Michael Crabtree expressed unprompted frustration with his role in the San Francisco 49ers' offense when asked by two veteran reporters about the play of the game in which he caught a 51-yard pass on fourth down to setup the game-tying field goal.

"Third down. I’m a third-down receiver. I mean, I’m like the third option. So I come in and I do my job," said Crabtree.

"Fourth down. I guess when they need me, you know, I guess that’s when I play. I know you all count stats–look that up."

Jim Harbaugh was nearby, but not standing there during the 30 seconds in which Tim Kawakami and Ann Killion were interviewing Crabtree.

Harbaugh was asked about Crabtree's comments during Monday's press conference.

“Well, my response is, and I was there, I caught the tail end of it, I didn’t catch all of it, so I don’t have it all verbatim, but I did see the two reporters that were talking to him and here was my view of the battlefield as I walked up to it: There’s Michael Crabtree catching a 4th-down-and-10 play, where he comes open, Colin hits him with the long pass. Great catch. Sets up a chance for us to kick a field goal to tie the game and togo into overtime. And again, I just caught the end of it, but what I heard the two reporters asking him was, ‘You don’t seem like you’re getting the ball as much. Are you not part of the offense? Why aren’t you getting the ball? You dropped some balls.’ Again, I didn’t see the whole thing, but I felt a little defensive for Michael. Here’s a guy who makes a great play and now he’s answering this question or that question. Maybe I might’ve gotten a little defensive too.”