49ers' Smith plays through drops

<p>SANTA CLARA — Quarterback Alex Smith is conscious of the camera being trained on him every moment he is on the field.</p><p>Thus, when he thinks he just threw a touchdown pass, only to see the pass glance off a receiver’s hands and fall harmlessly to the ground, his reaction is going to be scrutinized.</p><p>“I guess sometimes you don’t always realize what you might do, but as a quarterback, obviously, you are always trying to keep good body language out on the field,” Smith said.</p><p>Smith has experienced plenty of those moments in recent games as the number of dropped passes has piled up for the 49ers. The receivers let as many as nine catchable passes slip away in the team’s 20-17 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.</p><p>“Because this is the professional level, I think any time that a ball is in the area of a receiver, he needs to catch it,” said 49ers coach Mike Singletary when asked if he holds the receivers accountable for drops. “Hopefully that answered your question.”</p><p>Tight end Vernon Davis and wide receiver Michael Crabtree rank among the biggest culprits in dropped passes in the NFL, according to STATS, Inc. Davis is tied with a league-high nine drops, while Crabtree is tied for eighth with seven drops.</p><p>In the 49ers’ loss at Green Bay on Nov. 22, Smith said his best pass might have been the ball he lofted perfectly for Crabtree just before getting hit by an on-charging linebacker. But Crabtree failed to make an over-the-shoulder catch in the end zone.</p><p>Davis dropped a perfectly thrown pass of a potential go-ahead touchdown with three minutes remaining Sunday against the Seahawks. Davis said he had a difficult time seeing the ball because of the background at Qwest Field.</p><p>The 49ers ended up settling for a tying field goal, and lost on a last-second field goal.</p><p>Smith’s excitement in anticipation of the touchdowns rapidly morphed into anguish as he clutched his head and looked toward sympathetic quarterbacks coach Mike Johnson on the sidelines. Then he quickly gathered himself to prepare for the next play.</p><p>As frustrated as he might get, it is clearly not Smith’s style to say anything other than encouraging words to his teammates in those situations.</p><p>“Those guys have enough to think about,” Smith said. “They make plays and catch balls sometimes that shouldn’t be caught, so I know they’re working at it and they don’t need to hear anything from me, as far as catching the football.</p><p>“They know. We’re all professionals. They know when they made a mistake or should have made a play.”</p><p>Plus, Smith knows he is far from perfect.</p><p>“It does no good, especially during game situations, to really worry about things like that,” Smith said. “Do your job to the best of your ability. Go out there and try to execute it. Those things are going to happen. Dropped balls are going to happen just like errant passes are going to happen. You try to minimize them as much as possible.”</p><p>Smith is throwing a lot more passes on target this season. After entering the season with a 54.4 completion percentage, he is completing passes with 61.8-percent accuracy in 2009.</p><p>For more on the 49ers, go to Instant 49ers at blog.pressdemocrat.com/49ers. You can reach Staff Writer Matt Maiocco at matt.maiocco@pressdemocrat.com.</p>