Kelly steadfast in his support for Gabbert
One day after his team’s 46-27 loss to Carolina, and six days before another daunting challenge in Seattle, 49ers head coach Chip Kelly reiterated his faith in quarterback Blaine Gabbert on Monday.
Put another way: Do not expect Colin Kaepernick to step into the starting role, at least anytime soon.
Kelly acknowledged his team’s offensive issues during his weekly news conference in Santa Clara. He also answered without hesitation — while leaving himself wiggle room
down the road — when asked whether Gabbert was the starter “for the duration” or “week-to-week.”
“He’s our starter, and I’ve got a lot of confidence in Blaine,” Kelly said. “We’re not thinking or talking about not having Blaine in there. It’s about everybody on offense playing better right now.”
Gabbert completed 17 of 36 passes for 243 yards Sunday against the Panthers. He also threw two interceptions late in the fourth quarter, thwarting any chance the 49ers had to complete their comeback.
They had trimmed a 31-10 deficit to 34-27, with a large assist from four Carolina turnovers.
Kelly noted that 49ers receivers dropped five passes, which obviously didn’t help. Another factor in sticking with Gabbert for Sunday against the Seahawks: Kaepernick does not sound as though he’s physically ready to move into the starting role.
Kaepernick was severely restricted in the offseason, in the wake of surgeries on his left shoulder, right thumb and left knee. Kelly said Kaepernick is still trying to return to his ideal playing weight of 225 pounds.
“It’s coming back up — I think he’s doing a good job in the weight room,” Kelly said. “But it’s not something that’s going to happen overnight. You can’t force the issue. … People forget he had a thumb, shoulder and knee (surgeries). It’s very difficult.
“Usually if you have a knee, you can lift with your upper body, and if you have a shoulder, you can lift with your lower body. But Kap was really out of the weight room for six to eight months.”
The 49ers might have scored 27 points Sunday, but that was deceiving; they put together only two scoring drives of more than 11 yards. Gabbert completed fewer than half his pass attempts and connected just three times on his 10 passes to wide receiver Torrey Smith.
Kelly cast a wide net in explaining the offensive sluggishness. He pointed to the meager running game (65 yards on 26 attempts), those five drops and Gabbert’s occasional inaccuracy.
The 49ers will need to improve in all these areas against division rival Seattle. The Seahawks fell 9-3 to Los Angeles on Sunday, but they lead the NFL in scoring defense (allowing 9.5 points per game) and rank second in total defense (291.8 yards per game).
So what steps, exactly, does Gabbert need to take to become more effective? Kelly essentially preached patience.
“I think there’s a comfort level with our offense in terms of just more reps and more time with the receivers,” he said. “More time with understanding exactly where they’re going to be. (Wide receiver) Jeremy Kerley has been here three weeks.
“We have to make sure we’re on the same page, where Blaine may have thought he was going to break out versus that coverage and Jeremy thought it was break in versus that coverage.”
Kelly also has concerns with the defense, after the 49ers relinquished 529 yards of total offense to Cam Newton and company, including 176 on the ground. Russell Wilson and the Seahawks are not as potent — they’ve scored only 15 points in two games — but they probably view the 49ers as a potential antidote.
“The biggest disappointing thing was the run game,” Kelly said of Sunday’s defensive effort. “We had been good at the run game the week before, and then this week we just didn’t make some plays when we had to make plays.” Briefly: Kelly did not have updates on offensive tackle Anthony Davis (concussion) or linebacker Ray-Ray Armstrong (pectoral injury) . ... Guard Joshua Garnett, the first-round draft pick, hasn’t played an offensive snap in two games, something Kelly traced to Garnett missing spring drills while he completed his studies at Stanford. “He’s coming along,” Kelly said.