The Bee's Matthew Barrows is at 49ers headquarters in Santa Clara as the team prepares for the season. Read his blogs daily at www.sacbee.com/ninersblog. Following are excerpts from Tuesday:
Alex Smith didn't read yesterday's Peter King item in which Mike Nolan seemed to imply that J.T. O'Sullivan's preseason has been better than 2 1/2 regular seasons of work by Smith. But he heard about it. And he and Nolan discussed it. And he's not angry. And he and agent Tom Condon aren't fashioning an escape (that'll come after the season).
"Coach Nolan and I are beyond that," Smith said when asked about the comments. "I think we've been through enough with the media and different things. But I trust in what he's telling me, so … "
Smith had a long conversation with Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News and me. Some excerpts:
About whether his shoulder has played a role in his accuracy issues this offseason:
I think if there's anything, it's just getting back the length of throws. I think when you're talking about really letting it go downfield, I think there are some lasting effects as far as not having the strength that I used to maybe.
Does it come into your mind before the throw?
It's not as easy as it was. It used to be pretty effortless to get the ball downfield. I think the last little thing is just building that back up.
Are you confident the long ball eventually will return?
Absolutely. It's the throwing progression as far as coming back.
Was that discussed when you had the surgery?
Never talked about it. But … it will be something I have to continue to work on. Even working on it in the offseason, throwing some long balls and different things.
Would an "Angry Alex" be a more effective Alex?
I think I get angry just as much as the next person. I think I really thought about it and (concluded), what good is it going to do? You know, it's not going to do anything for me, and it's not going to do anything for this team.
At some point do you have to think, "This coaching staff may not want me to be the quarterback?"
Yeah, that's definitely a possibility. But I'm not thinking about that right now. When the time comes, in the offseason or something like that, we'll deal with it. But right now, I'm taking on this new role, and it is what it is.
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