GLENDALE, Ariz. — So much for Alex Smith and his lost confidence.

“It was in my closet,” he said. “I found it.”

Indeed.

Smith was almost perfect in San Francisco’s 24-3 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Monday night. But for a dropped pass, he would have been.

The 49ers quarterback completed 18 of 19 passes for 232 yards and three touchdowns after a week that saw some speculation that Smith’s belief in himself was shaken following a pair of poor outings.

Coach Jim Harbaugh said questions about Smith’s confidence came from “a couple of reporters,” nothing more.

“I don’t think there ever was a question there,” Harbaugh said. “I think it was just a lot of gobble, gobble, turkey. Just gobble, gobble, gobble turkey. That paints a pretty good picture. He’s a very confident guy.”

Smith threw two TD passes to Michael Crabtree and one to Randy Moss.

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.”

The dominant victory opened a two-game lead for San Francisco (6-2) in the NFC West. Arizona (4-4) lost its fourth straight after a 4-0 start.

The Cardinals managed only a field goal against the No. 1 defense in the NFL.