Jim Harbaugh responds to Kevin Gilbride's accusations towards Justin Smith

Late yesterday, Eric Branch posted an article about Giants OC Kevin Gilbride's comments to the New York media concerning Justin Smith. Gilbride stated that Smith does a good job of holding offensive linemen, and "gets away with murder."

In a bit of a surprise twist, Jim Harbaugh shot back with some comments of his own. These comments were released via the 49ers public relations staff:

"Kevin Gilbride's outrageous, irrational statement regarding Justin Smith's play is, first, an absurd analogy. Second, it is an incendiary comment targeting one of the truly exemplary players in this league. It's obvious that the Giants coaching staff's sole purpose is to use their high visibility to both criticize and influence officiating."

Coach Harbaugh can be a very fiery personality, but I don't recall seeing quite this kind of reaction. Kevin Gilbride is obviously attempting to curry favor with the refs to keep an eye on Justin Smith. Football Outsiders made a point about the holding in a September article. It will be interesting to see how the refs treat Justin Smith and Ray McDonald this Sunday.