Seattle Seahawks corners draw Jim Harbaugh’s ire

San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh isn’t afraid to speak his mind, especially when it comes to things that an opponent might be getting away with. In the 49ers 13-6 win over the rival Seattle Seahawks on Thursday Night Football, Harbaugh was not happy about the calls Seahawks star cornerbacks Richard Sherman and Brandon Browner avoided.

Harbaugh believes that those two got away with too much contact beyond the five-yard mark, and he believes the CBs got away with some defensive holding calls. He told CSN Bay Area, “I wouldn’t use the words, ‘locked up. We’ll take that up with the officials (NFL office) and get their view of it.”

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Of course, Niners QB Alex Smith would agree with what his head coach is saying,  “If this is a point of emphasis of no contact after 5 yards, no question. They’ve done it all year. When they played Green Bay, they were doing it to all those guys, (Greg) Jennings, all those guys. You turn on the Patriots (film) and same things.”

Now this is the interesting thing, Smith references the Seahawks win against the New England Patriots. Both Browner and Sherman are two big, physical star corners. And oh yeah, Sherman actually played for Harbaugh at Stanford to make things more interesting.

Are the Niners full of it or are their complaints legitimate based on what you guys saw in the game against the Pats? Browner was penalized a ton of times last year, so I do think refs have been more lax on him this season. As for Sherman, I think the refs are fairly judging it. There is room to complain, but it’s ultimately been due to some great coverage work by both players.

One more thing, maybe the 49ers failed to gain separation because their receivers aren’t really all that good. I mean, Brandon Lloyd had six catches for 80 yards on the outside and had as many catches and more receiving yards than all three of the Niners receivers combined (Randy Moss, Michael Crabtree, and Kyle Williams). Yeah, it looks like the 49ers should be taking a harder look at their personnel.

You can follow Joe Soriano on Twitter @SorianoJoe.