GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Three touchdown passes, one incomplete pass.

Not a bad night for Alex Smith, and it could have been better, considering that the one incomplete pass was dropped by a wide-open receiver.

The San Francisco quarterback completed 18 of 19 passes for 232 yards and three touchdowns -- two to Michael Crabtree and one to Randy Moss -- to help San Francisco flatten the Arizona Cardinals 24-3 on Monday night.

"Eighteen of 19, I have never seen that," 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh said. "How important for your quarterback to play very well? It is very important and I don't know how you play much better. It was a fantastic game by him."

Arizona defensive tackle Darnell Dockett could hardly believe what Smith had done.

"Everyone's surprised. My 5-year-old son's surprised," Dockett said, "but at the end of the day it wasn't like he had to make the long perfect throws. He had some guys open and we missed some tackles and they made plays."

Smith said he had no idea his stats were that good.

"Which is a good thing," he said. "I don't want to think about my stats or incompletions or anything like that. I was kind of in a good rhythm, the whole offense was."

Smith has withstood more than his share of criticism he was the No. 1 overall pick in the draft in 2005. He was not interested in calling this a statement performance.