The San Francisco 49ers head out for their second day of practice Sunday afternoon. Prior to practice, head coach Jim Tomsula led off the media availability. Tomsula spoke in detail about the tempo of the offense. The 49ers have dealt with play clock issues for much of the last decade. Tomsula has a goal of the offensive line getting to the line of scrimmage with 22 seconds on the play clock. On Saturday, they averaged 28 to 32 seconds. Tomsula said on Sunday that as a defensive line guy, as you see the play clock winding down and the team is slow to the line, you are able to get a better jump on the play.
The pressure to keep the tempo going is primarily on Colin Kaepernick but Tomsula also talked to Joe Staley and Alex Boone to get the guys back to the huddle more quickly and spread the responsibility of tempo throughout the offense. The goal is to have the OL at the line with :22 seconds on the play clock. Yesterday they the average with the ones was 28-32 seconds. With the other groups there were a few plays that were much slower.
The tempo also helps improve the defense in practice as well. Tomsula said, "The sword is getting sharpened on both sides." Aldon Smith also talked about tempo making the defense adjust faster. He said it forced them to be "ready to go" whenever the offense lines up no matter how much time is left on the play clock.
Tomsula touched on a few other topics as well. He confirmed Sunday's practice will be in the stadium. Questions surrounding the safety of the players surfaced with the field not being in the best condition. The DB and WR drills are what were most detrimental to the field due to the "starting and stopping, planting and driving" said Tomsula, so those drills may be moved to another area. The middle of the field still looked good as he reported last night after practice, and Ian Williams confirmed on Sunday.
Darnell Dockett did not participate in the team session on Saturday, but Tomsula informed the media that was not injury related. Instead, the coach wanted Dockett focusing on nickel and sub package work in practice.
Tomsula also confirmed the players did watch the Ronda Rousey UFC 190 fight in the locker room last night, although he thought it was boxing. He talked about how excited he is with the people in the locker room and the camaraderie he is seeing amongst them.