The San Francisco 49ers won their third game of the season against the Atlanta Falcons, 17-16. It was the first with backup quarterback Blaine Gabbert under center.
Afterwards when head coach Jim Tomsula was drilled several times by the press about who would start when the 49ers return in two weeks to face the Seattle Seahawks, the head coach didn’t offer much insight.
“Gabbert was our starter today, and I don’t have a comment past that,” he said, per the team’s official website
Gabbert, who was lukewarm but did enough to lead the team to a win, completed 15-of-25 passes for 185 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
Tomsula wouldn’t talk about the team’s next game but did commend Gabbert for his performance.
“Blaine had a great day today. I’ll talk about what a great job Blaine Gabbert did today, and what a great job the team did today in getting a win.”
After Gabbert’s pair of touchdown passes in the first half, he followed with two interceptions in the second half and the the 49ers scored no more points after halftime. Fortunately for San Francisco, their defense kicked it up several notches and held the NFL’s best rusher, Devonta Freeman, to only 12 yards on 12 attempts. And for the first time in what seems like ages, the 49ers made an impact in their ground game, rushing for a total of 133 yards.
Tomsula, who just seems happy to be able to address the press after finally posting a win, concluded by saying the team still has “a lot of work to do.”
With Tomsula not wanting to tip the team’s hand as to their plans for Week 11, his praise of Gabbert and avoidance of talking about Kaepernick would lead us to believe that he’s going with the hot hand in Gabbert moving forward.