. I know that’s boring, but it’s the truth.”

DT Isaac Sopoaga has really, last week in particular, played a lot of snaps and done a good job. If you guys don’t have him, you probably won’t have him, how much does that change what you do or do you have to rely on different packages in those short yardage situations?

“We’ll adapt. Isaac is, first of all, his coach [Defensive Line coach] Jim Tomsula was so excited when we first talked to him about using him on offense, which is refreshing. He’s the most thrilled guy when he heard, a big smile on his face. I think it started there. Really, when you look at Isaac’s notebook at his notes he takes, it’s unbelievable. I should bring it down here and show it to you sometime. He was a great presence in there. He’s a passionate guy, really has embraced that role. We’ll have to come up with something else.”

Were you able to use him more in that game because he wasn’t playing a lot of nose tackle?

“Perhaps. I think when we need him, he’ll be ready regardless.”

Obviously competing against the Eagles and their very good defensive backfield, what are some of the nuances the Buccaneers defensive backs bring?

“I think the coverages they play are different for the most part. Their coverage scheme is maybe a little more traditional than what Philly plays. You’ve got a guy back there, Barber, that has been doing it for so long, so he can kind of play around the edges so to speak, and use his instinct to try to make interceptions, etcetera. So,you always have to understand where he is. They’re not afraid to get up in your face and play man. They do it quite a bit. They’re going to get up and jam you and play man, which Philly does as well. Overall, I’d say the Tampa scheme still has its roots in the Tony Dungy coverage system.”

How much do the Eagles play man after looking at the film, what percentage do you think?

“The Eagles play really a matchup zone, which turns into man. Depending on the route you run, it could look like man, it could look like zone. But they play a high percentage of man.”

From what you’ve seen, is WR Michael Crabtree 100 percent now?

“I think he’s getting there. I’ve never seen him fully healthy. He’s working hard, he’s getting there. I’d say he’s right around 100 percent, if he’s not. He definitely is not showing any signs of the injury.”

It was suggested this morning on the radio that you guys saw a weakness in Eagles CB Nnamdi Asomugha and attacked him in the second half of that game. Is that an accurate description?

“I think we had a pretty good feel for him before the game. Just as things progressed, we ended up going to the left side of the field more.”

Was he on TE Vernon Davis more than you thought he might be?

“No, we pretty much figured that would happen.”

At Stanford and here, you had a power running philosophy. The NFL more and more seems to be going to passing and airing it out. What is the philosophy behind having a power runner?

“I think you’ve got to look at the players you have when you design your attack. I think you want to have a multidimensional attack that can’t be shoved into a box. Because, really, the way we look at it, anybody can stop a play if they know it’s coming, really, with numbers or stunts, etcetera. So, you want to have a diverse attack that accounts for different defenses and then it comes down to what your own team is good at and can be good at. We’re still figuring that out, I think that’s a work in progress, but it all comes down to execution. A power running game allows you to wear people down over the course of the game, probably more so than a zone running game does. It also probably gives you more opportunity to complement the play action.”

Did Alex Smith show you something the second half that you didn’t know about him?

“No, really didn’t show me anything that we know he can’t do. He played a great half, plain and simple. I think there’s times when you just have to make the throw, you have to read it right, you have to make the play. And he did that. That allowed us to come back and win that last game. It was very similar to the week before, really.”

Last couple of weeks we’ve seen that RB Kendall Hunter can do quite a bit on the perimeter as far as toss plays and sweeps and things like that. Is that your preference to kind of have a thunder and lightning kind of backfield or would you prefer, ideally, to have two backs that can be interchangeable and do the exact same things?

“Really, you like guys that can do it all. Kendall can run it inside and he can run it outside, as can Frank. We’ve all seen that. I wouldn’t typecast them as such, one guy’s inside, one guy’s outside. As Kendall gets more experience, and he’s done a great job, he’s going to be a complete player. Really, really like Kendall Hunter.”

As you may remember, Football Outsiders correctly predicted a 6-10 record for the 49ers in 2010.

After the week 1 win this year against the Seahawks, they gave the Niners a 55.6 percent chance to make the playoffs. Now, after the Niners’  3-1 start to 2011, Football Outsiders gives them an 89.1 percent chance to make the postseason. The only team in the NFL they give better odds to make the postseason is the Green Bay Packers (92.8%).

The team with the third highest odds is the Detroit Lions (84%). And the Tampa Bay Bucs have a 42 percent chance to make the playoffs, apparently. The St. Louis Rams were most experts’ preseason pick to win the NFC West, but Football Outsiders now gives them a 0.8 percent chance to make the playoffs after starting the season 0-4.

Football Outsiders also gives the Niners a 5.1 percent chance to win the Super Bowl – the ninth best odds of all the teams in the NFL, and better odds than the Steelers, the Jets, the Falcons, the Cowboys, the Bucs, and the Eagles.

SANTA CLARA – Here’s the complete transcript of Harbaugh’s Monday press conference.

Enjoy.

Q: What was the plane ride like?

HARBAUGH: It was good. Good. That was a fun plane ride back. The fellas enjoyed themselves and it’s just a great feeling. Great thrill of victory. Wonderful feel of winning.

Q: We hear you give up your first-class seat and sit with your players…

HARBAUGH: Yeah, I don’t feel comfortable up in first class. I’m a coach guy.

Q: A coach coach.

HARBAUGH: Coach coach, yeah.

Q: What do you do back there in coach?

HARBAUGH: I watch the tape on the laptop. Walk around, talk to the fellas. Watched a little bit of a movie. It was a long trip.

Q: Who did you give your seat to?

HARBAUGH: Jonathan Goodwin. Not a big deal.

Q: Part of what we do is try to get to know the coach. You’re very hard to get to know – you may not know that.

HARBAUGH: I’m moody and complicated.

Q: I think you’re moody and uncomplicated, but anyway, Carlos Rogers told us you grew up in a 1,000-foot house sharing a room with your brother. What was that like?

HARBAUGH: There was just a little saying around the house my dad would always use: ‘Who’s got it better than us?’ We’d all respond, ‘Nobody.’ We could be driving in the car, just whatever we were doing, he’d say it and we’d respond ‘nobody,’ and we really thought that. We didn’t think there was anybody else who could possibly have it better than us. And then as you get older you realize people do have it better than you do but in the case of the house, it was a really small house. I had a chance to go back there and look at it when I was scouting players at the University of Iowa. It was like two bedrooms, three kids, a mom and a dad, living room, kitchen. All was the same. I don’t know how many square feet it was. I looked at it and said, ‘This is the smallest house I think I’ve ever seen.’ But we didn’t think so as kids. My dad would say: ‘Isn’t this great, you and your brother get to share the room, you can talk philosophy, you can share each other’s dreams. Who could possibly have it better than you two guys?’ We thought nobody. That was kind of the idea. Sometimes you’d walk out of the house and there would be a car there and sometimes there wouldn’t. When there wasn’t, it was, ‘Hey, we’re walking today,’ get the basketball and start dribbling it. Just realized that, as you look back on it, the message there was not having things handed to you, things not coming easy are really the blessing because you’ve got to overcome some things. If it’s harder then it makes you better in the long run. I really wanted to be a major league shortstop growing up. I had a glove. I had baseball diamonds to play on. There are kids down in the Dominican Republic who are making gloves out of milk cartons. I didn’t stand a chance to be a major league shortstop. Those guys had to overcome so much more that made them better players in the long run. We just try to find ways to make it harder on ourselves. How can we make things suck more than they do?

Q: Are they sucking enough now?

HARBAUGH: We’re getting there.

Q: You tell your players this so they know it’s not a bad thing to have to overcome whatever they’re overcoming? Is that the point?

HARBAUGH: I think that’s the point, yeah.

Q: Where was this house?

HARBAUGH: Iowa City. Tarwin Court.

Q: Can you spell that for us?

HARBAUGH: Not really.

Q: Can I make it up?

HARBAUGH: You can make it up.There’s a T-A and then there’s a W. R-I-N is my best guess. I was only 6 (laughs).

Q: You and your brother were talking about philosophy in your room when you were six?

HARBAUGH: That’s what my dad was selling, yeah (more laughs).

Q: You said the irony of Stanford’s 24-23 win over USC in 2007 … is there some echo there as a program-changer?

HARBAUGH: Yes, yes, and really not the kind of guy that thinks about the good old days or has remorse or regret about the past, don’t really think about it either way. Always just thinking about planning, saving, working, preparing for the future. There was a moment there that that ballgame reminded me personally of that 2007 game, and the score was identical.

Q: You’ve been close on the road so many times, now 2-0 on the road, why’s it working?

HARBAUGH: Well, people keep bringing that up, the record before on non-divisional road games, things like that. I guess we just look at that as that’s for the people with the computers. People like to look in the deep past of football history. We like to look at it as we’re 2-0 against non-divisional road opponents, not in our conference or division – something like that.

Q: But what’s the key?

HARBAUGH: They’re getting better, they’re playing better. They’re getting stronger, they’re growing closer together. Not where we want to be but we’re working at it. I told them the other day they’re good and the longer it takes them to figure that out the better off we’ll all be, because when people start thinking they’ve arrived that’s when they stop working and doing the things that got them there. We’ll keep pretending we have a long way to go, and we do. We don’t have to pretend. That’s what we need to keep doing, keep working hard.

Q: Is part of your task this week making sure they don’t get too high?

HARBAUGH: Yeah, that’s one. It comes back to you’re getting better or getting worse, you never remain the same. We’ll keep that blue-collar mentality.

Q: Your fourth quarters lately have been your best. Is that because of adjustments? Is that persistence?

HARBAUGH: I don’t know what word you want to use. Relentless, I like better than persistent. I feel like our guys, they’re not… they’re not letting it… they’re not doubting. They’re not… they’re not letting go. The game, the game of football is in doubt until one side thinks it’s not. Our guys, they’re playing the full 60 minutes and then some. And they’re finding a way to win. There’s no getting scared that I’ve sensed from our football team. They’re believing that they can and will be successful. And trusting that they’re good and they’re good enough. And plenty good enough.

Q: Would you have called it differently in the third quarter if the Eagles’ lead was bigger at halftime?

HARBAUGH: Would there have been? I can’t say that there would’ve been.

Q: Frank Gore says as long as we follow our leader, we will be great. He’s not the only one saying similar things.

HARBAUGH: Yeah, we’ve got some great leadership on our football team. It starts with Frank, you know? Justin Smith, Alex Smith, Joe Staley, Donte Whitner. I think the fellas are on the right track there. There’s so many of those type of guys on our football team that are displaying that kind of leadership. Encouraged that bodes well for us.

Q: He means you.

HARBAUGH: Me?

Q: They believe in you.

HARBAUGH: Well… that’s great to hear. I believe the team’s growing stronger. It’s growing stronger in its belief in each other and in us. We look at that as us, ours, our identity, who we are, how we do things. It’s just the guys you have and the ways that you do things. I think our guys are growing stronger in that belief.

Q: You said the team was still looking for its offensive identity, 50-50 run-pass. After yesterday, are you guys close to finding it?

HARBAUGH: We’re getting closer, you know? We’re still growing. We’re still part of the process.

Q: When I first learned how to drive, my parents wouldn’t let me drive on the highway… In a similar way, have you been limiting the offense to start this season?

HARBAUGH: Well, to speak for myself, my parents let me drive on the highway right away when I was 16. Probably two months later I got in an accident. So… I only speak for that driving record. Your parents were a little wiser. We’re doing everything we can. This is… it’s always been … the plan is to do the best we can this year. We look at these games as 16 one-week seasons. Going into every game, the only goal is to win those games.

Q: You weren’t more careful with the offense?

HARBAUGH: Careful is not something we attach to our mentality. That’s not a word we would use.

Q: How important is resiliency to an athlete and are you seeing that in Alex Smith?

HARBAUGH: I think resiliency is really important. It’s a very important thing to have. It’s kind of like the guy in the movies who, no matter what you do to him, blow him up, shoot him, knife him, you know, you can’t kill him. He just keeps coming back and bouncing back and those types of things. You’d prefer to be the guy in the movies that’s the relentless guy, he’s resilient and he always finds a way to kill you, as well. The enemy. That’s where we’d rather go. We’d rather go from resilient to relentless.

Q: Are you saying Alex has been blown up and shot at?

HARBAUGH: He’s been very resilient. I think, like our whole team, we’re moving… that’s the intent.

Q: One play you got Kaepernick in there. Do you have a package for him? Are we going to see him in there more?

HARBAUGH: Could be. That’s all very possible and something that we’ve been building and practicing.

Q: Is Adam Snyder still at right guard?

HARBAUGH: There is no right guard controversy in football that I’m aware of. I mean, I can understand a quarterback controversy. I can understand us talking about that. But as it pertains to… I’m not aware of any right-guard controversies or how many times the defensive linemen play in a certain rotation or how many snaps running backs play, is there a rotation. That’s all part of football. I don’t think there’s a guard controversy.

Q: What went right with the offensive line Sunday?

HARBAUGH: Well, they got a lot of things fixed from one week to the next, in terms of pad level, I thought, was a lot lower in this ball game, the timing, the angles were better, just getting off on the snap, the pre-snap penalties were much improved. Just on point. Much better. That’s a group that’s felt challenged and wanted to do something about it. There’s a couple parts in that game that just really stand out to you as a coach. One is when you get that fumble and the entire bench erupts, just everybody on the squad is so enthusiastic and jumping around. You see it even on the coaching tape, right in the middle of it, trying to get everyone back, but that warms your heart that guys are into that, and they should have been. That play that Justin made was just a hustle play. I can’t say enough great things about him. I’m around him every day, he’s what I think about when I think about John Wayne. He’s a John Wayne kind of guy around our building here. The other one was, right there at the end, when the offense had the ball and knocked out the two first downs, you see Sopoaga and Iupati and Anthony Davis celebrating that 4-yard gain that Frank got that meant that we could take a knee and the game was ours. That makes you feel good. Their confidence is growing, and that all bodes well for us.”

Q: Are your long practices in training camp paying dividends now in games?

HARBAUGH: No, I’m starting to get the feeling like there’s too many nice things coming our way here. My coach in college said, whenever people start talking nice about you, kick ‘em in the shins. Let’s stop. Let’s stop. We got to get back to work here and start concentrating on this football game. I feel exposed when people are saying flowery things about us. We would rather prefer that all that’s written is written against us.

Q: OK, well, then, you suck.

HARBAUGH: Thank you. Thank you. Go back to yourselves. Go back to the list of everything that’s negative. Play the negative quiz show.

Q: So, that helps you?

HARBAUGH: Yes.

Q: So that’s how you want it? You against the world?

HARBAUGH:  We just feel a more certain assurance of success when all that’s written is written against us. It’s when honey words of praise are flowered upon us that we begin to feel exposed before our enemies.

Q: I believe, actually, that you’re the greatest football coach that I’ve ever been around (laughs).

Q: Did you feel as if you had to build up Smith’s confidence?

HARBAUGH: No, he’s always struck me as a very confident guy, very tough guy, very mentally tough guy, physically tough guy. He’s been easy to coach, he really has. He’s extremely bright, book smart and football experienced. So, it’s been easy coaching him. He’s done it all.

Q: With Aldon Smith playing so much against the Eagles, was that because he has earned the time or because of Mike Vick at QB?

HARBAUGH: Aldon, because he’s deserves it. He’s earned those snaps. He impacted the game, made a couple real nice plays in the ball game. It was one of those games where the entire roster was contributing and needed to. He stood out. NaVorro Bowman stood out big time in this ball game. He made huge third-down plays. When you look at the third-down stops on Vick out in the open field, he was spying him on a few of those occasions. Good, physical tackles. Goldson, as well, contributed there. Justin Smith, Ray McDonald, again, were outstanding. Ahmad Brooks, the first four games of the season have been outstanding play. Sometimes, at times, taking us on his back like he did at Cincinnati on that goal-line stand where he made all three plays from the 5-yard line. There’s good team defense.

SANTA CLARA — Carlos Rogers, the defense’s Monday morning post-victory spokesman, talked to reporters at length at his locker today, and this is what he said.

Q: Talk about this team’s ability to get that plus/minus ratio going in their favor.

ROGERS: That’s something coaches put a lot of emphasis on, especially with the back end (of the defense.) We do so many ball drills during practice. You get the safeties out there one day catching balls. You get the corners out there one day catching balls. Some guys are on the Jugs Machine. Offense is always talking about protecting the ball. If you can do those things – defense get turnovers, offense protect the ball – it’s going to count for a lot of wins.

Q: What is it about this team that’s making the key plays other teams aren’t?

ROGERS: Just doing it. Coming into that game, people never gave us a shot. And I told guys the pressure wasn’t on us to come out and win, it was all on the Eagles. Looking at the 49ers coming in the preseason, all the talk throughout the lockout, we were supposed to be sorry. There wasn’t no pressure on us – we were supposed to be sorry. We were supposed to come in and lose so many games – Coach Harbaugh’s first year, Alex as the quarterback, all the negative talk. And looking at the Eagles, a team with all the guys they brought in in the offseason, the dream team so-called. All the pressure was on them. We just had to come in and play ball and play it throughout the whole game. If you can see that’s what we did. We didn’t get down about the 20-3 lead. Coach came in at halftime like, guys, keep your heads up, don’t worry about it. We’re going to come with this offense. We’re going to exploit the secondary and just go right at them, and that’s what they did. We got some stops on Vick. They still got some yards in the second half, missed some field goals which helped us out, but we just kept plowing and came up with the victory.

Q: What makes you believe Harbaugh when he says we’re going to fire up this offense?

ROGERS: You just do. You don’t have a choice. Being in this league, I’ve seen so many times where you’ve been up one half, a quarter, whatever it is, and think you’re going to have the victory and you just slip that one little bit. That little motivation gets teams. We scored, we scored a field goal, whatever it was, and all of a sudden you’re hearing the boos from the Philly fans. Things like that turn the game around. If you’re not on your game the whole game – we’ve seen it with the Cowboys. We were up. Everybody was shocked about that, and they came back and beat us.

Q: When you hear those boos what do you think?

ROGERS: We just have to keep going. At the time we weren’t up, so it was like we were getting back in and getting the motivation, getting everything on our side. At that time we were down six points. I was like, if we score again they’ll really leave. And at that time, fans started leaving. Once we got the ball and our offense got those first downs, it was over.

Q: Talk about Harbaugh’s ability to deal with you guys as people?

ROGERS: You just take what they give you. You just listen to them. With anybody they’ve got a philosophy, something they want to come in and establish. That’s what everybody’s done. When he first came in with training camp we were having close to three-hour practices. I was like, golly, what’s going on? Why are we doing this? But he had a plan behind that – practice hard, build your body up, your conditioning for times when you have to go 50, 60, 70 plus plays, and you’ll be ready throughout the whole game. This is my seventh year and I’ve never been through a training camp like that. If I can do it, you’ve got guys on this team that are younger than me, they can do it.

Q:What is Harbaugh like? We don’t know him very well.

ROGERS: I would say blue collar. He’s a blue collar guy, blue collar coach. It was so funny, when we were flying back on the plane, he’s back there with us. He gave up his first class seat to come back with the players and sit in the coach seats with us. He even had someone beside him – someone he was watching video with. When do you see a coach want to give up their first class seat and come back there and sit with the players throughout a five hour flight? He’s just a blue collar worker. He’s not about the fancy stuff. Just come out here and work hard and play football and you’ll see the results.

Q: Did the three hour practices help you yesterday?

ROGERS: Oh yeah, they do. Like I said, we’re going to keep building up. This team won’t be down, won’t quit, won’t give up, won’t be tired. In preseason he was all about I don’t care if y’all are tired for these games. I’m not worried about these games. Y’all can be tired. Guys were like, man, we still want to win, we don’t want to be out there tired, but now we see what he’s saying.

Q: Where was he sitting on the plane? Who was he sitting next to?

ROGERS: He was on the window exit row. I’m new so I don’t know everybody’s name, but he was back there. I was right across from him on the other side of the plane, and I looked over at the time we walked on the plane, and of course all the coaches, the ownership, they’ve got the first class seats. I looked behind me, he was walking behind me like, anybody want my seat? I was like nah, coach. I don’t know who took it, but I’m pretty sure it was one of the big guys (it was Jonathan Goodwin).

Q: So you’ve never seen anything quite like that?

ROGERS: Never, never, never. This is a different team from what I’m used to. You see the owners, you see the general manager flying back with the team, not on their own plane. We get off and go to the hotel, they’re on the bus with us, always traveling with us. In the locker room. Giving guys good luck before the game. Talking to guys after the game. Shaking their hands. I’ve never experienced that. You can see the family-type atmosphere there is around here.

Q: What was Harbaugh doing in the back of the plane?

ROGERS: Watching film. Other than that he was asleep.

Q: When he asks you guys who’s got it better than us, what does that mean?

ROGERS: Like I said, he’s a blue collar guy, and it’s about sacrificing, not complaining. He gave us an example of the house he lived in. It was not even 1,000 (square) feet, two bedrooms I think. His parents had a room, his sister, and him and his brother, I think they slept on the floor. His dad always said nobody has it better than y’all. You can complain about these things, but you can look at how he grew up and where his family’s been to the success he’s having right now. That’s what he talks about with us. It’s not always pretty on the other side. Look at what we’re doing and look at what the other teams are doing. It resembles what some of the other teams were doing during training camp. And look at us – we’re working. Some teams are out there having fun. Some teams taking off, and what we’re doing is paying off.

Here’s the transcript of Jim Harbaugh’s postgame press conference in Philadelphia.

HARBAUGH: That was as good of a win as I can remember being a part of. Really proud of our players. They never flinched. There was no moment or circumstance that made them nervous in this ballgame. Kept fighting, made some great adjustments, great team victory for us.

Q: Did you have a message to the team at halftime?

HARBAUGH: Just a short, quick message at halftime. It was we just need to play a little better. We need to execute just a little bit better than what we had been doing in the first half. Don’t know if that made a difference. It was more of the heart of the players. Down after down, they never tired mentally or had doubt. They didn’t flinch. They didn’t get scared. They just kept fighting.

Q: How much does this win mean to your football team?

HARBAUGH: It means a lot. It’s a great character-builder for a young team to really know and trust and believe that they can and will do well, believe that they are good enough to do well. And no quit or no getting scared out there. That’s big. That’s the way we wanted them to play and that’s the way they played.

Q: How did the offensive line play?

HARBAUGH: I thought our offensive line played extremely physical and well. Big-time got things fixed, I thought. With the pre snap penalties, I think we only had one in the ball game. And it was loud and noisy. And then to grind out those first downs at the end of the game. Frank, as we predicted he would do, played on a really sore ankle. And what a tough guy he is, goes for over a hundred yards. That guy’s got so much heart it’s unbelievable. I thought Kendall did a nice job. Great team victory. You just go up and down the roster on this one. Special teams, offense, defense, great team win.

Q: Did you need to see Gore warm up before you could determine what his role was going to be for this game?

HARBAUGH: He was coming to the stadium to warm up, just in his own mind to make sure that it was right. He didn’t do much all week. He couldn’t. But he did a lot of treatment is what he did. You’re asking me did I need to see him warm up? I saw something in Frank that I’ve seen since the first time I met him and that is a guy with a huge heart and just a warrior out there. And I know what that word means, warrior, in the context of football, but I think it applies to certain guys and Frank is one.

Q: Did you make some adjustments to slow them down in the second half?

HARBAUGH: We really went with our plan. We didn’t make a lot of adjustments defensively other than just play better. And the one thing our defensive guys talked about at halftime was better angles on Vick, taking better angles in tackling him. He’s going to get out of things and he’s a heck of a football player, but our guys hung in there and they didn’t flinch, and just played a little bit better in that second half and found a way to get it done.

Q: On a couple series in the second half Alex Smith was near perfect. Can you talk about what went into that and what that might mean for him?

HARBAUGH: I think it’s huge for a quarterback. You don’t have many 20-point comebacks as a quarterback, and when you do that’s definitely a character-builder for the football team, for the quarterback, for everybody. What’s perfect in this game? I don’t know, but I guess they judge that by quarterback rating and he had a perfect quarterback rating – nine of nine in the third quarter. That’s pretty good. Really proud of him, too. He’s such a tough guy, and he doesn’t really say boo about anything. Takes hits, gets hits, runs. I thought he threw with real good accuracy today. Seeing things well. Seeing lanes and seeing throws. And receivers helped him out too. Mike caught a couple balls that were a little high and made those look easy. I think as a quarterback when you’ve got guys that are doing that for you, that builds your confidence as well. Just a good team victory up and down. I thought there was some great, heroic play by our guys up and down the roster.

Q: That third and seven run by Kendall Hunter on that fourth quarter drive for the 14 yard gain and the first down, what was the thinking behind that?

HARBAUGH: We thought they were going to be bringing pressure and in man coverage. With that particular sweep, when you block down with the two receivers, you usually get the coverage people to go with them, so you can get a two-for one on that. That’s what we were hoping we’d get and we got it. We were going to go for it on fourth (down) had we not picked it up. We knew we were in a four-down situation there. And it was a great call by Greg Roman.

Jim Harbaugh spoke to the Press Democrat’s former 49ers beat reporter, Brian Murphy, this morning on KNBR’s the Murph and Mac show.

Here’s the transcript of the interview.

Q: How is Youngstown today?

HARBAUGH: It’s good. We’re having a good day. Game planning for the Eagles. Players are getting their lifts in over at Youngstown State University, and we’re plugging along.

Q: Do you guys get the Youngstown State football offices?

HARBAUGH: Well they have a bye week. They don’t play this week, so that’s something that worked out very well. We do have their facilities – both their game stadium and their indoor facility and their weight room. They’re being very accommodating. We really appreciate all the efforts by the folks at Youngstown State and here in Youngstown. It’s kind of nice, we’re getting treated like kings here.

Q: Does it feel like college or like training camp in a way?

HARBAUGH: It does in some ways. It feels like that. It feels like a bowl game. We’re in a hotel. We have all our video set up here. Meals are eaten here in the hotel. Guys go out to the Longhorn Steakhouse that’s across the street. There’s pizza getting delivered to the hotel. It’s not an animal house by any stretch of the imagination. Guys got together and watched Monday Night Football last night. There’s kind of that collegiate camaraderie going on.

Q: You’re 2-1 and in first place. Does that carry weight this early in the season.

HARBAUGH: Well, you’d like to get ahead and stay ahead. But this early in the season, no, we’re not looking at standings or anything like that. It’s a good spot to be in. We’re not where we want to be. We’re judging success by are we better today than we were yesterday? Are we better tomorrow than we were today? That’s the standard by which we measure success and that’s what we said going into the season and we’re sticking with that plan.

Q: When the Cincinnati game settled into your brain, what do you think were the most important things that happened? Was it just the win? Was it the defense making the big picks? Or was it the fourth quarter drive?

HARBAUGH: Certainly those things. There’s an old football axiom that you never played as well as you thought you did, and you never played as poorly as you thought you did when you watch the tape. In some ways that was true. Defensively it was a fantastic performance. It was a real defensive gem that our guys turned in in the way that they kept getting stops, stop after stop. Sudden change where we turn the ball over in the red zone offensively and the defense goes out and holds them to a field goal. That was huge. The interceptions were huge. Even the first drive of the game where the Bengals drove 75 yards and then had first and five at our five, and our defense forces another field goal there. And Ahmad Brooks made all three plays – a tackle for a loss, a pressure on the quarterback, and then a second tackle. He was a one-man wrecking crew on our defense. A lot of positives there. Offensively, yes, the big fourth quarter drive. Our team came out after halftime and made some good adjustments, stayed patient, and in the second half we were able to move the ball, pick up first downs, and that led to the game winning points. And then also David Akers, who’s seven for seven now on field goals, kicked a 53 yarder in the game which was his 300^th career made field goal. A lot of bright spots.

Q: What are you learning about Vernon Davis, the man and the player?

HARBAUGH: Well we’re learning about all the players. We’ve been together now two months. We’re getting to know them. They’re getting to know me. Vernon Davis has got a big heart, that’s what I’ve learned. He is a strong, mighty man. He wants the team to do well. He wants to win. That’s what I’ve learned about Vernon. And he came out and performed very well. And a lot of times people see the catches and they say Vernon’s involved, Vernon had a good game because he caught the football. What I don’t think most people see is the blocks. The dominant blocker than Vernon is and can be. He is a huge part of our offense.

Q: That big throwback screen to Vernon Davis in the fourth quarter, had you been waiting all game to call that? Did you bait the Bengals on that?

HARBAUGH: Players and coaches, play callers on the offensive side of the ball, I thought they did a great job of being patient. That football game, from an offensive perspective, it was tough, it was rough, it was hard to get yards, it was painful at times. Like going to the dentist. Sometimes you get frustrated and you want to force something to make a big play when it’s not there. It takes a degree of patience to wait for it and then pick the right time to make it happen. I think our offense did that, and that play was certainly an example.

Q: Is Frank Gore good to go this Sunday?

HARBAUGH: Yeah, we’ll see. We’ll start practicing tomorrow and see exactly where Frank is. Frank is one of the toughest football players I’ve ever been around, so if I was to make an educated guess I would say he’s good to go.

Q: Did you intimate to the beat reporters that some offensive line jobs are open for competition this week?

HARBAUGH: No, I did not intimate that. It’s amazing how things get…I didn’t read any articles, but no I did not intimate that the offensive line is up for competition.

Q: So the same five guys are going to start for you…

HARBAUGH: I mean it always is. There’s always competition. I’ve said all along that we have seven guys on our offensive line that are starter-caliber and that we consider as starters. That will remain the case. How we choose to substitute guys and how to use them in terms of the scheme, whether we play a group of five or a different group of five, or six or seven at one time, that’s how we choose to do it and I wouldn’t read anything more into that or construe it any other way. That’s football. That’s knowing football. Sometimes I don’t think everyone quite gets that.

Q: Was Andy Lee supposed to run out the clock on that last play?

HARBAUGH: If he could run out the clock, yes. But under no circumstances was he to get hit or have any chances of losing the football in the end zone. Priority No. 1 – catch the football. Retreat back into the end zone. Run off as much time as he possibly could. Watch the defenders as they’re approaching. Get right at the back line, and then as soon as they got near him, step out of the back of the end zone. He executed it very well.

Q: It got a little hairy though, having to kick that last safety punt from the 20.

HARBAUGH: Yeah, they were bring double-edge pressure off the edges, and what we’re asking Andy to do is directionally punt the ball out of bounds, and sometimes that can be tough. You angle it to the left and you’ve got edge pressure coming from the left. You try to angle it to the right out of bounds and you’ve got edge pressure coming from the right. And what can sometimes happen is the ball can get kicked back into the center of the field because you don’t want the punt blocked, and then the returner has a chance for a return, which you saw Desean Jackson do against the New York Giants last year. Thought the most prudent thing was to take a safety, and then line up for a safety kick where there was no chance for a block, and now Andy can navigate that punt with less of a chance for a return.

Q: Did you know that you’re only the third 49ers head coach to win his first road game? Monte Clark, George Seifert, Jim Harbaugh. Does that mean anything to you?

HARBAUGH: It sure does. Winning means a lot. We’re happy to be 1-0. Looking for No. 2.

Q: Are you expecting Philadelphia to be a den of hostility on Sunday?

HARBAUGH: Yes. Wow. That paints a picture. Den of hostility. That’s why you do what you do.