Tight end Vernon Davis provided some insights into the 49ers play calling after the team’s 17-13 win over a beleaguered Washington team.

First, Davis said even on third-and-6, short routes aren’t necessarily designed to go past the first-down markers. Davis caught a 5-yard pass on 3rd-and-6 during the 49ers’ fourth-quarter touchdown drive. The play was originally called a first down but a video replay reversed the call. Frank Gore spilled across the line of scrimmage to get the first down on 4th-and-1 from the 49ers’ 34-yard line.

The 49ers eventually scored on the drive to take a 17-13 lead with 3:03 left. “Just 5 or 6 yards, I can’t go any deeper than that,” Davis said about the play. “You have to get your depth.”

Davis also said if there’s a blitz on his side, he will cut his route to 2 or 3 yards and get his head around, so Kaepernick has a quicker outlet. Obviously, coaches depend on their receivers to get up field and break tackles to achieve the first down.

Davis also said he was central to the game plan. “In practice this past week, especially on Friday, I probably caught about 15, 16 balls,” Davis said. “It’s been a long time since I had that many balls in practice. I think they did a good job as far as trying to have me a part of the game plan. Some of the plays didn’t work out. It’s just like anything, nothing is guaranteed.”

Often when fans criticize the game plan that seemingly doesn’t include a playmaker like Davis, in actuality, Davis might be the main target and often. However, he might be covered, the coverage might roll to his side, Kaepernick might get pressured. As Davis said, things often don’t work out.

When ESPN analyst Trent Dilfer was a 49er quarterback, he said the best coaches are the ones that realize that game day is free form. You can prepare and you can game plan, but once the game starts, it’s really about the players and the adjustments they make during the flow of the game.

In another corner of the locker room, linebacker Ahmad Brooks was talking about his play at the end of the game when he recovered a Robert Griffin III fumble. It was symbolic for Brooks, who was benched in New Jersey last Sunday after complaining about how he was used. Brooks, however, fessed up right away, and said he was wrong to challenge the coaches. Brooks reiterated his disappointment in himself.

“That was my stupidity, that was me being a A-hole,” Brooks said before he was benched by defensive line coach Jim Tomsula. Rarely is an athlete so refreshingly honest. In this game, Brooks played plenty of snaps, more, seemingly, than rookie Aaron Lynch. It was fitting he was in on Washington’s last offensive play and that he recovered the ball on Washington’s 7-yarld line after Justin Smith’s fumble-causing sack.

“I could have scored,” Brooks said. “But Ray McDonald told me not to score. I could have tipped-toed into the end zone.”

Learning his lesson from the week before, Brooks decided to be a team guy and just take a knee so the offense could run out the clock.

Brooks also acknowledged the pressure players are under, when they see their playing time reduced. They bump right into their own football mortality.

“It is my job; it is my career,” Brooks said in explaining why he exploded after being told he was going to split time at outside linebacker. “I worry about that.”

Brooks’ display last Sunday against Giants was not excusable, something he freely admits. But there anyone out there who wouldn’t understand it?