Tomsula: 'Colin Is Our Quarterback'
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (CBS-SF) – With frustration and disappointment on the rise among the team's fan base, San Francisco 49ers first-year head coach Jim Tomsula left little doubt Friday as to who will be the starting quarterback against the Rams next week.
Tomsula met with reporters at the 49ers training camp with the sting of a 20-3 setback at the hands of the Seattle Seahawks fresh in everyone's mind.
San Francisco 49ers starting quarterback Colin Kaepernick struggled all night against the Seahawks rush and pass coverage. He completed 13 of 24 passes of 124 yards while taking six sacks.
As the Thursday night game progressed, a chorus of boos echoed down from the upper decks at the Santa Clara home of the 49ers.
Tomsula was asked if Kaepernick should remain the starter.
"Colin is our quarterback," the rookie head coach said. "There's no controversies."
But Tomsula said the team would take time during their extra practice days before they play the St. Louis Rams on Nov. 1st to evaluate "everything."
"We are looking at everything," he said. "Not unlike you normally do, but we have extra time and we're going through everything."
Pressed on his answer, Tomsula said he the evaluation would not be of specific personnel, but be limited to game management.
"When you say personnel, how we call things, scheme, putting players in the best positions that we can put them in. How can we get better that way, getting players in positions to make plays to their strengths," he said. "That kind of evaluation."
Kaepernick said after the game that he felt Seattle played with a greater intensity than the 49ers. Tomsula did not completely disagreement with the analysis.
"I thought there were spurts where the intensity, particularly in the second half, dropped," Tomsula said. "There was one time in the second quarter and we were identifying that on the sidelines. But, I don't think it was a conscious, people starting to think and trying to figure out, what do I adjust? What do I fix? And as that was going, we've got to keep the intensity rolling while we're doing those things."
Tomsula said that even after seven games, the 49ers are a still an evolving team. But he also admitted efforts like Thursday night's cannot continue.
"Our record is what it is," he said. "We have to do something to get better. That's unacceptable. That's not what we're going to do. That's not who we are. It's not what we're about. So, we're going to fix it."
