National Football League

Mark Purdy: 49ers, Alex Smith don't throw this one away

Published Oct. 18, 2010 10:13 a.m. ET

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Here's the kind of game it was Sunday:

Alex Smith, the 49ers' quarterback, was just as proud of the many balls he purposely threw away as he was of his two touchdown passes.

Why? Because those throwaways could have been potential interceptions -- if Smith had not been so decisive and so successful in making them fly so far off target.

"We talked about it all week -- if it wasn't there, you're going to have to get rid of the ball," Smith said after the 49ers' excessively unsightly 17-9 victory over the Raiders.

"It's a tough way to play," Smith said. "But we had a bunch of throwaways and were smart with the football. That was definitely a key coming into this."

Yes, you read that correctly. One of the 49ers' keys to victory was the way Smith efficiently threw his incompletions.

But it all made sense, in a twisted way. Smith's most frustrating quality, the one that has rightly earned the wrath of 49ers followers, is the way he messes up at exactly the wrong time and creates extremely untimely turnovers.

Sunday, Smith was determined to create zero turnovers against the Raiders. And he didn't. And the 49ers won. But it definitely was no thing of beauty -- which helps explain this weirdly inspirational quote from 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis.

"Even when our crowd was booing our offense," Willis said, "they stayed strong."

If Sunday's win was a turnaround game for the 49ers, a lot of us would be stunned. The Scarlet Heroes of Yore basically looked like a sloppy NFL team that managed to outscore an even more sloppy NFL team. As just one example, the 49ers committed a season-high 11 penalties, eight on offense.

But in the second half, at the proper moments, the 49ers made just enough plays to win. At the very least, it gives them a platform, shaky may it be, to start climbing out of the quicksand pit that they built for themselves during the season's first five weeks.

Also, if this matters, Smith proved he is a better quarterback than the Raiders' Jason Campbell, whose passer rating for the game (10.7) was actually less than Smith's uniform number (11).

Cold comfort, no doubt. But give the 49ers credit. No one was crowing (or texting) that the team was going to go on and conquer the NFC West, not with a 1-5 record and the other three teams in the division already owning three victories.

"We're not in a position to be looking forward," safety Dashon Goldson said. "We've just got to take them one game at a time and keep doing what we're doing."

That would include Smith. He is not going to be a Pro Bowl quarterback any time soon. He and his receivers still are curiously out of synch too often -- witness the play in the first half when Smith and Josh Morgan miscommunicated on a long throw that could have been a touchdown.

Yet there is a way Smith can win. It's the game plan he followed Sunday. Be patient and ready to absorb some hits -- but don't make obviously risky throws -- and ditch the ball if necessary. Then, when you see an opportunity, strike.

The patient part occurred Sunday in the first half, when the 49ers offense was spinning its wheels and drawing those boos. The Raiders held a 6-3 lead deep into the third quarter. Then, finally on the last play of the period, Smith found receiver Michael Crabtree over the middle for a 32-yard touchdown pass.

By the time Crabtree spiked the ball and did a little touchdown celebration, Smith had already sprinted downfield to hug him. A similar celebration occurred after Smith's second touchdown pass, to tight end Vernon Davis on a nice look-one-way, throw-the-other pass.

Both of those scores, though, were possible because Smith avoided an interception before getting the chance to throw them.

In fact, the day's most comical moment occurred in the third quarter, just before Smith's first TD pass, when he was flagged for an intentional grounding penalty. Smith's pass had soared far over the head of Morgan, although he was somewhere in the vicinity.

Smith and 49ers coach Mike Singletary argued with referee Carl Cheffers about the call but received no satisfaction.

"He was basically saying that the ball went too far over his head," Smith said. "But how does he know? You know? I thought that was pretty ridiculous to be honest with you. How does he know whether I did that intentionally or not? He has no idea ... never seen it called like that."

Well, was Smith intentionally throwing it away?

"Who knows?" Smith responded coyly, then tried and failed to suppress a grin.

Smith and the 49ers took only a baby step back toward respectability Sunday. But after six weeks, it was kind of fun to see them smile.

Contact Mark Purdy at mpurdy@mercurynews.com or 408-920-5092.