San Francisco quarterback Alex Smith reflects on what was so close to being the 49ers' first win of the season Sunday.
On losing this game:
"It hurts. It's frustrating. Especially this game. To jump out on them like we did and have a chance in the second half to win. Yeah, it is frustrating."
On 49ers' offense against the Falcons:
"I felt like we did some pretty good things, and we mixed it up. We came out of the gates fast, and on the opening drive we scored. I thought we were better on third downs even with the noise. We did some good things, but we didn't come away with the win."
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On 49ers TE Vernon Davis:**
"I feel like they [Falcons' defense] were conscious of him. We thought we could get him out there and give him his space. We have been successful with it, because he is a guy that when he gets the ball in his hands he can do something with it. We really thought it was something we could take advantage of."
On how he played in the game:
"We had two critical errors out there. In the end you look back and see it cost us the game. The first one we were moving the ball at the end of the half in a two minute situation, and we were trying not to take a sack. In actuality, a sack is not that bad, and we weren't trying to throw it away we were just trying to make a play and it ends up costing us. The second one they [Falcons] made a good play on the ball when they came underneath the curl and made a play. It was two critical errors that cost us. Defensively, we played a great second half by putting them in bad situations. We ended up holding them to two field goals, and that was a great job by our defense. In the end six points cost us."
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On the 49ers' offense in the 4th quarter:**
"We executed, and I think that is what it comes down to. It is the NFL, so third downs are going to be tough. I felt like that last drive we did a great job. We had that big conversion with RB Frank [Gore] and we made the first down. We were really moving the ball, but unfortunately stalled out at the edge of a field goal position. I tried to throw it away and Frank was right there, and I thought it was pretty questionable. At first the ref didn't call it, but then he ended up calling it intentional grounding. But if you walk away with three points obviously you had the field goal attempt. It is a different situation."
On if he was frustrated with offensive mistakes:
"Yeah it is frustrating, no question. We just stalled out. The two times with those two drives were directly because of me. We were doing some decent things and then we turned the ball over both times. They were costly turnovers. Other times were during third and longs, which just makes it tough. I thought the guys battled, but just put ourselves in bad situations. Like I said, two critical errors really cost us."
On the 49ers' season thus far.
"O-and-four is not fun. It is frustrating to say the least. Really frustrating. You have to go out there and execute, and that's the mindset. I felt like we executed on a lot of levels, but two really poor decisions ended up costing us. They were just really bad decisions."
