"Against the Seahawks last weekend, the 49ers racked up 40 points for the first time since 2003 and Alex Smith posted a career-best passer rating.

Still, Michael Crabtree was an afterthought.

He had one catch -- for 1 yard.

"I think Michael Crabtree is going to be a very good football player in this league, but he's still trying to find his way to get all the potential that he has inside of him out," offensive coordinator Mike Johnson said Tuesday.

A year ago, as a rookie jumping into the action in October, Crabtree had at least three catches in every game. This year, he's already been held to one catch on three occasions.

Crabtree hasn't topped 50 yards in a game since Nov. 14. He hasn't topped 61 yards in a game since Oct. 10.

"If I hit him on the two sprint-outs, we're probably not talking about this," Smith said, acknowledging a pair of misfires against Seattle. "But I'm making my reads "... and I'm going to throw to the guys that are open. I'm not saying he wasn't, but that's how it goes week-to-week. You're not guaranteed anything. The reads were taking me other places."

Against the Seahawks, the 49ers threw to Crabtree five times to get the one catch. During the television broadcast, Fox analyst and former coach Brian Billick questioned Crabtree's ability to run precise routes."