SANTA CLARA – After spending the night in his office at the 49ers team complex, coach Chip Kelly’s opinion of Blaine Gabbert’s performance did not change.
Kelly said he believed Gabbert mostly played well and made good decisions in the 49ers’ 24-17 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.
Gabbert completed 16 of 23 passes for 196 yards with one touchdown and one interception. The interception was Gabbert’s worst throw of the game, as he badly underthrew Torrey Smith on deep post pattern in the fourth quarter.
“Torrey did a nice job on the route,” 49ers coach Chip Kelly said Monday. “I think Blaine said it yesterday. He was behind him on the throw and he needs to put the ball out in front of him. He just missed the throw.”
But Kelly said he was pleased with many other things Gabbert did on Sunday, including his ability to anticipate the blitz and get the ball out quickly to the hot receiver. Gabbert was sacked once. On the season, Gabbert has been sacked three times in four games.
“You look at that ball he threw to Garrett Celek, that’s as good a throw as you’re going to see in this league,” Kelly said, referring to a 29-yard pass against tight coverage in the third quarter.
“If I was coaching on the defensive side of the ball for Dallas, I don’t know what to tell (linebacker) Sean Lee. I don’t think he could be any closer in coverage to him. And to put the ball where he put it, that’s the only place he could have put it.”
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Gabbert also rushed 12 times for just 27 yards, but Kelly said the quarterback made the correct decisions as part of the 49ers’ zone-read game.
“I think he did a nice job with his decisions,” Kelly said. “We got to block things a little bit better on the perimeter in the run game. I don’t think our guys did a good job to help him out there.
“I thought we made some good decisions in the run game, but we didn’t block up the guys who were coming, the guys responsible for the quarterback. We got to do a better job with that. But that’s not Blaine’s issue.”
--Outside linebacker Aaron Lynch has been reinstated off the NFL’s suspended list. He participated in Monday’s walk-through. The 49ers were granted a temporary roster exemption. He will be eligible to play Thursday night against the Arizona Cardinals.
--Linebacker NaVorro Bowman is expected to be out for the season with an Achilles injury, but Kelly said he had not gotten official word back after the MRI examination.
--First-round pick DeForest Buckner sustained a foot injury on Sunday. He was on crutches after the game. There was no immediate update on his status, but Buckner is not expected to be available for Thursday’s game.
