Jim Tomsula: “We’re in a performance-based business and all of us in it get it.”

SANTA CLARA

This is the full transcript of Jim Tomsula’s Wednesday press conference, courtesy of the 49ers’ P.R. department.

Opening comments:

“Injury report; [DL] Glenn Dorsey and [QB] Colin Kaepernick both had successful surgeries yesterday. Glenn had his knee repaired over here at Stanford and that went really well. Report I got there and the report I got on Colin, he was in Colorado and that went really well. Those are the two reports I have there. I’m not sure the timeline on when Glenn will be placed on the IR, but that’s coming. [LB NaVorro] Bowman will be out today, a normal Wednesday. [RB Carlos] Hyde, he’s not going to be out at practice today. We’ll stay day-to-day with him. And then, [LB Ahmad] Brooks, Ahmad came in and had a bit of a headache. So, the guys put him in the concussion protocol. He wasn’t feeling good. Anyways, they’re going to monitor that. They wanted to make sure they were on the safe side there. So, that’s what I’ve got. Other than that, we’ve got a few what I would call normal bumps and bruises.”

 

Is G/C Daniel Kilgore most likely to take that roster spot?

“Well, I’ll tell you what’s happening with Daniel. Last week was really good with Daniel. I thought he did really good. He took most, if not all of the scout team reps. Getting out there, moving around and working his combinations and took a few with the offense. We’ll get him working back in there this week. But again, I don’t want to say exactly. We’ll see how it goes. We’re on the ramp up.”

 

How have you seen QB Dylan Thompson evolve and kind of mature being around Colin and QB Blaine Gabbert every day and just maybe grow a little bit in his rookie season?

“Yeah, the one thing I will say there is that he showed up mature. He’s a mature guy. That’s a rookie that’s come in, he’s married, he’s got a maturity about him. He’s still a rookie and he’s learning. Every time you see the plateaus you see him fight through them and then you see him get better. So, we’re thrilled with the way he’s approached things and the way he’s worked and worked through the struggles that you normally have and getting better and doing those things. And he understands the offense and he’s got all those things.”

 

Maturity might have been the wrong choice of words, but for a rookie to be around two guys like Gabbert and Colin, what does that do for a young player?

“I think it just gives him the perspective on how you go about watching your film. How you go about preparing and the seriousness of it.”

 

Speaking of Blaine, have you talked with him just about now this role is yours since Colin won’t be coming back and what you’re going to be expecting out of him going forward?

“Yeah, we’ve talked all along. And again, we do, but it’s a week-to-week, I mean our long-range goals right now are the Arizona Cardinals and let’s go. Keep preparing the way you prepare and we’ve talked about that. The guy has always since he walked through the door his approach has been really good. Blaine is attacking it and I feel really good about that.”

 

As far as the short-range goals go, is it weekly or is there a competition now between QB McLeod Bethel-Thompson and Thompson to figure out for that second spot on the 53-man?

“Well, I’d like to tell you that we’re trying to promote competition all over the place. So, yeah. I mean, is it likely that Bethel-Thompson will be up this week? No, I don’t want to tell you that. That’s not likely. He’s in here, that’s another guy I think a lot of and his approach and he’s been here. He’s kicking it. He’s getting after it and learning his thing. But, I wouldn’t say there’s anything imminent happening there.”

 

You said that Glenn and Colin, both their surgeries went well. Did you get a chance to talk to either one of them?

“No, what I usually do is once I get from the training room that the surgeries have been completed and get a rundown on how they went, obviously they don’t give me specifics just whether it was good and it went well. Then what I usually do is shoot out a text or a voicemail and just tell them, ‘Look, I heard everything went well and here we go and now you’re in the rest and recovery and then we get to rehab. Here we go. Congrats on the first step.’ That’s what I do. If they need anything, give me a call.”

 

Is it your understanding that Colin’s shoulder got progressively worse after the initial injury occurred?

“I don’t know. I don’t have a, again this is as honest as I can tell you, the big time that I knew anything about the shoulder was obviously when he came back off that open week and that thing was sore on him. He went into the training room and was evaluated and they had the docs evaluate him and sent him for tests. So, that’s quite honestly and then I knew that was ongoing and I was briefed that there was a second opinion, which is not abnormal, everybody. Most all of you, any medical things, it’s typical to get second opinions.”

 

With Ahmad not practicing this week, will DT Tank Carradine get some of those outside snaps?

“Yeah. I mean, again, Tank’s another guy I thought that had a nice week last week of practice. You don’t do this in five days. You don’t do this in a week. But, Tank has really, he’s changed the way, with his strength and conditioning he’s changed the way he’s training there. You all have seen him out there. You can see, you can already visibly see that he’s slimmed down in the hips and things. And he got, again, the lion’s share of the look reps last week playing at that position and some in our defense and looking to keep ramping that up.”

 

Within the course of the game on Sunday, CB Kenneth Acker started and CB Marcus Cromartie went in. Is Cromartie now atop the–?

“No. And I don’t want to declare any of those things. We, from the Atlanta game, felt like Cromartie had earned some opportunity. Of course, you see [CB] Dontae [Johnson] going in there and playing the dime for us. So, Cromartie had earned opportunity, quite frankly. So, he was going to get opportunity.”

 

So, that was planned, regardless of how Acker was playing?

“Yeah. He was going to be on the field. He had earned an opportunity to be on the field. Yes.”

 

The team seemed lethargic early in the game against the Seahawks. Afterwards, I spoke to Ahmad Brooks and asked why the team seemed lethargic. He said he couldn’t speak for anyone else, but that it did take him a while to get going for the game. How do you account for that, for the lack of energy coming off a bye week?

“Well I’ll tell you, and one of the things that we addressed head on was just the fact of when we come out defensively and Glenn got hurt there and I didn’t like our body language. And we have to address that. But, you know, it was like the guys coming in there, it was that idea of attacking that, to make that tackle, attack it. Don’t come up and worry about missing. Just go tackle. Let it go. That’s what I saw, along with some fit problems where we weren’t tuned up in the fit there. And again, there was that counter play happening that hit us a couple times and it’s not really new, it was just a little bit different and just fitting that up and being detailed in those fits was where I saw those, our biggest problem.”

 

When you look at the first Arizona game, do you point to some of those things this week and say, “You know, here’s mistakes that really hurt us?”

“Yes.”

 

What’s your message on that?

“Again, we’re not saying anything that you don’t hear from everybody in football. You need to play against the opponent. It’s hard enough defeating the opponent. Don’t do things that make you have to compete against yourself. When you have a mental mistake or you have a penalty, a pre-snap penalty, things like that. Now, you’re competing against the opponent and yourself. We want to make sure that we get that just as limited as we can. You’d like to see zero defects. You’re always chasing that. But now, when they do, you have to overcome them. We’ve got to move on to the next play.”

 

What’s your favorite Thanksgiving food?

“Whatever my wife cooks. She’ll leave a little out on the table there. Whatever it is.”

 

There isn’t one specific?

“Yeah, I mean, it’s all good. Look at me. I like all food. My wife’s a good cook.”

 

What’s your schedule? What’s the team’s schedule tomorrow?

“Well, we’ll start a little earlier and the guys will, you should look at that too for the locker room thing, because we’re trying to get them out of here. After practice ends, we still want them to do the regeneration stuff and the weight lifting and all that kind of stuff. So, that’s more in the afternoon with the lifting now. And then get them home for dinner. We’d like them to be home for dinner with their families. We have guys in here that their families aren’t here, that aren’t married. We don’t want anybody eating alone.”

 

You’re hosting?

“Well, if they need to go out there, go head out there. My wife’s there, she’s got it cooking. The coaches, their meals will be a little later. That will be a little later.”

 

At 3-7, there’s starting to become speculation about your future. Have you received any kind of assurances from the front office about whether you’re going to be here in 2016?

“No, I mean we haven’t had any conversations about any of that. Just to your point right there, we’re in a performance-based business and all of us in it get it. So, I don’t think or work that way. Just keep my long-term goal is Sunday. It’s just where I stay.”