Quarterback Alex Smith
On getting this win for Coach Reid:
SMITH: "I don't think there's any necessarily added motivation. We only play 16 games. You play once a week, so every game is huge. Every game's a must win, but I think every single guy in the locker room recognized the unique situation it was for Coach Reid and a lot of these coaches that had been here so long. I think we all recognized that and of course we wanted to get this for him. You want to get every single one, so they're all huge. They're all big games."
On what the team said to Coach Reid in the locker room after the game:
SMITH:"The guys were fired up for him. To have him come in and get to see the emotion on his face I think meant a lot to the guys. I think we knew how much this meant to him. He never would say it the entire week on the short week, but I think guys were fired up for him. He puts in just as much as we do and I'm happy for him to get this W."
On what he was thinking during the play on 3rd & 10 at the 5 yard line after LeSean McCoy scored:
SMITH:"We knew that was a big drive. Our defense had been on the field a lot before that. We hadn't done much with the ball the last few series before that and knew we needed to change some field position, we needed to eat up some clock, we needed to give our defense a rest. It was a big play, a big play in the game. You know it was a big play in the game. I thought [WR] Donnie [Avery] made a great catch, a great job coming back to the ball."
On what was different in the redzone today than in previous games:
SMITH:"It comes down to execution. A lot of little things. I think we all had our fair share, me included, out there tonight on offense. I don't know what we were, but it wasn't very good. If we were any better, with the way our defense was playing, the game wouldn't have been as close as it was. It's certainly something we need to get better at. We had a lot of opportunities down there early and you just have to capitalize, at least a couple times. It's certainly an area for some improvement for us."
On working with Donnie Avery tonight and realizing his quickness:
SMITH:"I thought Donnie came back. He was a little banged up in OTAs, but had a great training camp. I thought it really showed what he was capable of. I think he gives us great balance. I think he really compliments [WR] Dwayne [Bowe] on the other side. I don't think anybody was surprised in this locker room at all. It's something he's been doing out there on the practice field day in and day out."
On what it means for the offense if you can turn a 5 yard pass into a 20 yard play:
SMITH:"It's great…quarterback's best friend. You love them. You have to have balance. We need that. You need that in a passing game here and there and had a lot of yards after the catch today so it was great."
On the use of Jamaal Charles, especially in the fourth quarter:
SMITH:"I thought he ran hard at the end of the game. Once again, the last two weeks all those guys up front really embraced the moment at the end of the game. I thought they did the same thing out there today and, instead of shying away from it, took it head on, Jamaal included and ran extremely hard and really sealed that game away."
On being 3-0 at this point in the schedule:
SMITH:"These Thursday games are though. They're though. It's a quick turnaround. It's a physical game. It's tough to mentally alter the game plan. Especially when you're traveling, when you're the away team, it's another added deal, a whole other day taken away from you, I think. So they're very difficult. If you can find a way to get a W, then all of a sudden it can be a little bit of a blessing because you get some time off here and almost like another little bye week. We certainly have room for improvement, especially on offense, so it will be good for us to get a few days to kind of reflect and get to the details."
